Rogue One

Felicity Jones leads the cast in Rogue One.

I was pretty cynical when they announced that there would be “Anthology” films released, telling stories outside the main Skywalker Saga, but Rogue One more than justifies that decision.

It tells the story of the stealing of the plans to the Death Star, ending just before the start of the original Star Wars film.  I would go so far as to say it’s my favourite Star Wars film outside of the original trilogy. There have been stories about reshoots and the studio not being happy, but whatever happened, the final product is superb.

Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, a man forced to work on construction of the Death Star by Director Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn. After seeing her mother killed and her father taken away, Jyn disappears and falls under the wing of Saw Gerrera, an extremist rebel, only to be abandoned by him later.

This is where Rogue One really excels; before we have seen the Rebel Alliance as united against the Empire, but here is really is shown as a very disparate grouping, with disagreements and differing factions. Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker, is in fact the nearest thing that the Rebels have to Darth Vader; he has mechanical legs, body armour that appears to be permanent and needs an oxygen mask to breathe. Jedha, where Gerrera is based, is only one letter away from Jeddah, where the bin Laden family moved to from Yemen when they began their ascent into Saudi society, and it has a very Middle Eastern feel to it.  A rebel attack on Imperial Stormtroopers there is obviously influenced by attacks on US troops in Iraq.  The film will make its way into someone PhD thesis on 21st Century conflicts on film.

Fans of high end TV will enjoy seeing Alistair Petrie (from The Night Manager) and Ben Daniels (from House of Cards) as Rebels.  Riz Ahmed, from The Night Of, is in a pivotal role too. It certainly has the best cast of any Star Wars film. Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell probably have late night, drunken phone calls where they slag off Felicity Jones for taking all the young, brunette English roles from them.

There are lots of little nods to the other films, too, but without making it seem too heavy handed. It’s great to see more of Yavin IV, the Rebel base, and Doctor Evazan and Ponda Baba, the two guys who hassle Luke in the Mos Eisley Cantina, are seen here bumping into Jyn on Jedha. Blue milk, which Luke is served by his Aunt Beru in the original film, is seen here at Jyn’s home, and when Bail Organa is asked about his friend, a Jedi who served him well during the Clone Wars, you know he’s talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi, and when he he is told he needs someone he’ll trust, he says her knows the right person, and he’d trust her with his life – you know he’s talking about his adopted daughter, Leia.  When a Rebel X Wing pilot has the callsign Red 5 you know he’s not going to last as that’s the callsign Luke uses later.

I was quite pleased at how much Grand Moff Tarkin was used in the film; given that he’s played by Peter Cushing, who is of course long dead. Seamlessly digitally grafting his face on to another actor gives us hope that General Leia Organa will continue to appear in Star Wars films despite Carrie Fisher’s death. (a young Leia also makes a brief appearance).

Given that we know how it is going to end, the film keeps up the suspense, with the final moments particularly thrilling. My only criticism is that James Earl Jones now sounds too old to provide the voice of Darth Vader; a minor one, but given that you can digitally insert people, they could have played with his voice a bit to make him sound younger.