Ever since the late 1970's, Star Wars has successfully captured the hearts of many, and has blossomed into a highly successful franchise. Overall, the Star Wars franchise has accumulated about $30,536,000,000, and that number continues to grow. This number comes from total revenue of box office and product sales. You can see the full statistics of total sales in the following week: http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-revenue/. Naturally, having made a substantial amount of revenue over the past few decades, it appears logical to continue the phenomenon. Upon Disney's announcement to take over LucasFilm in 2012, the Star Wars franchise has returned to take younger generations on an adventure that traverses atmospheric boundaries. Disney taking over LucasFilm has sparked the opportunity to create the same childhood memories experienced by many, as well as return longtime fans to the Star Wars universe. Disney debuted their take on the Star Wars universe last year, in 2015, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Despite much skepticism, Force Awakens was a surprising success, and had a superb balance of the old and the new. Following the enormous success of Force Awakens, Disney proceeds to release another installment to the Star Wars universe. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story takes a step back, and tells the story of how the Rebels obtained the plans to destroy the Empire's greatest weapon: the Death Star.
Rogue One is directed by Gareth Edwards, who recently directed Godzilla (2014). It is important to note that Edwards contributed to the direction of Godzilla for the reason that he does utilize a similar style in Rogue One with scene placement and angles. He made a point to bring a scale to the many classic war machines from the Star Wars universe. Emphasizing low-angle shots, Edwards effectively conveyed the true height of various objects that have commonly been seen throughout the franchise, making the world more realistic. Edwards had a good direction for this film, but this film was clearly tailored for die-hard Star Wars fans, for good reason.
All critiques aside in regards to direction, this film stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, and several other big names as well. Felicity Jones effectively portrayed Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the mastermind behind the Death Star. Unfortunately, Jyn was the only character to receive proper character development in this film, none of the other characters were truly given a background analysis or motive for being apart of her story. Regardless of this, it is safe to say that Alan Tudyk's character, K-2SO, stole the show with or without proper character development. K provided significant comedic relief, and served as the Drax of Star Wars. On the other hand, the rushed love interest of Jyn, Cassian Andor, lacked a compelling interest and proved to be more frustrating than anything else. Furthermore, I found myself loving more of the subordinate characters than the main characters. In addition, to those who have seen it you will know what I am referring to, there are certain major characters that deserved more attention than others.
Regardless of the weakness in character development, the cinematography and special effects were phenomenal. Wide shots were effectively used to not only pay tribute to the older films, but to also show the viewer the depth and detail of each scene created. Furthermore, it was exciting to see older aspects of Star Wars be more refined to realistic detail playing on nostalgia and emotion in untold ways. There was a prevalent emphasis on paying tribute to the original trilogy, while also creating a new story. Many characters, fighter ships, and planets reemerged into the forefront. One huge difference between Rogue One and almost all of the Star Wars films is this movie had more war in it than anything else. It has always been ironic that most of the film lack full length war scenes when the title actually implies war. Keeping this in mind, the fights in this film are well choreographed, and are one of the best scenes in the whole entire film. The fights are fun to watch, but get you on the edge of your seat.
After reviewing all the high points of Rogue One, naturally, there are several flaws. One flaw, which personally frustrated me is the music was not as up to par as it should have been. It was clear that composer, Michael Giacchino, desired to capture the nostalgia while creating something completely new. Unfortunately, I feel as if this backfired to those who really listen. Multiple times in the film, I thought the soundtrack was going to dive into Anakin and Padmae's love theme from the prequel trilogy, and there were random moments of utilizing the original music in various scenes. In reality, it would have been better if Giacchino had either completely turned his focus solely to nostalgia to bring more meaning to scenes or to creating new music, instead of attempting to balance the two. Another flaw lays within the post-production editing. To the keen eye, the story of the film feels extremely choppy, especially in the earlier scenes of the film. There are a lot of cuts from place to place which constantly pull the viewer through what feels like thousands of unnecessary plot points. In light of this, the editing could have been smoother and less choppy to create a more consistent and fluid story. Lastly, one major flaw with this film was that many individuals within the audience left the theater confused. Those who had no context to the film, and had not seen the original Star Wars films, had no idea what was happening in Rogue One. As a result of this, many are going to be quick to judge this film in a false light.
Rogue One is a decent film, but is a little rough around the edges. This film has many intense moments, laughable lines, and a few interesting characters whom I feel were not explored enough. Regardless, I would not recommend this film for individuals who are just jumping into the Star Wars universe due to the necessity of context to the story Edwards is choosing to explore. This film was not horrible, but, unfortunately, did not reach its full potential. Therefore, Rogue One is simply an enjoyable adventure which focuses on taking longtime fans on a fantastic ride.
Score: 6.5/10
