This is the second film under the Disney banner and I saw
the 3D version. This film could have had
a subtitle of Episode 3.5 as it takes place sometime at least 18 years after
Senator Amidala died, giving birth to twins Luke and Leia. Anakin Skywalker has evolved completely into
the dreaded Darth Vader. The Empire is
ruling the galaxy while The Alliance is fighting an almost insurmountable
battle to regain freedom.
The 3D version brings those images so much closer and I find
that, with films with lots of CGI, you have the ultimate viewing experience. In addition to the grand battle scenes, there
are examples with two familiar faces in this installment – Peter
Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin, and a frame of Carrie Fisher’s Princess
Leia Organa. An older Jimmy Smits reprises
his role as Prince Bail Organa, head of the ruling house of Alderaan. You may recall from Revenge of the Sith that he brought the infant Leia to his home
planet to be raised as his adopted daughter.
Lastly, a brief glimpse of C3-PO and R2-D2 is also seen.
If I have any criticism of the film, it is that, unlike the
Lucas prequels and original trilogy, one may not have sufficient time to bond
with these characters and places. While we were
used to seeing scenes from Tatooine,
Naboo, and Coruscant in the prequels, more time was devoted to each place. Rogue One differs in that battles take place on many different locations and the characters
are present for this film only. What is
clear is that a rebellion requires the efforts of countless individuals – many
of whom are behind the scenes, and whose efforts alone would go unnoticed were
it not for being combined into one large valiant effort.
The first part of the story focuses on a family – Galen
Erso, his wife Lyra, and young daughter Jyn.
Imperial troops arrive at their farm to force Galen, a former scientist of
the Galactic Empire, to return for final construction of what would become the Death
Star. The Imperial troops kill Lyra,
search unsuccessfully for little Jyn, and Galen is taken back to Empire
headquarters. Fast forward so Jyn, now
grown up, has achieved quite a reputation as a criminal, survivalist, and
rebel. She is fiercely independent,
similar to Rey of The Force Awakens. Jyn aligns herself with the rebels only as a
means to rescue her father.
Through Galen's holographic message, Jyn discovered that her
father has been an unwilling partner to help build the Death Star. Linking this film with Episode IV: A New Hope is a tiny bit of vital information, referred
to as that critical flaw and vulnerability to the Death Star’s
ultimate force of destruction. The goal is now to not
only bring back Galen, but to have him tell the rebel force how to defeat this
super weapon that can destroy entire planets. The rebel council decides it is
too risky to attempt a rescue, but that does not stop Jyn, who has allied
herself with a few others who don’t seem to obey rules.
If you enjoyed the bantering between C3-PO and R2-D2 in
Episodes 4-6, you’ll love K-2SO, described as a former Imperial Droid who was
captured and reprogrammed by the Rebel Alliance. He has a very large presence, making him
similar to Chewbacca the Wookie. While
Chewie was the faithful companion of Han Solo, K-2SO is the buddy to Cassian
Andor, who reminded me of Solo’s flying by the seat of his pants to evade Imperial forces.
Rogue One succeeds in bridging some gaps – between the scene
when Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku delivers the plans for the Death Star to the
Emperor, and the scene where Princess Leia places the same plans
into R2-D2’s memory bank for Obi Wan Kenobi.
As a true Star Wars fan, you will enjoy the film. Once it comes out on DVD, it will help to
make an interesting progression with the
prequels and the original trilogy for a Star Wars weekend viewing.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU....ALWAYS!!!!
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