STAR WARS GOES ROGUE WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Ordinary people on an extraordinary mission to steal the Death Star plans. Bring it on! WHATTHE CRITICS SAY

IT’S all still happening a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away but this time there’s no opening crawl of explanatory text nor A-list actors and there’s a new, unsparing realism. Rogue One, the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga, is a standalone spin-off of the original series. And it looks set to be a cracker. The movie is tipped to be 2016’s highestgrossing film – it broke presale ticket records for the year and movie buffs predict a final global total of $1,4 billion (R19,6 billion) in box-office takings.

Here’s the lowdown on December’s galactic extravaganza. Lightsabers at the ready! It’s set in the same universe as episodes I to VII but there’s no Han Solo, Anakin Skywalker or C3PO. This is a story about ordinary people being tasked with an extraordinary mission: to steal the plans for the original Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction.

The film opens 15 years before the main action on a planet that’s been a refuge for the scientist Galen Erso, his wife, Lyra, and their daughter, Jyn. Their peace is soon disturbed by the appearance of the evil Orson Krennic and his pack of Deathtroopers who’ve come to take Galen to help finish building the Death Star.

Fast-forward to the “present” and the Rebels have learnt of the existence of a planet-killing superweapon. Jyn, the roguish heroine, is broken out of an Imperial labour camp and introduced to the resistance in the form of rebel Captain Cassian Andor. She’s told how her father is partly responsible for the Death Journalists were treated to a 28-minute sneak preview in the US before the 15 December global release. Critics spoke afterwards of how Rogue One put the “war” in Star Wars and called it “hardcore”. Star and agrees to lead a mission to steal the Death Star plans.