Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rewatch-a-thon to Star Wars Episode 9
Step 5 of 10

Watched on 3D Blu-Ray

Sensible expansion or pure moneymaking? The announcement by Lucasfilm, which was bought by Walt Disney, to shoot various spin-offs of Star Wars in addition to the regular feature films in the future did not meet with approval everywhere. "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" was the first contribution to this line and doesn't make it easy to give a clear answer to the question above.

The good news first of all: Director Gareth Edwards and his script team actually dare to break new ground in some respects and, unlike Episode 7, which is a hugely safe bet, also risk something. The bad news: Not every innovation is worth imitating.

But first to the acquaintance: That some daring rebels could steal the secret plans of the Death Star at the risk of their lives, we have known that for almost 40 years, since the event marked the beginning of "A New Hope". So there wasn't much room for manoeuvre when the team behind Rogue One set to work to supplement the "what" with a "how". In this respect, it is remarkable how independent the film has become and how theoretically it could even be understood and enjoyed without prior knowledge. That's not to say that Edwards didn't give up allusions and small gifts to old fans. However, most of them are so organically incorporated that they don't degenerate into pure gimmicks.

It's also nice to see how much respect the filmmaker has for Hollywood's holy cow, for example how the Death Star was furnished in the old-fashioned style of the late 70s, how some pictures and shots could have been taken directly from the original trilogy. Or even are. And also the prequels find a small continuation here.

Less beautiful, however, is the convulsive attempt to revive old figures with the help of new technologies. Especially because the retro-look was used in many places, the unspeakably ugly and unnatural CGI people are unacceptable. With all understanding for the needs given by the content, such a cheap solution would not have had to be real. Also frightening is the tendency to kitsch, which you didn't have to endure in this form, even with the much-vilified prequels. Especially towards the end so much comes together that one would wish to have gone to the toilet five minutes earlier. And that's also unfortunate because the action-packed finale captivates in a way Star Wars hasn't done since the original trilogy.

Because none of the characters appear in the later parts, it's not clear what's going to happen to them, Rogue One is about something. In addition, there is an epic space battle again, in which the popular spaceships of that time, but also some new vehicles are used and it burns on all corners and ends of space. Then you overlook the fact that some of the battle scenes have become a bit over the top.

The biggest flaw of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, however, is one that doesn't just show up selectively, but that runs through the whole movie: the characters. It goes without saying that Cassian, Jynn and their friends can't become icons like Luke, Leia and Han Solo because of the frame. But it shouldn't be as loveless as it is here, above all in comparison to the new likable colleagues from Episode 7 the improvised task force gets the short end of the stick, has less charisma and less personality. Especially the Hollywood greats Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen and Forest Whitaker give the impression that they found their way into the film exclusively because of their name and their sales-promoting effect, the roles themselves have only little substance. It looks even worse with Jiang Wen, who as Assassine Baze Malbus carries a lot of humming around all the time, but doesn't say anything that you can remember afterwards. The last two in the band, the hypernervous deserter Bodhi and the cynical droid K-2SO, who, like his colleagues R2-D2 and Chopper, often has to serve for the comic relief, are conciliatory.

This works out pretty well, just like Rogue One, despite the various flaws, seldom shows its two hours running time. For a "real" Star Wars the good representative isn't enough, though.

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