Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for our time.
It’s not the Star Wars we wanted. It may be the one that we needed.
Rogue One lets you know it is not part of the main Star Wars story line from the beginning. It starts out with a modified theme and no trailer crawl, to distinguish itself from the main series. It is a movie for existing Star Wars fans: if you are curious about the Star Wars series, this is not the movie to start with. Rogue One knows it’s target audience of dedicated geeks & nerds, so it launches straight into the action without trying to teach you the fundamentals of the Star Wars universe (the Force, the rebellion, the empire, etc.) The action cuts sharply from planet to planet, scene to scene, with only a caption to tell you where you are. Dedicated sci-fi fans, however, will be used to bouncing around a strange galaxy with minimal guidance, as it is a common theme in other sci-fi series such as Star Trek and Dr. Who. The information given is just enough for you to keep up with the plot without spoon-feeding you every little detail(which is one of my personal peeves with the prequels).
The tone of this film is very different than any of the features in the main story line. It is a lot darker. Rogue One isn’t a coming of age story that always ends on a hopeful note. The film definitely doesn’t try to assure you that everything will be ok, which, given that we know what happens between the Empire and the Rebellion later on, was an interesting spin and probably a challenge for the writers as well. Throughout the film, hope is mentioned, however, it is always tenuous and victory is never guaranteed. Success seems to always come at a great price: the characters are forced to measure whether or not their Cause is worthy of the sacrifice.
Minor Spoiler:
There is a LOT of sacrifice.
Rogue One also follows the trend started in The Force Awakens by giving just a touch more life and individuality to the storm troopers. Some of them in the beginning of the film are dirty and haggard, reminding you that the Empire is really good for no one, whether they realize it or not. In battle, you see them stagger as they are shot down, instead of just being the faceless, voiceless bad guys from the original trilogy. You see their dedicated attempts to do what they believe is best for the galaxy: the Empire’s half-assed attempt at a selling point is that under one unified dicator there is no conflict and no war, forcing peace on the galaxy. Rogue One shows the complicated, brutal side of war: war means both sides are killing people, and inevitably innocent lives are taken. The rebels themselves commit some of the atrocities, and get no joy from it. This is a new take, showing that even the “good guys” don’t have the luxury of being all good in times of violent conflict. Extremism is frowned upon on both sides, implicitly because it adds to the number of lives lost.
This is not the happy, hopeful story we wanted to end 2016 with, to be sure. Rogue One is dark, and the happy ending hangs on by mere threads of chance, and not everyone benefits from it in the end. It is an uncomfortable story, because you’re forced to see the heroic side (the Alliance) doing terrible things and make hard decisions. However, it is the story we needed to see. We needed to be reminded of how horrible war is (think Syria and other current global conflicts). We needed to be reminded that resistance has a price, and that not everyone fighting for a cause ends up benefitting from it in the end. We needed to be woken up to the present global situation. We needed to be reminded that doing the right thing is not always simple and straightforward, and that doing the right thing is not usually comfortable and easy.
Rogue One is neither comfortable nor comforting. It is full of grim determination, and it is a reminder that everything comes with a price. It is a reminder that even when resisting looks hopeless, if there is even the slightest chance of success, it is our duty to march forward anyway. If we try, a way might open up either for ourselves, or for the next wave of resistance.
Rogue One: A Star Wars story. May the Force be with you. Always.
