Star Wars: Rogue One

Rogue One follows the events leading up to A New Hope, in which a desperate Rebel Alliance attempts to steal the plans for the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. Felicity Jones stars as Jyn Erso, a galactic delinquent with a familial tie to the Empire and a habit for disregarding orders. As the film progresses, she reluctantly amasses a band of heroes including disillusioned Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook, Alliance Captain Cassian Andor and his sardonic droid partner, K-2SO, plus monk/warrior duo Chirrut and Baze. Ben Mendelsohn plays the increasingly infuriated Director Krennic, whose connection to the Erso family provides the starting point for the story. Forest Whitaker also appears as frazzled extremist Saw Gerrera.

It's character relationships helps Rogue One forge its own identity within the larger series and sell the apparent futility and hopelessness of an ailing resistance. While there is solid content beneath, it felt rather difficult to get to: a somewhat thrown together first half meant that initial character interplay was rushed, which makes seeing them as anything more than another set of archetypal action figures a little difficult. Of the bunch, Jones, Ahmed, Yen and Luna provide the most rounded personalities. Those with the least to prove (Ahmed and Jones, arguably) still give everything. 

There were rumours of re-shoots intended to lighten the tone or bring the spirit of the film back in line with the other episodes. The Force Awakens may be a more structurally coherent film, but this is a very different beast; a war movie more than a fantasy. The spectacle of Stormtroopers getting thrown about in huge explosions is followed by a grimace and a burst of dirt and shrapnel rather than a punchline. Humour is present of course, thanks mostly to K-2SO’s delivery, but it’s less a continuing gag and more a reprieve. The grit and the grime is tangible. Rogue One is most definitely a Star Wars prequel not only in the chronological sense, but also with regards to its risk-taking, its attempt to re-invent the series, and an insistence on blurring the line between physical and digital filmmaking.