Unnecessary Sacrifice

Rating: 6/10 (14 April 2017)

Recently Star Wars Universe has become more laid back and entertaining. With younger auditory oriented animation series, Rebels and Clone Wars, and the greatest fan fiction of it all, The Force Awakens, Star Wars seems to loose its burden of tragedy and titanic struggle of few against many. So, Rogue One is an effort to remedy this...Nabooo sunshine with some inferno of Mustafar.
Does it work? Well, what does work is a path well trodden - establishing a likable company of heroes, to become the core of future movies and probably TV series. Felicity Jones is energetic, dark, impulsive and virtually non-stoppable. Diego Luna is absolutely stunning and very charismatic. Donnie Yen is a great addition to Star Wars universe, his role is sadly smaller than it should be but he is definitely an actor and martial artist new Star Wars need.
And thus, the company gathered, and they all together proceed to...And here follows a strange turn of events. You see, true tragedy lies not in numbers but in depth. There are many deaths in this movie. And they all sort of look like...unnecessary. They all happen in period of ...about 20 minutes of movie time and look more like a hasty wrap-up of urgent movie production issues than a coherent movie story.
Agreed, sometimes numbers are in place. In episode III, the massacre of jedies was in tune with the dark storyline, descending into the abyss, but here....it doesn't work.
Jyn Erso's struggle to clear her father's name and to become his legacy of freedom and redemption, aspiring higher and higher up to the top of Scarif tower, is impressive and visually symbolic.
But the sacrifices....however justified by the highest goal and the better good...do not, historically look like the Battle of Iwo Jima, but more like the trenches of World War One...