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The dark side of ‘Wars’
Violent ‘Rogue One’ showcases gritty mass slaughter.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” the tale of a controversial Death Star and those who loathe it, operates as a prequel to the 1977 movie that became a flexible, malleable religion to millions. The new movie is a little bit “Guardians of the Galaxy,” a little bit “Dirty Dozen” in its mass wartime slaughter and a pretty good time once it gets going.
The opening title crawl to the ’77 original made reference, as you may recall, to “Rebel spies” who manage to “steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR.”
Industrial Light and Magic chief creative officer John Knoll thought there would be a nice little stand-alone movie in imagining who these rebels were and how they wangled the Death Star plans from the Empire forces. Lo: “Rogue One,” which takes its name from the U-shaped spaceship whisking our Alliance fighters to the tropical planet Scarif for the big showdown. The group is led by Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso and Diego Luna as Cassian Andor.
Deliberately, director Gareth Edwards’ effort is rough around the edges, hectic in its cross-cutting but increasingly effective as kinetic cinema. The battle scenes are shot in what production designer Neil Lamont calls “docu-war film” style.
Much of the film’s middle section, in which Jyn and her father (Mads Mikkelsen) reunite after many years, takes place in dark, glum, rainy settings. Screenwriters Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy also focus on the coming-together of the lone wolves comprising Rogue One’s rebel fighters. Donnie Yen plays the blind and dazzlingly lethal Chirrut Imwe, with whom the Force is strong; Jiang Wen is Baze Malbus, ex-assassin; Riz Ahmed is the pilot Bodhi Rook, and in the droid department, “Rogue One” introduces a fine addition to the “Star Wars” universe, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), who gets some genuinely funny material.
The movie’s pretty violent. Certain shots, such as a child screaming for her mother in the middle of a rebel attack on the Empire troops in a crowded marketplace, evoke memories, by design, of nonfiction wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Several people exiting Monday from the Chicago press screening expressed the same three-word sentiment — “not for kids” — though, of course, millions of preteens will prove that sentiment hapless.
Director Edwards made the grave and compelling reboot of “Godzilla,” and while “Rogue One” is less distinctive fantasy, it is its own thing and very much a thing designed to fit into all the other things that came before it. Last year there was a little pushback regarding the casting of a young actor of color (John Boyega) in one of the male leads. The multicultural ensemble of “Rogue One” may well spell heart attacks and an early demise for those who really, really want the “Star Wars” universe to stay the Way It Used To Be. Whatever; these people are dopes. I do wish Felicity Jones’ character popped the way Daisy Ridley’s did in last year’s franchise offering. “The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Abrams, was smooth, consistent, even-toned, nostalgic. “Rogue One” zigzags, and it’s more willfully jarring. Yet it takes time for callbacks and shoutouts to characters we’ve seen before, and we’ll see again. And again. And again.