Review: Rogue One (third-pass)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (third-pass / 2D / SPOILERS)
Cert: 12A / 134 mins / Dir. Gareth Edwards / Trailer


Previous reviews:
• First-pass (spoiler-free)
• Second-pass (spoiler-free)


Okay, this is your spoiler-break. That first section of text which will be picked up by some web crawlers and preview-generators, and which will potentially appear in front of the eyes of people who haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to be annoyed when they're just browsing through their social media platform of choice (and quite right, too). There are no spoilers in this bit. They all come after the image, below. You shouldn't read the main body of this post unless you've seen Rogue One, as it details key plot points, dialogue and character appearances. And apart from anything else, it won't make sense if you haven't seen the film yet.

So, this is my third viewing of Rogue One within a fairly concentrated period of time, and I'm still loving it. Picking up more background detail with each watch, and the stylistic differences that separate the film from the Saga episodes are becoming less jarring. What follows is a sort of 'thoughts as I go', roughly in the order of occurrence and separated by location for your convenience. This sort of review would work far better with accompanying stills, obviously. But as we all know, there's no way to get those until around April when the DVD comes out. In the meantime, you'll have to make do with remembering the bits I'm on about...



Still here? Smashing…

GALEN'S FARM

• Is this only the second planet we've seen (cinematically, at least) in the Galaxy Far, Far Away with rings, after AotC's Geonosis?

• So wait, the Imp shuttle overtakes Jyn as she's running home, but she's down the stairs, through the door and into the living room for three minutes before it's landed? It's hardly a densely populated area where you'd drive around the block a few times to make sure you're at the right place, but okay then.

• That maintenance droid of Galen's. What's he going to do when he gets back to the homestead and no-one's there? Mind you, I'm guessing Lyra's just been left out in that field, so that should give him some idea...

• Blue Milk™ in the homestead. Slightly heavy-handed visual reference as it also happens to be centre-shot with a slow-zoom, but still - nice!

• His opening sarcasm to Galen Erso aside, I think Orson Krennic might be the most sympathetic Imperial character we've met properly. There's a frustration to him that suggests he genuinely doesn't see the Empire as evil, just a slightly inefficient organisation which does bad things for the right reasons.


SPACE

• And to put it out there, I'm not a fan of that title-card, or the accompanying fanfare from Giacchino. It feels like one of those commercially produced parodies which try to be as close as possible to Star Wars™ but have used a different typeface and music to avoid legal repercussions (fan-films tend to just directly reference the logo and use Williams' score). I'd rather the film had gone completely different, or not featured a title at all.


RING OF KAFRENE

• This is the first time we've seen location-cards in a Star Wars movie, although I've no doubt that's necessary because of the sheer number of words we visit here (especially during the first act) when you want to cement the idea in the audience's mind that we're skipping around the galaxy, not just one globe. It's also notable that two planets in this film aren't named though, the first of which was the setting for Galen's, farm earlier. I still haven't finished the lead-in novel Catalyst yet, so I don't know if it gets a mention in there.

EDIT: Galen's farm is on the planet Lah'mu, as indicated in DK's Visual Guide book. Why it isn't captioned in the movie? No idea. Maybe it wasn't something they wanted to open with, as the planet is part of the first scene.



• For all Gareth Edwards' tight direction that I enthused about earlier, the over-acting coming from Daniel Mays here is incredible. He could power three screenplays with his energy alone. If anything, it distracts from a fantastic bit of character-building for Cassian Andor.

• The industrial setting here and patrol Stormtroopers remind me of the fan-film I.M.P.S. The Relentless. And I mean that as a compliment to both.


YAVIN IV

• I love the dynamic between the reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO and Rebel Intelligence Officer Andor. The latter is always patient and respectful in his instructions to the droid, but it in turn calls him 'Cassian'. Not Master, or even Captain Andor. It shows that whatever the practical reality of their relationship, the droid clearly thinks of him as a friend and companion.


JEDHA

• I know it's been around eighteen years since the end of the Clone Wars, but I notice Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera neither looks, sounds nor acts like the insurgent we met on Onderon, being trained in guerilla warfare by Anakin Skywalker. Although his character is coming to the Rebels TV series soon (set around five years before Rogue One, so I guess we'll see how that progression is coming along.


THE DEATH STAR

• Wilhuff Tarkin. I shall talk about this in a future review...


JEDHA

• Dilapidated B'Omarr monastery! Nice!

• Okay, I know Kyber crystals are extremely powerful, but using gems you can hold in your hand (even crates full of them) to contribute towards the running of something the size of the first Death Star feels a bit like a Formula 1 team preparing for the upcoming season by syphonning petrol from cars down one street. It certainly lends more weight to the theory that Starkiller Base is built around the planet Ilum, due to the amount of raw, naturally occurring crystal there. It's got to save time messing about transporting handfuls of the things.

• K-2SO's acerbic quips throughout this film are magnificent; he's like Marvin, the Paranoid Android before the despondency overtook his disdain at the world. But even with all his great lines, my favourite moment is where Jyn hands him a bag to take back to the ship, he waits until she's ten steps away and then just drops it without a single shred of concern.

• What the hell is going on with Gerrera's pet truth-monster, other than being the most Freudian creature we've met in the GFFA since the Sarlaac? And when he says that those subjected to its talents 'tend to lose their minds', how come Bodhi Rook seems to come out of it like he's shaking off a hangover?

• …so that's Dr Evazan's signature catchphrase, is it? Like, everywhere he goes? Okay then. I'm also going to assume that both he and Ponda Baba were on their way to the ship to pilot off the next dustball planet, not least because that street's going to be flattened in about twenty five minutes…

• Imperial Nerdler-Nerdler droid! Nice!

• Chirrut Imwe's ability to take out a squad of Stormtroopers with a stick makes me realise that the Ewoks' subsequent attack (and victory) on Endor maybe isn't so far-fetched after all.

• That RA- series droid has a new (read: previously unseen) eye/visor configuration. Nice!

• Saw Gerrera's coterie of misfits are playing Dejarik with physical pieces, instead of the holo-version we know from the Falcon. Nice!

• Is that Cham Syndulla sitting at a table in Saw's gaff, too? If so, see my previous comment regarding Walrus Man and making his way calmly to the exit…

EDIT: No, according (again) to the Visual Guide, it's a Twi'lek named Beezer Fortuna, who's a cousin of Jabba's majordomo, Bib. Although Cham Syndulla gets a mention in Beezer's write-up, anyhow.



• Galen Erso's holo-message. Beautiful. For almost forty years now, people (including me) have been rolling their eyes and taking the piss out of such a blatant design-flaw in the Death Star.
The ret-con? Of course it's deliberate...

• Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus have the most intriguing relationship and backstory of the whole film. As former Guardians Of The Whills who have lost their purpose in life now the moon is under Imperial occupation, one has become hyper-spiritual while the other has concentrated his efforts on the acquisition and mastery of military ordnance. Yet they're completely inseparable and read each other like only best friends can. What's also intriguing is Chirrut's connection with The Force. Although he's not a de facto Jedi, his survival skills in combat and the line later, "The Force moves darkly near a creature that's about to kill" show that he can feel and react to The Force, but not actively control it. A bit like someone who can read and understand fluently, but can't hold a pen to write. Along with the Dark-Side-but-Not-Sith Kylo Ren, this has big implications for the scope of Star Wars storytelling and the nature of The Force.

• There is absolutely and categorically no actual need for Saw Gerrera to not get on the ship, here. I shall return to this in a later post.


EADU

• I notice Cassian is aiming that sniper-rifle with his eye about ten inches away from the range-finder. That's normal, yeah? I mean, he's only looking at a small, dark, murky close-up image of the landing pad while the floodlit surrounding base and its systems bleed into his surrounding vision, so I'm sure that'll be fine.


VADER'S CASTLE

• The second of this film's locations with no location-card, which this time feels more significant. Although there's no title, the 'molten-esque' setting heavily suggests that it's somewhere on the planet Mustafar, indeed Pablo Hidalgo from the LFL Story Group has as good as confirmed this. Although even with the entire planet to choose from, you can picture Vader being shown round and saying to the estate agent "Ooh, a lava-feature! No, I like it! That doesn't bring back any bad vibes at all…"

• Why does Vader's helmet seem different in this film? The neck-piece looks wider here, although that could be because his cloak and fastening-chain are underneath the flared-bottom throughout, rather than over the top like they were onboard the Tantive IV in ANH?


YAVIN IV

• Love how the council-scene is populated largely by craggy-looking middle aged white guys, to channel that whole Ep IV aesthetic. Almost like this branch of the Rebellion is the Home Guard or something. Which would explain Daniel Mays' presence, earlier.

• Sure it's a heavy-handed reference, but I like the insistence that Bail Organa definitely was on Alderaan when it blew. It would have been easy to ret-con him to survival for some future use. That said, Mon Mothma makes specific mention of recruiting 'his Jedi friend', what actual use is Kenobi going to be, in practical terms? Worst thing is, that question hadn't even crossed my mind before Rogue One…


SCARIF

• Yeah, I'm still not sure how I feel about palm trees in the Galaxy Far, Far Away...

• Baze calls Jyn 'little sister' before they separate into battle. A touching moment, but does it seem a little forced when they've only been hanging around for a day or so?

• I like how K-2SO's "I've got a bad feeling abo--" is truncated, in the same way that the film's Wilhelm Scream was earlier.


THE DEATH STAR

• It's Chief Inspector Grobbelaar! Nice!


YAVIN IV

• It's Chopper! Nice!

• It's Artoo and Threepio! Nice! Not even remotely subtle, but who cares? Their inclusion in Rogue One (or the lack thereof, to be more accurate) was one of the things I worried about most with this movie. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see them here.


SCARIF

• Is that the first time we've seen an R5-series astromech navigating an X-Wing? I've only noticed them in Y-Wings before when they're not trundling around and catching fire.

• The 'find the master switch', 'use the ships to cover the ground troops' and 're-align the antenna' sections in this battle are all pure Battlefront. I'm not complaining, I like that. Speaking of which…

• There's a serious amount of damage done in this movie with detpacks. Not the more commonly seen and rollable Thermal Detonators, but the cornered models which were the standard fallback of the Dark Forces and Battlefront game-series through the years. Bravo! Although I must remember to look out and see if anyone's carrying a Bryar pistol the next time I'm watching…

• So presumably the Empire increased the shielding for the standard AT-AT models after the defeat of the AT-ACTs on Scarif? Because the folks in the X-Wings here aren't messing around with cables and they're having no problems at all. Let's not forget, the second A of that name stands for Armoured…

• Liking how we get re-engineered footage of Angus MacInnes and Drewe Henley, to place their characters here at Scarif and later around the Death Star. It's a nice indicator that not everyone outside of the Tantive IV carks it. Yet, anyway.

• I like the way an organisation has the tech and industrial prowess to build a moon-sized battle station, but their data-archiving still relies on the right box being manually moved from the right shelf. Some would say this is a security measure, but I've got a funny feeling it's an administrator not wanting to automate himself out of a job.

• And I'm going to assume they only made about twelve of those Death Troopers, on account of none of them showing up for subsequent duty-parades on either the first or second Death Stars.

• Something tells me what when Bodhi Rook was working for the Empire, his actual title was "Captain Exposition".

• I like the way an organisation has the tech and industrial prowess to build a complete planetary-shield, but no-one seems to have considered that the whole thing can be disabled by just driving into the gateway with Something Much Bigger™. The Rebellion literally ram-raided their way to the Death Star plans (although I'm also fairly sure the crippled Star Destroyer would be within the planet's gravity-well when its engines go down, even without a nudge. But let's not get into that right now).

• So, the fight above Scarif shows us why the call-sign Red-5 was assigned to Luke in the Battle of Yavin. And it's not because there were previously only four pilots in the squadron. Feels a little cold handing his mantle over before the embers of the guy's X-Wing have even cooled, but that's war I suppose.

• Is Admiral Raddus wearing a badge/brooch of the ion cannon we later see on Hoth?

• The entire sequence with Vader kicking ass first and worrying about taking names later? Yes. Yes.

• And the final shot of the film aboard the Tantive IV? Less is more, LFL. Really, less is more...



All of The Star Wars.



Yep.



It does.



It's a strong showing.



Nope.



Yep.



Level 0: It is Star Wars.

Although if you really wanted to go the long way round with it…

Rogue One features the fine vocals and mo-cap work of Mr Alan Tudyk, whose name can be found attached to 2014's Tell alongside that of Katee Sackhoff, who lent her voice to 2011's Batman: Year One, as did Grey DeLisle, a performer who also worked on the TV series of Avatar: The Last Airbender with Jason Isaacs, who cropped up in 2015's Justice League: Gods & Monsters along with Dee Bradley Baker who is a regular on Phineas & Ferb, as is Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who starred in 2015's Maze Runner: Scorch Trials with Alan Tudyk… from off of Rogue One.






DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

Review: Rogue One (second-pass)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (second-pass / 2D / SPOILER-FREE)
Cert: 12A / 134 mins / Dir. Gareth Edwards / Trailer


Previous reviews:
• First-pass (spoiler-free)

So, another run at the new Star Wars movie, within twenty four hours of the first, brought a few advantages. The first was the freedom from polarised glasses and their subsequent light-loss. I've long been on the fence about 3D in live-action films, and while the desired effect was certainly 'there' in the midnight screening I attended, it wasn't calibrated brilliantly so there was ghosting all over the shop*¹. Anyhow, the 2D version of Rogue One is every bit as immersive and spectacular as its showboating counterpart. As you'd expect, of course.

The plot-mechanics made more sense this time, too. Not that the film's needlessly complicated at all, but the first time I saw it I was overwhelmed with The Everything Of Star Wars™, including new planets, new locations and looking out for Easter-eggs and callbacks. So with all that (or most of that) 'out of the way', I could sit and concentrate on the whys and hows of the story. Smashing stuff, a little 'convenient' in one or two places, although nowhere near as much as I'd expect from a 'slot-in' movie.

The real gain from re-watching the film is seeing Gareth Edwards' work come together like this. The thing about film direction is that when it's good, you're not supposed to notice it. Well, except for the geeks. We notice it. Rogue One is an incredibly lean movie. The story hares along barely pausing for breath, there's little in the way of downtime or reflection, and we're introduced to eight new central characters. But everyone is pulling in the same direction under Edwards' auspices, and the result is a slick, tense adventure movie.

However… even though the crescendo is incredibly satisfying (no mean feat given that the audience know the outcome of the story before they start watching it), it'd be a fair criticism to say that the film lacks an emotional depth. The amount of time spent with most of the characters (Imperial and insurgent alike) on an individual basis means that any potential setbacks or casualties (this is a spoiler-free review, remember) don't resonate as deeply with the audience as they would normally.

But at the same time, this isn't a chin-stroking, emotional thought-piece, it's a heist-movie. And I defy anyone to not be grinning like an idiot when [REDACTED] goes [REDACTED]ing through the [REDACTED] to get the [REDACTED]. Because that's what we've all been waiting for.

Well done, Mr Edwards; bravo sir.

All of The Star Wars.



Yep.



It does.



It's a strong showing.



Nope.



Yep.



Level 0: It is Star Wars.

Although if you really wanted to go the long way round with it…

Rogue One stars Ben Mendelsohn of course, who's due to appear in the upcoming Ready Player One alongside Simon Pegg, who provided voicework for 2011's The Adventures Of Tintin, as did Daniel Mays who rocked up in the second series of Life On Mars, which also features an appearance from Ralph Brown, who is in the imminent biopic Jackie, headed by Natalie Portman who was the lead in Jane Got A Gun, in which she supported by Joel Edgerton, who turned up in Exodus: Gods And Kings, as did Ben Mendlesohn… who stars in Rogue One.

That's how we do it.






*¹ Although at least the 3D is screen 1 of my local is projected at a brightness which makes it watchable (still too dark, but watchable). The projection bulbs in the larger screen 5 are either on their way to the bin, or are out of calibration for the size of the auditorium. I only mention this here in case someone from Didcot happens to be reading and would like to maybe have a look at that. And while you're on, if you could look at the bulb in the projection room which shines a glare of light out across the top of the screen permanently so that every dark scene in a movie is affected, that'd be great. I've only mentioned it to the front-of-house staff twice now ;)


DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

Review: Lion

Lion
Cert: PG / 118 mins / Dir. Garth Davis / Trailer



Talk about an achilles-heel. In order to sell the cinematic adaptation of Saroo Brierley's remarkable life (in which he's separated as a five-year old from his family in poverty-stricken Khandwa, India, lives for several months 1600km away on the streets of Kolkata before being taken in by an orphanage then moved to Austrialia for adoption, then over twenty years later manages to track down his birth-mother by means of persistence, luck and Google Earth), the trailer has to focus on the English-language part of the film starring Dev Patel. In doing so, the trailer communicates absolutely nothing of what makes the story special.

The first half (roughly) of Garth Davis' film is set in India and follows Saroo as a young boy, showing how he came to be lost and the path of utter uncertainty which led to him being chosen for a new life in Tasmania. The first half of the film features a young actor named Sunny Pawar as Saroo. The first half of the film is compelling, enthralling and utterly heartbreaking. To say that Pawar is good would be an understatement. Even as child-actors go, I haven't seen a performance this strong since Jacob Tremblay in Room. When you also factor in that the majority of Sunny's scenes are either with one other actor or on his own, plus the subtitled nature of this half of the film meaning that his acting is almost entirely physical (from an English-speaking audience's point-of-view), I'd go as far as saying his is the best performance I've seen this year, hands-down. He strikes the perfect chord as being a child who's clearly highly intelligent, but almost completely uneducated (formally). He has the wits to survive as a stranger on the other side of an unbelievably harsh country, but doesn't know where he's from in order to try and get back there (although to be fair, how many five-year olds would?).

Things start getting a little more heavy-handed once Saroo is settled in Oz and we get a '20 years later' card, and by the time the story's skipped forward another twelve months, the Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara & David Wenham family drama has turned into a mawkish, over-acted soap-opera where the only performer who can do the story justice is Patel himself. And he's good, but he has so much to carry that I quickly lost interest and empathy with the story. However, when Saroo finally tracks down his old hometown on Google Earth, I did get a tingle (this is a true story, these aren't spoilers). And when he's finally reunited with his birth-mother, I did get a warm glow. And when the denouement of the film shows the real-life-actual Saroo with his real-life-actual mother Kamla, I did have something in my eye, a bit. And this is the only film in living memory where I can say that the transition to the story's real-life counterparts is welcome. Sully, take note.

Lion is good.
Dev Patel is very good.
Sunny Pawar is outstanding.

And with this exception of Dev, do your best to ignore the English-speaking cast…

Well, it's a bit Hundred-Foot Journey in places.
For the right and wrong reasons.



Not especially.
That said (and this isn't just because of the answer to question 7), some of the photography in the film is absolutely outstanding.



It does, but in spite of its best efforts not to.



It's Sunny Pawar's first movie, but he's set his own bar high.
For everyone else? No.



Nah.



There isn't.



Level 1: The director of photography for Lion is a Mr Grieg Fraser, who coincidentally performs the same role for Rogue One.







DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.

Review: Rogue One (first-pass)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (first-pass / 3D / SPOILER-FREE)
Cert: 12A / 134 mins / Dir. Gareth Edwards / Trailer



Okay, usual rules apply, not least because it's gone 3am and I'm buzzing. This is a first-pass review, first-reactions, gut-feelings etc. As is the norm for this sort of thing (and indeed the norm for Star Wars specifically), there was way, way too much detail for me to take in. Other than the trailers, I'd gone spoiler-free for Rogue One. As a result, my eyes were picking out details in the set, costumes and script when my brain was just trying to keep going with the flow of the story.

While I appreciate that not everyone is as obsessed with the Galaxy Far, Far Away as I am, you'll probably spend the first act of the film - as I did - playing Spot The Difference on a much broader level. There are notable departures from the Star Wars way of doing things (many of which we'd already been told about in promo interviews), and this is very much a film of Firsts. The first twenty minutes or so is a struggle with your brain to unlearn the signature points of the seven saga-movies so far, yet as it moves on, you realise that Rogue One is as structurally cohesive to the feeling of Star Wars as any of them. As the little guy once said, "only different in your mind".

This is also the first project to seamlessly incorporate elements of the Original Trilogy (obviously), Prequel Trilogy, the Clone Wars series and Rebels series. Plus, there are stretches of the movie which are the closest thing you'll get to Battlefront without sitting and playing it. Some of the references are incredibly subtle, some less so. Some are very, very welcome, while the jury is still firmly out on others*¹.

Typical that it's not even Christmas, and there are already Easter Eggs all over the place ;)

But the old and the new mix effortlessly on-screen, and everything we see is inherently and organically Star Wars™. What we hear is slightly more of a mixed bag, with Michael Giacchino on composing duties for this outing. A few of John Williams' themes are woven in at appropriate moments, but he's largely given free rein - and as much of what he's scoring consists of planets and characters we haven't met before, it comes as no real surprise that the soundtrack has its own personality, too*².

There are characters we meet for the first time here, and some old friends are along for the ride. Some of those had RSVP'd already, and a few just turn up on-spec. But Rogue One proves that all are welcome. It'll change the way that regular audiences perceive the timeline of Star Wars, and it'll change the way that everyone watches the first twenty minutes of A New Hope.
So, mission accomplished.

Full points are awarded, if only for the most seamless and glaringly logical ret-con in cinematic history. And as a Star Wars fan, I treat ret-cons like a Jawa treats restraining bolts.

All the enthusing you're reading on social media at the moment is justified.
Those precious plans are in safe, safe hands…

(Oh, and there's nothing at the end of the credits. You weren't expecting anything, I know, but unless you're completely wrapped up in the score you can make your way to the exit as soon as the credits begin.)



All of the Star Wars.



Obviously.



It certainly, definitely does.



Director, yes.
Cast, could be…



Depends on why we differ.



Well, this was just a first, sensory-overload pass, but I'm fairly certain I heard one in the first melee/altercation, yes.



Level 0: It is Star Wars.

Although, if you wanted to go the long way round with it..?

Okay, Rogue One stars Felicity Jones of course, who also rocks up in A Monster Calls along with Toby Kebbell, who's appearing in the upcoming Kong: Skull Island along with Samuel L Jackson, who was in that Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children alongside Terence Stamp, who provided voicework on Halo 3, as did Steve Blum, who carried out similar services for the Disney Infinity 3.0 game, along with Adam Driver who was a regular on the TV show Girls, the 'Role-Play' episode of which featured Felicity Jones, who's in Rogue One.

Yeah, I'm doing that again.
And yeah, I'm already regretting the decision after compiling one of them ;)





*¹ More on these in a future review. Although I'm fairly certain that almost every other outlet will discuss them at great length before I get that spoiler-ific.

*² Although I thought much the same of Kevin Kiner's Clone Wars soundtrack back in 2008, but quickly came to love it because it's different, rather than in-spite of it. And if memory serves, I wasn't overly enamoured with the OST for The Force Awakens at first either. I know with concentrated appreciation I'll enjoy the Giacchino soundtrack, but he's not my real dad…


DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.