Episode 3.9

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2017)

Rogue One has finally accomplished something that I might not have known was possible, Retro-Science-Fiction. Fads like steam-punk may be a stylized play on outdated technology, but Rogue One is something special. With prequals like The Phantom Menace and Prometheus, they are made after their source material but it's hard to believe they take place prior. Try as they might, filmmakers can't help themselves, they gloss up the production value and inert updated technology that undermines the story that should be taking place in the past. Rogue One fits like a forgotten puzzle piece to the Star Wars Universe, a veritable Episode 3.5. Everything down to the knobs on the control panels fit into the "New Hope" aesthetic. And with how the story hugs so satisfyingly closely to Episode IV, it might be more appropriate to think of it at Episode 3.9.
The story of Rogue One is mentioned without many specifics in Episode IV. Once by the roundtable heads of the Empire and also by the rebel base, referring to a great sacrifice made to obtain plans for a weapon of unimaginable scale. Rogue One takes our intimate knowledge of the original trilogy and monopolizes on it, sometimes shamelessly. Fans will never forget the look on Leia's face when Alderaan is destroyed with a single blow, followed by Ben's philosophical understanding "Millions of voices cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced." We know the deadly potential of this machine, Rogue One counts on it. The movie doesn't earn the audience's investment in the story so much as throw fuel onto a fire that hasn't been snuffed in 40 years. When an Imperial Engineer named Gelen Erso is forced out of hiding to build the moon-sized weapon, we will the story to throw anything familiar at us. Rogue One has almost nothing new up its sleeve, its greatest strength.
The daughter of Erso is Jyn (Felicity Jones), a rebel to both the Empire and Rebel Alliance. One of the beauties of Rogue One is how it doesn't paint a hard line between the Empire and Rebels as good guy/bad guy. The Empire has made the galaxy too desperate. Our idea of the Rebel Alliance from Episodes 4-6 may come across as endearingly rag-tag, but Rogue One presents them as a nearly lost cause with dark characters we begrudgingly accept. The rebels take what they can get, and some vibrant pseudo-heroes make up the bulk of Rebel Fighters. Cassian (Diego Luna) fits these criteria. We first see him painted into a corner by Storm Troopers, how he escapes can't be called "honorable." Jyn has reasons to hate the empire, but the methods of the Rebels don't act as a lightning-rod for moral unity.
Jyn is much like Leia, beautiful but not "gifted" with abilities. Her heroics stem more from a firm heart than a midichlorian count. She is not taken into the rebel base because of skill, but because of heredity. Erso is the head engineer in the Death Star project, and a glimmer of hope comes when Jyn reveals his allegiance is not one of morals but desperation. He is playing a dangerous game of wits, in the heart of the lion's den. Erso's counterpart is a sinister rebel, Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker), who shows what will become of a man who opposes the Empire physically. Decades of fighting have left him more machine than man. There is the obligatory wise-cracking robot, but Rogue One is far and away the darkest chapter in the Star Wars universe.
I mentioned that the film can be shameless in its monopolization of our knowledge of Star Wars. This allows for clever bits of dialogue and references that will make you nudge the person next to you. Things go a bit too far when CGI characters like the bullies from the Tatooine Cantina show up and disappear for no other reason than familiarity. However, for every scene like this there a dozen that respect the viewer and hone the edges of the story to fit into the saga seamlessly. Liberties are taken with cinematography and art but never story. If The Force Awakens was an enjoyable addition to the series, Rogue One is invaluable excavation of the holy trilogy, giving everything deeper meaning.