New Look for the Series

Rating: 7/10 (23 December 2016)

Rogue One is a very interesting new installment in the uber-famous Star Wars series. It is a true prequel, taking place immediately prior to the events of the original 1977 movie, and in effect tells the story of how the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans for the Death Star and why it has a technological weakness. The characters are relatively minor players in the Star Wars universe, but they rise in the movie to take a special place in Star Wars lore.
In past installments, Star Wars movies generally stress character development and conflict as much or even more than the galactic struggle. Episode III, for example, is all about Annikin Skywalker's fall into evil, Episode IV is about Luke Skywalker's rise as a challenge and foil to that evil, Episode V their battle to convert each other to their respective sides of the force, and Episode VII the new awakening of the force in Rey and Kylo Ren as they become adversaries.
Rogue One starts on this path--in the opening scene, a 7-year-old Jyn Erso watches the villain of the movie, Imperial stooge General Krennec, murder her mother and imprison her father in order to make him finish his scientific work on the Death Star. We might immediately assume that the main conflict of the movie will be between these two characters, and that she will become possessed of "the force" like Luke Skywalker, but it actually does not happen that way. Jyn later in life is forcibly swept up into the struggle as the Rebellion is trying to get their mitts on the plans for the Death Star--they want her to enlist the assistance of her father and also the terrorist Saw Gerrera in that task. We learn that the Rebellion is fractured--consisting of outlaws, do-gooders, former Republicans, and other forces. A remarkable ensemble cast begins to assemble that sees the Empire as a common threat, and this ensemble, a roguish band, will become the actual main protagonist of the movie. The band will include a Rebel Spy--Cassian Andor, a converted Imperial tactical droid--K-2SO, an Imperial-pilot turned defector-- Bodhi Rook, and a random blind warrior--Chirrut Imwe, strong with the Force.
What follows is a surprise--the ragtag group goes on a mission to retrieve the Death Star plans, and the suspected character study turns into a full-blown war movie/ensemble Western. The models for this are movies like The Magnificent Seven or Force 10 from Navarone, where a small gang of soldiers goes on a quest against impossible odds. The interpersonal stuff underlies a huge action picture with awesome war sequences both on the ground of a tropical planet and in the space above. The cliff-hangers and special effects are awe-inspiring. The ending is something of a surprise, even though it makes perfect sense given the plot of Episode IV that occurs right after.
I really liked this movie, primarily because it takes the Star Wars series into some truly uncharted territory. This is really an exciting war movie above all else, a battle between good and evil on a different plane than the other movies. For those who might have thought Episode VII was a bit derivative, this is really something new.