Just like the Star Wars universe, there’s a good and a bad side to the latest film in the series, Rogue One – the Death Star plans mission prequel to A New Hope. It’s pierced with moments of brilliance, but it’s also plagued with a slow buildup, some terrible decision making that undermines the rest of the series and two laughable CGI character creations that make a mockery of the entire film.
It’s important to say that there are a few scenes towards the end of the film that make it a must-see on the big screen, but it’s just a shame the rest of it isn’t treated with the same genius. That said, they are genuinely epic with some stunning space battle sequences and, not to give too much away, a moment of absolute cinematic brilliance featuring Darth Vader.
However, they’re not enough to salvage it for our review, because there are just too many sticking points. The most appalling of the offenders is the CGI recreation of certain returning characters that are sadly no longer with us. If it isn’t bad enough that Peter Cushing is fabricated in his entirety as Grand Moff Tarkin – looking more like a computer game character than a credible part of a live action film – the arrival of Doby the House Elf at the end of the film is criminal.
It’s not the only moment of poor judgement on the part of the filmmakers behind Rogue One. Director Gareth Edwards, screenplay writers Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, story writers John Knoll and Gary Whitta, and anyone from Disney that had a part in the making of the film have got to hold their hands up to a number of questionable elements in the film.
The dubious morality of the alliance is a big one as they start to look a bit too much like cold-blooded killers than the one true force for good in the Galactic Empire that we’re used to. Assassination missions, indiscriminate killings, in-fighting and open deceit show their face for the first time on the part of the Rebellion, which just doesn’t ring true with the George Lucas creation that we all know and love.
There is an attempt to use this as a mirror on our own real world problems and the idea of good people doing bad things in the name of a noble cause, but it doesn’t fit. If there had been some element of it acting as the fulcrum for change within the Alliance then it could have been a little more credible, but without this it just seems like poor decision making on the part of the filmmakers.
There’s also an element of forced emotional connection that appears out of nowhere for the lead characters without even a little precursor build-up. If that isn’t bad enough, there’s also a couple of ridiculous sacrifices that look pointless, especially when you can see a route out for them. It may well be an attempt to tap into the idea behind the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode IV, but it isn’t in the same realms, so they come across as being unnecessary, lazy story developments.
Dialogue is a problem throughout the film and Felicity Jones (A Monster Calls) had to bear the brunt of it for the most part as main character, Jyn Erso, the daughter of a brilliant scientist forced to work on the construction of the Death Star. She holds up pretty well under the circumstances, and she just about makes her character likeable, but it’s touch and go at times. The rest of the cast have similar challenges, but without the acting skills to help get them past it.
Diego Luna (The Book Of Life) is fair to middling as Rebel Alliance captain and intelligence officer, Cassian Andor, and most of the rest of the cast falls largely around the same underwhelming status. Where Donnie Yen has poor delivery as blind former guardian of the temple of Jedha, Chirrut Îmwe, Riz Ahmed is out of his depths as defected Imperial pilot, Bodhi Rook and Forest Whittaker (Arrival) is under-used as Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrara.
Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange) is one of the few exceptions as scientist Galen Erso, giving another solid performance, and Alun Tudyk (Moana) has some good moments as Cassian’s robotic support, K-2SO, despite its incredibly advanced framework. Ben Mendelsohn (Larrikins) is fairly strong as new baddy Orson Krennic, the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial Military, and it’s always good to hear James Earl Jones as Vader.
Apart from Doby and Lord Voldemort, the CGI animation in the film is pretty impressive, especially in the construction of the planetary sets and space battles. It all looks incredibly slick and high impact on the big screen and with the support of Dolby Surround Sound it works very well to deliver some stunning sequences.
Great stories don’t die, they just get retold, but sadly this extended retelling sends shock waves of negativity throughout the whole series. It’s a saw thumb that should have been held up for improvements, instead of rushing something out in between Episode VII and VIII. Critics of George Lucas have always called on the importance of his role as guardian of the franchise and now it rests with Disney. It started out well in its tenure with The Force Awakens, but it has failed us on its first anthology outing. Hopefully it can do a better job with the Han Solo Movie.
There are a lot of big film review websites that give Rogue One a positive rating, but for us the negatives are just too significant to look beyond. Yes there are moments of brilliance that make the film worth seeing, but the rest of it is riddled with holes.
Rogue One film review: 2.4/5
