Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

You thought I had wrapped up and packed my bags for 2016? Well if there was one film this year worth finding time for in this busy season, it would have to be the highly anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I really enjoyed last year's The Force Awakens and its reintroduction to the original characters but must admit I was hoping for a brand new story with new characters, and this is exactly what Rogue One is.

Bridging the gap between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope, Rogue One tells the story of how the Rebels were able to defeat the Death Star and the people who stepped up to the mission. It's becoming a habit of mine to recount my feelings when I first saw a trailer but this one caught my interest while raising a lot of questions. One was considering how many Star Wars films we can expect each year with the fear it might turn into the Marvel situation where they have become over-saturated for my liking. However, if each one tells its own tale and expands the universe, colour me excited. Back to the trailer, I also liked how the series was continuing adopt the worn-in look of the original series and move to real locations as opposed to everything being CGI. And with the following trailers, I was sold and ready to see what director Gareth Edwards had in stall for one of the world's largest fan bases. 

Now I was apprehensive following unsettling news of reshoots and having heard what happened to Suicide Squad plus countless other films, this is rarely good. The reports suggested the producers were changing their mind and altering the ending, which becomes apparent after watching the trailers again that featured many missing scenes. But fear not! While its clear there were changes, what we do have is a very fine film that will surely improve with every viewing. Bold decisions were made in the making of this and it's good to see the studio actually willing to tell a dark story with brand-new characters. Whereas I found The Force Awakens to rely a little too heavily on nostalgia, Edwards and his writers strike gold. 

The cast themselves are incredibly varied combining relative unknowns with familiar faces to great affect. We are meant to believe the Rebellion is an exhausted and brutal side to be on so we are spared the perfect twinkling-white teeth of Hollywood stars for the most-part and those we get are battered beyond belief. Felicity Jones take centre stage as the fiery daughter to the man behind the Death Star and is given far more to do than Daisy Ridely in terms of character development. As a Hannibal fan, it was great to see Mads Mikkelsen as Jones' father, but it's Ben Mendelsohn who comes out on top as the dastardly Krennic. For all Edwards does right with his characters, it was a shame that Forest Whitaker received such a small role given his interesting character that held so much potential. Perhaps an unfortunate victim to the reshoots. 

Speaking of interesting characters, Peter Cushing is controversially brought back to the screen after over 20 years since his death as Tarkin. While the CGI took a second to accept, everything from his voice to his mannerisms was carefully reconstructed and was a key character worth adding to help connect the series. Adding a minor spoiler, we also see CGI Carrie Fisher which the audience reacted to as we watched the film on the same day as her tragic passing. 

The Star Wars series has never been one to offer extended cuts but this is one film that could have lasted an extra 45-minutes and would have been all the better for it. That's not to say the story feels rushed with it's two hour plus running time. The pacing is there and the action set-pieces were great to watch, particularly in the final act. But if I could criticise, the aerial combat while impressive towards the climax did feel a little unoriginal. It is what we pay to see and have come to expect, but given Edwards' creative background with his debut film Monsters and how exciting the ground combat felt, the space moments lacked that immersive tension. 

Nitpicking aside, I really enjoyed this and look forward to rewatching again and again. Rogue One offers so much and I find it almost a shame that the next film will take place after The Force Awakens when this time in the Star Wars universe is so interesting. I don't think you have to be a fan to enjoy the story or richly drawn characters but fans will surely get a kick out of this leaving a smile on their faces as it did for me when the credits began to role.