Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) - An Unexpected Experience You Don't Want to Miss (Review)
- Zebediah Oke
- Dec 1, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 21, 2021
With Disney+ finalising the production of the Star Wars: Rogue One prequel Star Wars: Andor, we take another look back at the quiet brilliance of Star Wars Rogue One.
I’m going to be blunt. I thought that The Force Awakens sucked.
The little charm it mustered came from a melodramatic attempt to evoke a feeling of nostalgia. The Force Awakens felt like a weary, eye-rolling head-nod to the Original Star Wars films. I felt betrayed by how bad I had found it. Not because I’m particularly invested in Star Wars (I’m nowhere near as fanatic about it as some people I know), but I was one of the people gravely disappointed about the stark difference between the trailer and the film. A brooding Kylo Ren holding a red lightsaber with a laser cross-guard towards a panicked and frantic Finn, instilled so much excitement in me. I thought we were going to see a darker, more raw approach to the Star Wars universe and I was totally here for it.
I was wronged. And because I was wronged, I took it out on Rogue One. The trailer came out: Oh, Forrest Whittaker is in it? With an Eraserhead-esque afro? So what? A siege-like battle on the beaches? Who cares? Wait… Is that Riz Ahmed from Four Lions?! Maybe. Maybe, not. A blind Donnie Yen, talking about The Force before busting up some Stormtrooper heads? Oh, please. Needless to say, I almost passed on watching Rogue One at the cinema altogether. I am glad that I didn’t.
Rogue One turned out to be an unexpectedly marvellous experience. Set just before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, Rogue One follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) as the reluctant leader of a band of rebels on their treacherous journey to obtain the plans of The Empire’s most infamous, planet-destroying weapon. It is a film made separately from the main, usual Skywalker storyline but it provides a brooding and intriguing facet to the Star Wars universe. It was a side I have been longing to see.
As someone who loves their films to explore intense topics, Rogue One is poignant in the themes it explores. I was particularly interested in the way it addressed resistance. When the rebel council talk to Jyn, imploring her to give them an audience with Saw Gerrara (Forest Whittaker), he’s described as a ‘violent extremist’. I loved it. I loved that Rogue One presented different facets of the rebellion and that there was a revolutionary of this nature in the Star Wars universe. I loved that the evil of The Empire had bred a man like Saw Gerrara and that we got a brief glimpse of the “questionable” methods he uses to achieve his goal. I wish we could have had more exploration of him and insight into him. At a time where white supremacists feel so emboldened, a focus on Saw Gerrara’s character could have been a much needed, deeper examination into the complexities of morality when it comes to violently resisting oppressive regimes.
But my desire to see more of Saw was part of a much larger beauty of Rogue One. This feeling wasn’t restricted to him. I felt myself wanting to know about ALL the characters. How did they get there? What are their backstories? How has The Empire drove them into resisting? How did they become how they are? The fact that I was constantly asking these questions throughout the film shows how successful Rogue One was at exploring the little guys in the vast universe.
Rogue One skilfully juxtaposes the otherworldliness of the existing Star Wars universe with an authentic portrayal of the realities and costs of war. People aren’t just losing hands in this film, only to have them replaced with swanky new robotic ones later. Everyone dies. I mean, EVERYONE.
On top of that, the previous Star Wars films have made us accustomed to telekinetic magic, eerily accurate and wise intuitions and uncanny combat skills cultivated by both the villains and heroes after lifetimes of vigorous training and conflict. But in Rogue One, a curious thing happens. The physical absence of the Jedi, renders The Force into a mythology, or perhaps even a theological status. It’s both relegated and deified as religious mysticism; to a sentimental belief in trinkets, to derelict, toppled Jedi idols that have been eroded by weather and sand, to hopeful prayer to comfort soldiers on the edge of doom and instil hope, and the spiritual fuel for a blind, pious and gifted warrior. It shows, in greater detail, how mere humans would have a relationship with the force.
The disbandment of the Jedi Order has another great effect on the film. Once you hear the familiar, overly asthmatic breathing teased at the end of the trailer, you expect the appearance of one of film’s most recognisable villains in Rogue One to be somewhat cliché and anticlimactic. But without a Jedi presence in Rogue One - without the balanced duality of good and evil - Darth Vader becomes a demi-godlike figure. His presence is dense and malevolently divine, and is illustrated perfectly in the scene where he’s visited by the film’s main antagonist, Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendhelson), as he turns to the Sith lord for support. When Krennic steps out of line, Darth Vader asphyxiates him with the force and, as Krennic slumps to the ground, gasping for air, we see a maelstrom of emotions on his face. He looks powerless, totally outmatched, but ultimately, a slight smirk enters the fray of his face — he is in awe of the Dark Emperor.
Finally, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention how effortlessly the film delivers a myriad of refreshing, diversity of characters, which is not just limited to including a fantastic cast of people of colour, but also the care and nuance being put into the presentation of these characters. There are no misogynistic slants restricting Jyn Erso from being a reluctant but wholly capable leader. Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) meandering, but thoughtful journey through morality was embarked upon convincingly whilst retaining his Mexican accent, a seemingly small detail which was welcomed with viral posts and wide praise. But I have to say the most moving examples came between Chirrut (Donnie Yen and) and Baze (Wen Jiang). The relationship had all the indications of brothers in arms, but a tenderness of something more, and it’s a tenderness that is often not afforded to Asian characters, much less between two male Asian characters. Despite their notable differences, with Chirrut being a devout believer in The Force and Baze’s initial apostasy, they retain a deep bond forged in the crucible of stress, loss and war, with an understanding of each other’s beliefs and humour, a warrior’s history and a love and respect for each other which is almost palpable whenever they are on screen together.
I could talk about a whole lot of other things, how the film’s opening location does an incredible job of establishing the cinematic atmosphere of unearthliness and broodiness and how it is maintained throughout the whole film, how K-2SO was such a fitting character when it came to providing comic relief, with a biting sarcasm and quick wit that it made you forget that Jar Jar Binks and R2-D2 even existed, and so on, and so on. But I will finish with this: Rogue One dared to do so much, even in its decision to not do much at all.
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