IT’S TIME TO STOP BELIEVING IN STAR WARS.
(with supporting conspiracy theories from Ed Newton-Rex)
[Spoilers warning — obviously]
So, I didn’t like the Rogue One.
You may be thinking, “c’mon dude it’s Christmas” but hear me out.
WHY?
Put simply, here’s my beef; Star Wars still treats me like a child but I’m not a kid anymore.
Rogue One is a white lie; a display of parental deference by Disney to carefully land uncomfortable themes without pulling us out of our comfort zone (I think this is why critics love it). Promised a subversive Star Wars film, it relegates topics such as war and sacrifice that we have always known but never seen unite our reality with a galaxy far far away, in favour of the familiar. It shelters us and in doing so, reminds us (as Phantom Menace did) that this is not an equal relationship; this is Disney’s house and you’ll play by its rules. In short, Rogue One is the cinematic equivalent of a dad explaining that your beloved family pet ended up on a farm, rather than as a maggot-ridden-corpse in a shallow grave behind the rhododendrons.
I wanted the truth. Star Wars lied to me. Now I want to rebel.
Before we go deeper, let’s travel to a galaxy too close for comfort.
NOOOOOO! THAT’S NOT TRUE… THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!
2016 was the year we lost our innocence.
Hilary splattered herself all over that glass ceiling. Donald Trump proved you can manipulate the most powerful democracy in the world with nothing more than a handful of soundbites. Brexit still means Brexit. Prince and Bowie returned to their home planets. The West is a shell of its former self. The spectre of eight Spielbergian years of Obamania is now giving way to the world’s greatest political hangover. Shattered self-confidence and raw emotional turmoil mean our faith has been, at the very least, shaken, if not totally evaporated, and with it our sense of purpose.
The party is over. As we crawl into bed, hoping for a dreamless sleep to alleviate the dull ache of our new day-to-day, a cinematic saviour that could help us better understand our shattered cosmos, looms large. An alternative take on a familiar world that chimes with our jaded outlook and inspires us to fight.
Rogue One, you’re our only hope.
THE GREAT STAR WARS SWINDLE
On the surface of it, it seems to have done the job. Critics and fans alike have spoken; JJ Abrams and his padawan Gareth Edwards have delivered a cathartic cinematic experience worthy of an unforgiving year. An exhilarating tale that embraces darker themes of sacrifice, loss and pyrrhic victory in the face of true evil [they all died- boo hoo].
There are even hushed comparisons to Empire. Newsflash:
Now let me be clear; I’m not a JJ-Abrams-bashing-troll. Scouts honour. I loved the Force Awakens. Sure it was a reference-o-rama, but who the hell cared? It was brilliant for a number of reasons:
- Revolution: Boyega, Ridley and Driver, the new guard, their angst-ridden confusion and fledgling mastery of the force, counterpointed against the stoic yet ultimately impotent icons of Han and Leia. Long lost souls that drew us into the franchise all those years ago, reaping the whirlwind of waging the eponymous war their entire lives.
- Emotional depth: I felt genuine loss as Han disappeared into the abyss. I felt a very real blood rush to the head when Rey beat Kylo, each snowflake hitting their lightsabers with a hiss. I welled up when Leia and Han hugged each other, united finally in the spiritual loss of their child. We were taken through an emotional rollercoaster that acknowledged the universe which we had fallen in love with as children was now in a period of radical change. Forty-year old themes and characters were handled with the nuance and depth of modern cinema, imbuing a classic story with countless new colours and shades.
- Relevance: The Force Awakens was a supremely intelligent film. A timely geo-political clarion call for civilisation to stand against terror, as ISIS ravaged the Middle East and bodies were carried out of the Bataclan, so we beheld a hyper radicalised First Order in all their neo-Nazi glory, JJ going where George had insinuated but feared to tread.
- Balance: Add to that wonderful analog sets that erased the memory of Jar Jar, thrilling action set pieces that wiped the slate clean of Jake Lloyd’s squealing pod-racers. South Park’s ongoing memberberry jokes aside, it was that feeling of nostalgia and newness delivered in short sharp bursts that left me exhilarated and demanding a second viewing.
Yes Chewie, we were home. A home for new and old fans alike.
Then came the aforementioned annus horribilis and a world dominated by an unforgiving 24-hour news cycle that rendered fiction boring in the face of reality. It’s in part the events of 2016 and the success of The Force Awakens that explain what happened next.
THE GREAT STAR WARS SWINDLE
It all started so well.
The first publicity shots promised us a Dirty Dozen-esque war movie that would mine the deep underbelly of the Star Wars universe. One where the shades of grey, hinted at in the adolescent tumult of Force Awakens, would go even further, exploring the human drama that comes from a near-half century of war.
Then came details of the plot. Descriptions alluded to a complex moral universe that we have never seen in the franchise’s history; a female (finally) chaotic neutral lead with nothing to lose, a rag tag bunch of ethnically diverse misfits on a suicide mission for the greater good, and the force relegated from magic to faith. Interesting.
Then that trailer (please do refresh your memory even if you have already seen the film). Oh my word. This was going to be it.
On December 14th, midnight at the BFI IMAX I sat buzzing with a friend. As the opening sequence played out title-free, the planets appeared to have aligned. No John Williams strains, weird B Movie/ martial arts subtitles, this was the strange new take on a familiar world we had all been promised.
But within five minutes, I realised I had been duped.
Having prepared myself for something new, I was not allowed to descend to hidden depths, frustratingly kept afloat by familiar tropes that trap us at the surface of Abrams’ world. Promised a new tale, I was forced to listen, once again, to the gospel according to Star Wars; orphans, murdered parents, a gruff insistent sensei and flirtatious independent spirits whose lingering glances are filled with the ghosts of Han and Leia.
With each scene I realised; I was being spoon-fed the same old Star Wars.
That warm nostalgia which exhilarated us in Force Awakens began to feel like a gilded cage — a by-the-numbers-format even. What promised to be a challenging exposition of a rebooted universe fell dramatically short, becoming instead a vehicle for imperfect CGI trickery (Cushing’s wonderful deadpan stretched in a million directions), sci-fi buzzwords (Kyber Crystals treated with the throwaway use of a say, Unobtainium?) and a good old fashioned Manichaeistic struggle, complete with pantomime villain (sorry Ben, you were bad). There were times when Tim Bisley’s words to that small crying child rang in my ears:
“THIS IS IT FOR YOU! THIS JUMPED UP FIREWORKS DISPLAY OF A TOY COMMERCIAL!”
Warning bells began to ring, the words ‘Phantom Menace’ flashed across my mind’s eye and a gnawing sensation returned to the pit of my stomach. Was The Force Awakens just a template and this the first of a production line?
I watched (with boredom I must admit) as each character came to an ignominious end, all strangely separated and only Diego Luna (meh) and Felicity Jones allowed a degree of closure and given a heroine’s end. Sharing a ‘we’re just friends- honest’ hug on a beach that somehow was now, incomprehensibly, tens of miles from the base in order to provide a good shot. It became all about them, and not the gang.
However the nail in the coffin was definitely Darth Vader’s swashbuckling entrance to the rebel ship. A Hasbro-version of a character that embodies dignified menace. A bowl of ice-cream from mom because we’d lost our favourite toy at the zoo. As I left the cinema there were whoops and cheers, but I felt empty. I had been promised something original and been served a limited edition reproduction with a cheesy grin and a “have a good day sir”.
Over the next few weeks, fellow Star Wars fans, some decades older than me and therefore far wiser, showered it with praise. I felt comfortable explaining my issues to one or two, but in most cases was met with incredulity.
“dude, you’re wrong — it was awesome”
However, slowly but surely, there are others who put their heads above the parapet, contradicting the avalanche of praise. Peter Suderman published recently on Vox, attacking the film for its “sameness” to the rest of the canon when it promised something so radically different.
One of the most compelling points raised by fans (Ed Newton-Rex), who like me were left scratching their head, was how the reported reshoots matched up with discrepancy between film and trailer . All points are captured succinctly in this Slashfilm article by Peter Sciretta (definitely read!)
This article goes some way to explaining why the film felt so different from its original pitch. In particular with regards to character development and the ending. I won’t go into detail but the main thrust of the article (read and judge for yourself) is that the characters were darker, feistier, fully-formed and had a war-heroes ending i.e. side by side. For instance, where was this scene from the trailer (complete with droid motion capture actor and the plans ready for transmission)?
That’s a final scene from a war film of epic proportions. One where characters who have no allegiance or reason to fight, pull together to save a world that has royally screwed them over. As they succeed, they are confronted with the painful reality of their sacrifice as they are swallowed up by the Death Star’s inaugural demonstration — together. This shows us an end where each character doesn’t come to a solitary ignominious end — they stand and fight. It is not a million miles from what happens in the film but it leaves an altogether different impression.
It’s an ending the embodies rebellion. That’s the ending to the film we were promised and needed.
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO
Here’s the thing.
Maybe, learning from the post-truth status of the world, Disney, with their knowledge of how to pull at our heartstrings, sheltered us from the reality of Gareth Edwards’ vision. In their careful mining of the Star Wars myth tricked us into thinking that we got what we wanted.
An old-fashioned Jedi Mind trick…
I know we’ve had a terrible year, but we deserved the truth, not more mollycoddling (after all that’s what got us into this mess — I’m looking at you Facebook). Battle-hardened and scarred, we were ready for a Rogue One as bleak at 2016. Instead we got the same-old Star Wars. Even more worrying, we seem to love it; happy to be the recipient of responsible and implacable parenting, meted out by Hollywood suits.
Have we learnt nothing from 2016?
However on Tuesday I had a crisis of confidence, brought on by a request from a friend to…
‘‘Put your business hat on bro, seriously”
He was right, this was about business. Sure we deserve to not be patronised, but this rebooted universe is actually strangely fledgling.
Maybe the risks I wanted Disney to take, darker more nuanced characters and ends, are 5 years away. It took nearly a decade of Marvel films for Netflix to make shows like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
Maybe Rogue One is a reality check and my railing, a teenage tantrum. A refusal to accept that mum and dad need to look out for the whole family, keeping the franchise alive for another forty years.
Maybe Disney have a done an amazing job in moving the needle towards a more nuanced and darker world whilst capturing the accessible nature of the universe that can bring in adults and children alike.
Maybe I should just shut up and realise that Star Wars is about the money and this is how things work.
Maybe that’s why I don’t like Rogue One; it reminded me that I live in a world where post-fact, commerce and giving people exactly what they want is what wins the day… that’s what builds legacy.
Maybe in not liking it, it says more about me than the film. I wanted to see the complexity of the real world reflected in Star Wars, but in railing at its sanitised echo in Rogue One, realise I’m expecting too much of a galaxy, far, far away. A world that has given me so much already and needs to think about those who are just coming to it.
Maybe, I’m not as grown up as I thought I was.
KK*— 23.12.15
*Growing up, KK aka Jonny wanted to work for Empire (not The Empire — although that would’ve been great) and review films. He now works at the BBC/Rebel Alliance making TV.
