Rogue One is a story about hope, like many stories in the Star Wars universe. In many ways, it's a darker chapter in the franchise, but at its core it still encourages hope, even at the most hopeless of times, and even when it requires the greatest of risks and sacrifices. At a time where hope is in short supply, such a film is undoubtedly appealing, but while Rogue One succeeds as a sturdy, entertaining blockbuster, it never becomes more than that, even in spite of the greater desperation found in its story. It's a minor side story dressed up as a big epic in its own right, and while it has the look, the characters - the heart and soul of so many of these movies - are sorely lacking.
After the Rebel Alliance frees Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) from an Imperial labour camp, she uncovers a message from her father, who worked on the Empire's new Death Star, saying that he secretly placed a fatal flaw in the weapon's blueprints. With this information, Jyn sets out with a team of other rebels in order to raid an Imperial base to capture those plans and return them to the Rebels.
All of this information has already been revealed in the text crawl of A New Hope, so most of the tension lies in the "how" than in the "what." The task given to Edwards and his writers is to take this footnote in Star Wars lore and give it personality, which makes it frustrating that they decide to relegate the actual raid on the Death Star base to the final act, instead choosing to briefly set up each of the main characters who make up the strike team. It's not hard to understand why this decision was made, as it allows the film to explain a good number of plot details, but the more the film rapidly cuts between these intersecting stories, barely fleshing them out and giving them little time to breathe, the more these characters come across as underdeveloped and uninteresting.
As has been said many times before, the best character in Rogue One is K-2SO, a reprogrammed Imperial droid voiced by Alan Tudyk. K-2SO is the film's resident snarky personality, filling in the role which C-3PO and R2-D2 played in the original trilogy. Despite the diverse backstories granted to the other members of the team, it's only the droid who maintains a unique personality, and this is all thanks to the film giving him all of the best jokes. The next best characer is Donny Yen's Chirrut Imwe, a blind monk with an affinity for the Force, but the main problem with him is the main problem seen with all of the other characters: the film moves by so quickly that we barely get to know his personality. Last year's The Force Awakens became so instantly iconic because it only really had four new characters, and spared enough time for each one to prove themselves as rich and memorable; by contrast, the differences between the motley crew of Rogue One are all but smothered by the constant movement of the film's plot.
This extends even further to the villain, who is always one step behind the rebels and gains little respect from his superiors, and if his arrogance was more fleshed out, he might be a much more exciting and meaningful villain than he is for much of the film. Instead, he's merely a figurehead for the Empire, less a real threat to the Rebels and more one cog in the monolithic machine which they seek to defeat. He has several scenes with higher-ranking Imperial leaders, such as Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, which point towards more of an exploration of the Empire's power structure, but that ultimately only serves as a foil for his own ambitions, and one which never really has any significant impact on the story. If nothing else, Vader at least is enjoyable to watch again, although the way Peter Cushing is resurrected through CGI is slightly gruesome to consider.
Those cameos tie into what is more interesting about Rogue One, specifically its status as a lesser side story in the Star Wars universe. If the plot suffers from a lack of truly compelling characters, it's still a fairly engaging plot, and one which further fleshes out the always-engrossing world of these films. What properly sets the film apart is that, unlike the heroic fantasy adventures of the numbered episodes, this is a proper war film, one where main characters die, where the action is all at the ground-level, where the tide could turn at any moment. Most main character deaths lose some impact for being saved for the final act, where they've been calculated for the most meaning, but the film still manages a certain intimacy which only magnifies the defining grittiness of the galaxy.
If Gareth Edwards isn't the correct choice to breathe life into these characters, he's definitely right for the tone, and nowhere is this clearer than the final act, where the main characters infiltrate a major Imperial base to retrieve the Death Star plans, and it eventually transforms into an all-out battle. Like in his excellent Godzilla, Edwards captures a feeling of human smallness in the face of mechanical enormity, and while the Death Star is the most obvious example of this, nowhere is it better seen than when the massive AT-AT walkers emerge from the dust of the battlefield, gargantuan and, for a brief moment, seemingly unstoppable.
Much praise has been given to the third act, but in fact, the majority of action in this film is excellent. Special mention goes to Chirrut's introduction, where he intervenes to take out a legion of stormtroopers in one of the most exquisitely choreographed action scenes I've seen all year. The film is never better than when there's a fight onscreen, and while Edwards occasionally cuts or pans too quickly for the action to fully track, much more often he gives full clarity to the great choreography and impressive spectacle on display. Even a lesser Star Wars film can provide a scale unlike anything else in theatres, and more often than not, the effects are magnificent in a way that only a film of this budget can accomplish.
As said, Rogue One is a film about hope, but it's also a film about rebellion. The same is true of The Force Awakens and especially the original trilogy, and arguably even the prequel films in their own way. For many commentators, the simple fact that the film encourages resistance against oppressive and fascist regimes at a time when far-right movements are gaining power worldwide merits admiration, but I'm not sure this is all that different from the original trilogy or even so many other films, some even of similarly mainstream stature, which similarly feature heroes rebelling against an oppressive regime. If nothing else, though, the film does encourage the importance of individual prerogative in such a rebellion, as the final act has Jyn and others go against the rebel body to retrieve the Death Star plans. It doesn't take a consensus to make change, just a handful of people with a lot of hope.
On the flip side, however, is Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), who for a brief scene in the middle brings up questions about what is "right" to do in a war, and whether one should obey orders they know are wrong. This ties into the aforementioned theme of taking independent action, but it's also one of the best examples of how the film rushes past all potentially interesting character moments, as Cassian has an argument with Jyn over whether his actions - lying about the purpose of the mission, "following" orders he knew were wrong (even though he didn't actually follow them) - were right, but this argument never properly evolves into meaningful thematic material or character texture. Like so many other scenes, it's a footnote in the broader story, and the characters remain largely indistinguishable despite hints of distinguishing personalities.
The high bar set by The Force Awakens certainly did Rogue One no favours, and certainly, the latter film doesn't hold a candle to its mainline cousin. Its rushed pacing and underdeveloped characters make it more difficult to be fully invested in the film, but its gritty tone, great action, and modestly intriguing story are enough to keep it watchable over its two hour plus running time, even if an extra half hour would have served it well. A weaker Star Wars film is still a solid blockbuster, and Rogue One, even in spite of its faults, is usually highly entertaining, and the sheer spectacle and texture of the franchise is hard not to admire regardless of a specific entry's quality. It's disappointing, but that doesn't mean it isn't still good.
7/10
+ A good handful of interesting story elements.
+ Fantastic action scenes.
+ K-2SO is consistently hilarious.
- Underdeveloped characters make investment more difficult.
- Pacing often rushes past characterization and ideas.
- Main themes don't move past the franchise's usual material.
Support me on Patreon!
No comments:
Post a Comment