Rogue One Was a Minor Miracle

[Celerity]

It’s finally time to give the underrated Star Wars spin-off its flowers ahead of the new prequel series, Andor.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/09/star-wars-rogue-one-prequel/671351/

https://archive.ph/a8iDo



Rogue One sets itself apart from other Star Wars films seconds after it starts. There is no opening crawl, no wall of yellow font drifting into a star field. The franchise logo doesn’t appear, and the John Williams fanfare doesn’t kick in. There is merely the title card informing viewers that it’s “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”—and then bam: The action begins.

A prequel taking place at the height of the Empire’s militaristic might, 2016’s Rogue One chronicles how the Death Star plans came to be possessed by the rebels. But beyond that connective tissue and the galactic setting, the film bears little resemblance to past tales about Jedis, Sith Lords, and Chosen Ones. It primarily follows an ensemble of new characters, none of them named Skywalker, Solo, or Palpatine. The Force is mentioned but not wielded. Rogue One aims, as the director Gareth Edwards put it, to portray “the reality of war” and thus features a tone that is darker and grittier than that of other Star Wars movies.

Not that these differences mattered at the box office. Released with the subtitle A Star Wars Story, the film netted more than $1 billion worldwide, becoming the 20th highest-grossing film of all time during its initial run. Since being rereleased in theaters at the end of August, Rogue One has added another milestone to its sales tally, breaking into the top-10 list of IMAX earners—a promising sign for the upcoming Disney+ series Andor. Star Wars, of course, is always good business. But the continued success of Rogue One doesn’t come only from its association with recognizable intellectual property. Nearly six years after its initial release, the film stands apart as a rare franchise-extending project that has actually justified its existence. Today’s pop culture is overwhelmed with cinematic-universe expansions, many of which feel like unnecessary trivia-delivery machines rather than original stories set in a well-known world. Rogue One, though, is a spin-off that doesn’t feel like a knockoff. Indeed, given how the latest trilogy of Star Wars films concluded, the movie can be seen as something of a minor miracle.

Consider the way the film looks. Every prequel or sequel must straddle the line between being fresh and being familiar. Too many of these projects think that world-building simply means including fan-service cameos and references alongside a sprinkling of random new details. Although Rogue One winks quite a few times at those in the fandom who check Wookieepedia regularly (look, blue milk!), the film isn’t content to merely remind viewers that they’re watching a Star Wars movie. It strives to evoke the delight, awe, and thrill of discovery that this universe conjures at its best. The visual language of the original trilogy draws a stark contrast between the lived-in grubbiness of spaceship interiors and the wondrous, petrifying vastness of space. Rogue One does the same, devoting much of its screen time to establishing scale and texture. Yet it distinguishes itself too by toying with audience expectations: The film is devoid of George Lucas’s signature transition wipes. An X-wing raid happens at nighttime; a major battle ensues on a sunlit beach dotted with palm trees. Darth Vader’s massacre of rebel troops occurs in a cramped hallway. These shots dazzle for how they place classic components and characters in surprising contexts.

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[MontanaMama]

1. I love every one of the Star Wars films.

Flame away…but it’s something I’ve enjoyed with my kiddo his whole life. He’s now 17 and a senior in high school and we still watch every SW movie at every opportunity. Jyn Erso is such an underrated character.

[kysrsoze]

2. I loved Rogue One. IMO, it was much better than episodes 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 and Solo

... and The Book of Boba Fett. I would rather see a divergence from rehashes of the same old story - something more original.

[First Speaker]

3. The third trilogy was overrated and incoherent...

...the powers that be seemed to regard *The Last Jedi* as an embarrassment, and they essentially cancelled it immediately in *The Rise of Skywalker*. The whole trilogy simply doesn't hold together as an organic whole; it's hard to believe that Palpatine really "made" Snoke--that feels like an afterthought; and besides, if there can be one Palpatine clone, why can't there be an endless series of them? I did guess immediately, though, that Rey was Palpatine's granddaughter. Don't get me wrong--the characters were interesting, the acting was terrific, there were many good things in it. (Especially compared to the Second Trilogy.) But the parts are much greater than the whole... (I share the enthusiasm for Rogue One, by the way...)

[gratuitous]

4. I really liked Rogue One

They had a lot of really interesting characters, even though I knew that it was the lead-in to Episode 4, and I knew what had to happen to all those interesting characters. There were lots of little grace notes, by-play, and one of my favorite characters of all time, K-2SO.

[JT45242]

5. By far the best of the last 20 years...

There were actual multidimensional characters who related to each other and you could relate to.

At the end, as the heroes are waiting to die, I cried. They sacrificed everything for the tiniest of "new hopes"... A hope that the evil of the empire could be stopped. A hope that we knew would come to fruition. The original hinted at the cost to get the plans into R2 and eventually to Obi Wan. But this movie put a face and soul to that sacrifice. Made all the more poignant in 2016 as we watched a fascist wannabe run for president. The normalization of hatred and bigotry. The return of wannabe storm troopers, not cosplayers but neonazis.

It is the most satisfying of the movies because it relied on storytelling more than special effects. We knew it ended badly for the rebel scum, but to watch it and feel their desperation was powerful cinema.

Yes, Solo was fun. But this was moving.