Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
OH, Star Wars. At a time when adult cynicism descends upon me and nigh-on three years as a film critic has me dissecting even the simplest of films and finding faults, you’re always there to remind me what true joy and cinematic perfection is really like.
I’ve seen a lot of films, read plenty of books, and ploughed through even more video games, and a recurrent theme keeps cropping up.
Why are these chunks of fictional media never as good as they used to be? Why was everything so much better as a kid? Has the well of originality been truly dredged to leave a dusty pile of reboots, remakes and reimaginings at the bottom?
Thankfully, there’s a tiny spring of hope still there. Rogue One is the film I’ve been looking for. Usually, new releases leave me with a feeling of ‘mild excitement’ to ‘want to see it’, but there’s only a new Star Wars film that can have me positively giddy, bouncing around my house and tearing off ‘X days to go’ post-it notes on my work desk.
Rogue One piqued my interest even more considering this was the first of the ‘anthology’ films, which are essentially stand-alone instalments outside of the numbered episodes.
Set just before Episode IV: A New Hope, Rogue One details the Rebellion’s mission to steal the Death Star plans from the Empire; a plot point previously mentioned in a couple of sentences in Episode IV’s opening.
What follows is a very different Star Wars, with almost the complete absence of the series’ staples of Jedi, lightsabers, the Force, and familiar cast.
It’s a darker, grittier and more mature tale that can almost be described as a straight-up war movie. Saving Private Ryan with Stormtroopers, if you will.
Although the outline of the ending might already be known, it’s about the journey and not the destination. In fact, there’s still a stack of surprises waiting, and the whole final act had my jaw magnetised to the ground.
As always with these films, the plot is best enjoyed with minimal foreknowledge, so I’ll keep it brief. Jyn Erso (Jones) is a criminal recruited by Rebel leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) to help find her father, Galen Erso (Mikkelsen), a brilliant scientist who has been coerced into working on the Death Star project in a crucial role.
Teamed with valued Rebel operative Cassian Andor (Luna) and his droid, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), Jyn’s mission brings her into contact with other key figures like ex-Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) and the extremist anti-Empire warrior, Saw Gerrara (Forest Whitaker), plus others.
The feeling of this being a fresh take on the universe, while still tied to its roots, permeates throughout. There is no opening crawl, while the film includes elements like a time jump, flashbacks and onscreen text identifying different locations.
This is also the first film to not be scored by John Williams, although his replacement Michael Giacchino does a fantastic job and includes a few recognisable riffs.
The new core group of characters are eminently likeable and easy to invest in – although I wish we could have seen more of Mikkelsen – but K-2SO steals every scene he’s in.
This droid is sort of C-3PO’s dark, amped-up counterpart, with the same knack for giving troubling statistics and stating the obvious.
However, instead of speaking with a worried attitude, K-2SO has more of a resigned and often amusingly cruel and blunt approach.
There are cameos aplenty, none of which I wish to spoil for you, so see how many you can spot! Some made me jump out of my seat in excitement, some were fascinating with how they were pulled off (including a completely digital take on a famous actor long since deceased, which was nearly perfect rather than distracting), whilst only one felt gratuitous and deliberately put in for the sake of being included.
Rogue One looks stunning, too. Director Gareth Edwards has utilised his more grounded, embedded warzone type camerawork incredibly well for a more ‘in the trenches’ feel, while taking us through several terrific locations that expand the Star Wars universe.
Of particular splendour is the planet Scarif, which the stark contrast of mixing its paradise location with the slaughter of a Stormtrooper vs. Rebels battle.
The film’s big X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter space skirmish is mind-boggling in its scale, and might just be my favourite one yet. In the end, Rogue One is a movie crammed with fan service, but when fan service is done this well, there’s little to complain about and much to adore.
The film offers a remarkable recreation of the original Star Wars world, while exploring this universe from a different, edgier perspective than the norm.
It also expertly delivers thrills, tension and genuine stakes, despite the audience’s prior knowledge that the movie’s central mission will be a successful one.
Rogue One is a soothing antidote to the concerns that in Disney’s hands, Star Wars would be milked to death and they would stop feeling special.
Well, fear not, because if this is any indication, the series has a lot of life in it as it continues its modern resurgence. Now, I’m off to see it for the third time!
Now showing: City Centre, Seef I & II, Wadi Al Sail, Saar, Al Jazeera, Dana, Novo, Mukta A2
