Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is such a BIG
movie, I needed to call in the big guns to review it. Richie Pepio joins me for
an extensive discussion of the film. We chat about what we liked, what we
didn't like, what we wanted to see more of and conclude with our rankings of
the Star Wars Saga.
FAIR WARNING: If you have not yet seen Rogue
One, proceed no further. This review spoils EVERYTHING. I'm throwing up so many
spoiler tags, you don't even know what to do with yourself. And now that we've
got that out of the way, let's get to it, shall we?
RICHIE: Fan service is irritating. It's the
shiny set of keys the studio dangles in our face to keep us from questioning
why a sequel, prequel, threequel, or NyQuil exists. And this movie has more fan
service than a nest full of gundarks - it’s a one-size-fits-all piece of wish
fulfillment made for every type of fan, from the casual viewer to the red-eyed
3am commenter on a message board for TheForce.net. We don't even need this
film. I mean, it's ironic that everyone's making a big deal out of this movie
not having an opening crawl - because the introductory scroll in the original Star
Wars basically summarizes what happens here. "It is a period of
civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first
victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies
managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR,
an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet." …
There. That’s the entire plot of the movie - a logline written in 1977 that
took nearly 40 years to get made. It's crazy George Lucas even
"liked" this movie, according to Rogue One director
Gareth Edwards, because the WHOLE point of the opening scroll in A New
Hope is to keep this sequel/prequel from EVER happening! Come on!
So, considering all of this (fan service, cameos,
winks, nods and all), I loved it. Why, Shawn, do I like Rogue One
so much?
SHAWN: Richie, I'll tell you exactly why you
like Rogue One so much. It's because Disney knows the way to your
wallet. And mine too, for that matter. Really though, if there's one company
that knows how to milk a product for all it’s worth, it's Disney. The downside
is that they'll be churning out Star Wars and Marvel movies
long past the point where they're any good; the upside is these franchise are
currently in their 'golden age.' Not every movie is a home run, but, for the
most part, they're solid base hits.
For its majority, Rogue One is one
solid base hit after another. It has the advantage of not needing to be the
first good Star Wars movie in over 30 years. The Force
Awakens took the brunt of all that pressure and anticipation head-on
and emerged victorious. Now that fans are on Disney's side, Rogue One
gets a bit more wiggle room, though it never outsteps its bounds too
much. Stunning visuals serve a script that never manages to fully shake the
shackles of the many board room meetings that shaped it, but its clunky first
two acts give way to a resounding, masterful finale that makes the whole thing
worthwhile. I just wish the rest of Rogue One had lived up to those
last 30 minutes. Did you get that vibe too?
RICHIE: Oh yeah, totally. I appreciated the
changes it brought to the structure of Star Wars as we know it.
The visual style took the gritty cinema verite-elements of A New Hope
and went grittier. And they get a gold star (war) for trying to make an
ensemble movie in the first half - I think Rogue One jumps too
much between worlds in the beginning to be fully successful at it (and I was a
little jarred by the use of text to name the planets - because Star Wars
usually just assumes we know that information/will figure it out later; what is
this: Guardians of the Galaxy?!?), but I thought it kept things
interesting.
The movie opens on Jyn's story and then focuses on
her over the other characters as the story progresses. But I appreciated a Star
Wars movie that steered away from the same old hero's journey that
we're used to. As you say, the clunky first two acts move onto something
greater, and while The Force Awakens has better characters and
stronger emotional beats, this movie has a more satisfying climax. I'd choose
the Force Awakens' lightsaber fight between Rey and Kylo Ren over
a lot of the action sequences in this film, but Rogue One used
every moving part of the story in a more active and less derivative way. The
X-Wing dogfights were more investing, the gunfights were better choreographed,
and... Vader.
SHAWN: Yes!! I was nervous about Vader's
inclusion here, that it wouldn't be anything more than a glorified cameo. And
while it is certainly that, it felt less shameless than it could have. And his
Sith Lord murder rampage near the end was worth every penny of my $15 ticket.
All the cameos here were a lot of fun (Red Leader, Gold Leader) with the
exception of Grand Moff Tarkin. Tarkin's face is 100% CG, and no matter how
advanced face-capture technology becomes, I will never not notice it. I admired
the filmmakers' commitment to having Tarkin play an active role - more so than
I would have expected - but that doesn't make it any less creepy.
All that jumping around the galaxy at the beginning
was a little off-putting, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way
about the planet titles. It was almost as if the filmmakers realized they were
jumping around too much and while the text helps orient the audience, it also
calls attention to just how much we're jumping around.
I loved the ensemble cast element too, but I wish
the characters had gotten more breathing room. There have been all kinds of
rumors regarding Tony Gilroy's level of involvement with script rewrites and
whatnot. I wonder how much of Rogue One's relentless,
forward-moving plot is due to his involvement or if it's the miscellaneous
character beats he contributed. Either way, I wish there was more of the latter
and less of the former. I felt moderately interested in everything going on,
and Rogue One is relatively entertaining, but I didn't feel truly
engaged until the end. Part of that is Jyn as a character - she felt
underdeveloped. The same goes for Captain Andor. It's like their character
beats and growth were left on the cutting room floor in favor of the action.
Nothing against Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, who are both solid actors. I
just wish they'd been given more to play with.
I thought everyone else was great though: Donnie
Yen's Zatoichi-inspired blind Force warrior; Jiang Wen and his awesome hair and
giant gun; Riz Ahmed as the ex-Imperial pilot looking for redemption; and of
course Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, the obligatory comic relief robot. All of their
characterizations are stronger than the two characters we end up spending the
most time with.
As for your comparison between The Force
Awakens and this film, I couldn't agree more. The Force Awakens
is a more successful storytelling venture overall, but I really wish I could
have taken the fan-pleasing, emotionally satisfying conclusion of Rogue
One and exchanged it with The Force Awakens' more generic
‘we have to destroy another Death Star’ climax. (Love that lightsaber battle though)
RICHIE: Yeah, the ensemble complemented each
other really well. Although, in my opinion, Alan Tudyk's droid and Donnie Yen's
blind monk were, by far, the standouts from the supporting cast. Everybody
shines when they're given the chance, but there's not much room for the other
actors to make their marks here and, to me, the Jyn/Cassian relationship was
the anchor of the movie. I get that Rogue One is forcing us -
almost manipulating us - to care about Jyn's character. They hit all of the
stereotypical notes meant to tug at our heartstrings (missing parent, reluctant
hero, shot at redemption), and I’m usually turned off by that
manipulation when it feels assembly-line manufactured. Yet, because the
whole film is rooted in this kind of agreement between fans and filmmakers that
Lucasfilm is just going to give us a dream-casserole of all the leftover bits
and unused ingredients from the Original Trilogy, I didn't mind.
I was rooting for Jyn and Cassian to succeed and, while I wasn’t weeping at the
end, I was still really invested in their cause and left wanting more (too bad
that's not going to happen)...
SHAWN: Can we also talk a bit about Ben
Mendelsohn and how awesome he is as Imperial Military Director Orson Krennic? I
recognized him as one of the most unbearable bit players from The Dark
Knight Rises - that guy with the lisp who whines all the time before
Bane hugs him to death. I would never have guessed he could be so effective as
a Star Wars villain. Well, I mean, he's an effective villain, but
once Tarkin takes over, Krennic kind of fades into the background.
RICHIE: Holy crap - I didn't make the
connection that Krennic's the hug-death guy from that Batman
movie we love to hate. He's much better when he gets to wear the cape.
I'll be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by his presence. I thought the
performance was fine, but to me he ended up taking a backseat to Tarkin - which
was a HUGE surprise for me. I had a feeling we were getting a Grand Moff Tarkin
cameo (Lucas owns the life rights to every character actor from the 1970s), but
I was shocked he had such a supporting role. It took some getting used to, but
I actually didn't mind him being here, even if the facial-CGI technology isn’t
convincing. It's leaps and bounds better than the prologue to X-Men 3 and
Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, but it still reads as incredibly
fake. If Rogue One had the film quality of, say, a movie shot in
the 1970s, it could probably sneak by unnoticed, but here his face sticks out
like a sore-thumb (on a dead actor). I will say, if we compared the Rogue
One-Tarkin to the computer generated characters in the prequels, the Rogue
One-Peter Cushing effect wins.
(What are the ethics of using a deceased performer
if you own the rights to these actors' likenesses? Isn't it a little weird? If
I wanted Meryl Streep to be in the new Han Solo movie and she turned it down,
could I just buy the rights to Death Becomes Her, CGI her into my
movie, and call it a day?)
As for the other cameos, the Red Leader and Gold
Leader footage in the X-Wing fight really worked for me, and the appearance at
the end of a certain princess, while weird, was the icing on this photoshopped
cake. Although, when the camera was leading us down the corridor of the Tantive
IV (Princess Leia's ship from the beginning of A New Hope), I had
this sinking feeling: "I hope that rebel soldier doesn't take those plans
to the cockpit." Then we were in the cockpit. "I hope we don't see
Princess Leia." Then we see her from behind. "I hope she doesn't turn
around." And she does. But because it's just for a split second before
jumping to the credits, it somehow didn't kill the moment. Sure, her face looks
like she's on a heavy dose of computer-generated sedatives, but 1977 Carrie
Fisher was weird in a good way. Fake animated faces make me more
uncomfortable than, you know... a normal human face... yet for the sake of this
movie, it works.
And Vader was successful overall. His intro in the
lava palace was beautifully constructed (and speaking of lava palace - this is
the same castle that George Lucas envisioned as Darth Vader's home back in the
rough draft of Empire Strikes Back! The nods to the earlier
versions of Star Wars scripts, with the references to Kybur
Crystals, the ancient texts of "the Whills," and the original version
of "may the Force be with you" - "May the Force OF OTHERS be
with you" - were all amazing touches. But back to Vader...) We see him in
a state of vulnerability, emerging from a bacta tank, life support systems
working overtime, and it's creepy, hellish, and perfect. Once he's in the suit,
it's a little odd adjusting to old Vader in this new environment. Maybe it's
all the details and art direction invested in the newer characters of these new
movies, or maybe it's the look of the old Sith Lord's costume under the
scrutiny of 2016's high resolution cameras, but he seems a little less imposing
in his conversation with Krennic than he was in the Original Trilogy.
James Earl Jones' noticeably aged voice doesn't help. The guy's a legend and
can still pack a punch behind those booming vowels and consonants but there
were certain times when it seemed like he was fighting through a yawn. Give
this guy another breathing apparatus! Or at least take some Imperial tax
dollars and buy his facemask a new filter - FORCEDAMMIT!
... Ultimately, it's all nitpicking, because I was
very happy to see him back in action. Especially the ending - the chase scene
gave goosebumps and his relentless pursuit carried the momentum perfectly into
the opening of the original Star Wars. Rogue One
works overtime to undo the scars Revenge of the Sith left on this
character and it redeems him for a new generation.
SHAWN: It's great that we can finally use the
term 'Star Wars Prequel' in a positive light. While Rogue
One can never fully undo the damage of Lucas's Prequel Trilogy,
it still satisfies in all the ways we wish the Prequels had. And you're right
about Jyn and Cassian. While I never felt fully invested in their characters
for a good chunk of the runtime, by the film's conclusion I realized I really
did care about them. Their final moments together are really beautiful and I
have to give credit to Disney/Lucasfilm for allowing this story to reach its
depressing, but necessary and satisfying conclusion.
It's funny you mention a 'sinking feeling' regarding
the Rebel ship escaping and the Death Star plans 'baton toss' that takes place
as Vader annihilates the Rebel soldiers. I felt exactly the opposite. I was so
thrilled and excited by what I was seeing and that desperate attempt to get the
plans away before Vader recovered them was sheer brilliance. Even though we
know the Rebels succeed, I was still on the edge of my seat. And then when we
discover we're on the Rebel ship from the opening of A New Hope,
I just about lost my mind. And with all my talk about how off-putting Tarkin's
CGI face was, I have to say, I loved seeing Carrie Fisher's Princess
Leia. It just worked for me, and I'm sure part of it is because she's only on
screen for a brief time. With the Prequels, every attempt to connect the new
trilogy with the Original Trilogy made me roll my eyes; here, it
really works because the filmmakers have treated the material with care and
respect.
Speaking of filmmakers, how about that Gareth
Edwards? I loved his film debut Monsters, which he wrote,
directed, shot and did the special effects for, and I admired his Godzilla,
though I'm not over the moon (or space station) for it. Here, he does such an
excellent job with the visuals. He really has this impeccable sense of scale:
everything feels BIG and EPIC. That space battle at the end will go down as one
of the series' finest, if not the finest. It's got a lot to live up to,
but the emotional stakes blend perfectly with the excitement of seeing the
classic X-Wings taking on those Star Destroyers for the first(?) time.
It's all punctuated by Michael Giacchino's score. I
know we're both big fans of the composer's work. How did you feel about the first
Star Wars score that wasn't composed/conducted by John Williams?
RICHIE: Oh no, I didn't have a sinking
feeling about the space battle, I was just worried we were about to end such an
entertaining movie on a poorly imagined CGI face. And although I dreaded the
last couple of seconds leading to the Princess Leia reveal, I thought she
looked surprisingly good. Or at least, good enough to drive the point home.
Again, I actually loved the "baton toss.”
Following Vader down that corridor was the highlight of the movie. I just
worried that fake Carrie Fisher might take me out of it. Thankfully, I was
invested through the end credits.
As for Gareth Edwards, I think he knocked it out of
the park. We don't yet know how much the film changed during reshoots, and at
this point we don't really need to know. I'm the kind of person who loves
what-if scenarios, and if the movie sucked, then I probably would’ve complained
that they ruined it in reshoots or something, but here, I'm sure it's a better
movie because of the additional photography.
And let's talk about the cinematography for a
second... they nailed it. In addition to the muted colors, the shots were
perfectly focused during intimate moments, frenetic during battle scenes, and
there wasn't a drab visual in the movie. My favorite location may be Jedha -
it's an all too familiar war-torn desert city, and the atmosphere is depicted
perfectly. The contrast between the rustic ancient city and the gleaming star
destroyer hovering overhead is a striking edition to the album of classic Star
Wars visuals.
And it's funny, I remember us having a conversation
about the music sometime last year. Alexandre Desplat - great composer - was
set to score the movie, and I was a little disappointed that Michael Giacchino
wasn't attached because Star Wars seemed right up his alley.
Through a weird turn of last minute events, he ended up leading the Star
Wars orchestra, and although it doesn't have as many memorable themes,
the music was engrossing from when it jolted us from the opening "A long
time ago..." into the first shot in space.
What did you think of the visuals? And how did this
compare to other movies?
SHAWN: Visually Rogue One is
perhaps the most grounded and bleak a Star Wars movie has ever
felt. The war-torn imagery carries an ever-present sense of impending doom -
you really feel the overpowering might of the Empire in those beautiful shots
of the Star Destroyer on the horizon of Jedha and the Death Star blotting out
the sun during its approach. The sequence of the AT-AT's storming the beach
against the Rebels is filled with one jaw-dropping shot after another; the
execution regarding the combination of practical and computer effects is
top-notch. And while I think the standalone shots here are more impressive than
the overall visual style, I'm still mighty impressed with Edwards' direction
and Greig Fraiser's cinematography. I wish the storytelling had been as
compelling.
And you know, as bummed as I was about Desplat getting
the boot, I have to admit I was excited about Giacchino's involvement. Rogue
One's score isn't as immediately memorable as The Force Awakens',
but it successfully serves this film's story in a satisfying way. I can't wait
to revisit it.
FINAL THOUGHTS, RATINGS AND SERIES RANKINGS
SHAWN: So, we've come now to the end of our
extensive discussion. What are you final thoughts and what should our ranking
system be?
RICHIE: In a normal ranking, I would give it 4
out of 5. We could rank out of seven underwritten characters-- if so, I
would give 5.5 out of 7 underwritten space rogues.
SHAWN: Okay, great. Personally, I enjoyed Rogue
One overall, but I didn't find it to be the rousing success last year's
The Force Awakens was. I just wasn't as invested in its
characters and found the storytelling to be less involving and cohesive. But
everything comes together for its final 30-40 minutes, which are some of the
best in the entire Star Wars saga.
My final rating is 5 out of 7 underwritten
space rogues; my normal rating is 3.5 out of 5. My series ranking is as
follows:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars
3. The Force Awakens
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Rogue One
And coming in at a DISTANT 6, 7 and 8…
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. Attack of the Clones
RICHIE: Man, ranking the series is
difficult... A New Hope and Empire are
interchangeable to me, it just depends on my mood. And I loved Force
Awakens, even though I was pretty disappointed that the second half of
the film recycled much of the plot of the original. And unlike Force
Awakens, my view of Rogue One keeps getting better in
retrospect. It'll be interesting to see how our rankings evolve after Episode
VIII next December... OK! Since I'm on a Rogue One high,
and this movie ends where the original Star Wars begins, I'm
going with the following:
1. Star Wars
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. The Force Awakens
4. Return of the Jedi
5. Rogue One
...
6. The Phantom Menace
7. Revenge of the Sith
8. Attack of the Clones
I'm adding Rogue One to my next Star
Wars viewing marathon and I'll be watching in Machete Order. Start with Rogue One, follow
it up with the original Star Wars and Empire, then
take a machete to the prequel DVDs, and close out with The Force Awakens.
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