Rogue One really puts the ‘war’ in Star Wars

YOU don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to have an excellent time in Rogue One. It really puts the “war” in Star Wars.

REVIEW

STAR Wars is such an immersive world heavy in lore and esoteric facts that being able to balance fan service without scaring off the casual moviegoer is no easy feat.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story manages to do exactly that. Dedicated fans will positively swoon over it while less devoted audiences will find much to like without being versed in all things Star Wars.

Despite its darker tone, Rogue One is a more accessible film than last year’s A Force Awakens because while it is unmistakably a Star Wars movie, it’s not as reliant on the franchise’s deep-rooted mythology. You could easily sit down, knowing not much more than the bare minimum and have a really excellent time.

For fans, Rogue One broadens the universe they already love by introducing new characters and new worlds like the desert moon planet Jedha with its bustling marketplace and holy orders and the tropical planet of Scarif which would make for a lovely holiday spot (these portions were filmed in the Maldives) if it wasn’t an Imperial military base.

There are also cameos from the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, as well as “easter eggs” littered throughout for the keen observer. There’s nothing quite like hearing strains of John William’s original score when familiar characters enter the fray.

Junkyard chic, the new trend.

The first “stand-alone” Star Wars movie, Rogue One is a prequel to the original film, A New Hope, with the last frame of this film leading directly into the events of Episode IV.

Rogue One is the story of how the Rebel Alliance stole the blueprint for the Death Star which exposed the fatal flaw at its centre. The same plans that were hidden inside R2D2 that Luke finds in A New Hope.

You may already know how it’s supposed to end but make no mistake, there are high stakes — this is white-knuckle, heart-in-your-mouth stuff. The film effectively builds up the urgency and the tension, especially through the epic climactic battle, and you will be getting the shakes following all the dynamic action — how are they going to do it, who’s going to make it?

Rogue One really puts the “war” in Star Wars. There are war councils and preamble missions leading to a proper assault between two factions with simultaneous skirmishes in the sky and on the ground and it doesn’t mince on the ugly cost of such brutal fights. Despite its sci-fi framework, it may be the most realistic Star Wars chapter yet.

Ben Mendelsohn as smugly ambitious Director Krennic.

Director Gareth Williams has created real scale while still managing to keep it personal. The script by respected filmmaker Tony Gilroy (Bourne movies, Michael Clayton) and Chris Weitz (American Pie, Cinderella) is tight and the pacing works really well across the two-hours and 13-minutes running time.

The filmmakers have also blended the old-school Star Wars aesthetic from Lucas’ original run with modern day technological advances.

Centred on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a tough warrior whose mother was killed by Imperial Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) while her father (Mads Mikkelsen), a brilliant engineer, was taken to work on what would become the Death Star, Star Wars continues to invest in female heroes. She’s accompanied by a Rebel spy and assassin Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) trying to find atonement for the terrible deeds carried out in the name of the cause and Bohdi (Riz Ahmed), an Imperial pilot-turned-defector.

Those stormtroopers are going to bite it.

Jones and Luna are charismatic leads but the standout new characters would have to be Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), a blind warrior with mad hand-to-hand combat and weapon skills while droid K-2SO’s (voiced by Alan Tudyk) wry honesty is a welcome injection of humour.

While many of the smaller roles are filled by actors familiar to British TV audiences, the main, diverse cast of Rogue One — Jones is British, Yen is a Hong Kong martial arts star, Luna is Mexican, Mendelsohn is Australian, Jiang Wen (Baze Malbus) is Chinese, Mikkelsen is Danish and Ahmed is a British actor with a Pakistani background — reflects their fictional counterparts’ standing as outsiders in the Star Wars universe but also big studios’ desire to appeal to international audiences, especially the lucrative Asian markets.

And it will be a big hit globally with its good-vs-evil fable. Rogue One is an intense, superior action-blockbuster that will satisfy everyone, whether they’re a rusted-on Star Wars fan or not.

Rating: 4/5

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is in cinemas now.

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