Watching the ‘Star Wars’ movies in order, a problem quickly presented itself to me…’Wont the transition between the ‘Prequel’ trilogy, and the ‘Original’ trilogy be a little jarring?’ I mean…the prequels are all CGI heavy love ins using (at the time) cutting edge technology, where as the Original trilogy is pretty much the exact opposite y’know? VERY practical effect heavy, all real sets and locations…good…its like the total oppostie of the prequels!

WELL! It seems the question was somewhat resolved by ‘Rogue one: A Star Wars Story’ A film that…has its problems, but does a DAMN good job of smoothing over the transition from ‘new’ to ‘old’.

The film basically recalls the events of a rag tag group of outcasts trying to locate the plans for the ‘Death Star’ to help aid The Rebel Alliance…Basically, a key part of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ is that some rebels managed to smuggle the Death star schimatics out of an empire base and transmit them back to HQ where they’ve been decoded to help give the rebels an edge against the empire…This film tells the story of that. Its a small part of ‘Episode 4’ but its a key part. So it is kind of interesting to see it realised on a big screen budget.

This is a good AND bad thing because, on the one hand it sets the film slap BANG in the middle of one of the most interesting points in the ‘Star Wars’ universes history. the initial battle between the empire and the rebel alliance. On the downside it means the films problems are now twofold because it suffers from issues that plagues the ‘Prequel’ AND ‘Original’ trilogy, rather than just one of them.

The script, personally? I thought was solid…But a little flat. I think the overarching narrative is pretty solid, I thought the first and 3rd acts were fun enough…But at some point towards the end of the first act it kind of settles into a steady pace and just rides that right up to the finale…which pretty much killed the momentum of the film for me, because…not only does not a lot happen for most of the second act and bits of the first and third, but compounding that issue…NON of the characters are particularly engaging.

They’re all just kind of…skills, placed onto people. So you’ve got a robot thats good at processing data (basically your door opener) you’ve got a blind martial arts expert who can see using the force. a weapons expert, a pilot…and our main protagonists whos main driving personality trait is they’ve both had hard upbringings under the rise of the Empire…But in giving them that as their personality in the NOW it means they’re incredibly bland when it comes to wanting to know them as people IN the now.

The pacings kind of stop start as well…Theres plenty of references to the source material that led to the origianl trilogy here (vietnam, samurai movies, the old flash gordon serials) But they really arnt subtle about their inspirations here making it particulalry dull for people with a level of media literacy…the original star wars didnt exactly HIDE that stuff…but it did a better job than this film.

The directions actually probably this films high point, its a really solid hybrid of on set and location work, enhanced with some CG elements. basically mash up the creative styles of the ‘Prequel’ and ‘Original’ trilogies and you get this film. the styalisation is largely in line with the ‘Original’ trilogies sensibilities, but occasionally you’ll get those grand and ultra busy (and slightly annoying) Prequal style scenes where they just fill the frame with as much crap as they can throw at the screen. I will give them some credit however, they’ve at least toned down just HOW busy the frame can be at any one time…which is a small mercy.

Which leads me to the ‘Horrors beyond our comprehension’ part of the direction…(and VERY mild spoilers here) but they ressurect Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher using CGI welded onto an actors face…Fishers likeness is brief and…I didnt think it was half bad…But Cushings!? its uncanny valley, he looks like a dead eyed CGI puppet interacting with real world people…its hideous…they could have achieved a greater effect by simply masking his face and keeping his role to a minimum…but instead I dont get to sleep tonight…yay.

The cines a step up from ‘Episode 3’, but probably not as good as ‘Episode 4’…again, the use of ACTUAL sets and locations is an absolute boost for this, compositional choices are rock solid…its a disney studio picture…this thing COULDNT fail on visuals…it literally wasnt possible…so…at minimum it’s good…at best it has some of the best cinematography in a Star wars movie since ‘Empire’.

Performance wise…I cant fault the casts physicality, they bring a lot of themselves to the role…But I just dont feel there was enough ‘character’ there to really win me over. and no. ‘Character’ doesnt mean ‘Delivers snarky one liners every other scene’…Felicity Jones is probably the best of the bunch in the lead as Jyn Erso, but thats because her character is traumatised, seeking closure and stoic…so the dialogue and way the film sets her up perfectly aligns with the tone of delivery, shes brill.

But as for Donnie Yen, Diego Luna, Forrest Whittaker and Mads Mikkelson? I felt nothing…they were all too flat and serious, there was no real range other than sadness and anger…and even then they struggled to muster even that…And the comedy…good god, the ‘comedy’ in this is pitiful. PROPER eye rolling attempts at gags, it did nothing for me and if anything turned me off the production.

And the soundtrack? its star wars…it cant be bad.

I feel like, as a transitionary film to get you from ‘Episode 3’ to ‘Episode 4’, ‘Rogue One’ does a fantastic job of adjusting the Star Wars universe so that the age difference between productions isnt as noticeable…However, as a film by itself…while fine for the most part and largely enjoyable, it just…drags…SO bad. It has nice moments, but a strong overreliance on knowing the Star Wars films inside and out so that you appreciate all the little references, combined with quite dull characters…kind of makes this a film that i’d absolutely watch again if I was watching ‘Episodes 1-6’ But not one that i’d watch as a standalone.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/