The Awakening may have been monumental, but was it quite as good as the Rebellion built on hope?
As of the writing of this post, “Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” is a mere 24 hours or so away from worldwide release and while I have my general criticisms of Disney's handling of the “Star Wars” franchise as a whole, I nonetheless remain generally optimistic.
Not only because the producers seem to be so ecstatic for
the film that they’ve ostensibly handed the admittedly talented Rian Johnson
the keys to the kingdom for the upcoming future but from what the trailers have
thus far revealed, the movie also appears to be building on the best aspect of
“The Force Awakens,” i.e. the introduction of a lively new cast of characters
in a world of creative potential built upon the mythology of the larger than
life fiction preceding it.
At least, before that film unfortunately devolved into the
sort of narrative rehash punctuated by a nonsensical cop out of a climax
setting up future films that is typically reserved for mediocre fanfiction.
That isn't to say that the flaws of “The Force Awakens” sink it by any means. Despite the unfortunate shafting of its newcomers development and foregoing the opportunity of taking a proper progressive foot forward in the name of celebrating what worked, the film ultimately knows exactly what kind of big budgeted yet passionately crafted comfort food that it strives to be, relaunching “Star Wars” for a new generation while reminding existing fans of what they love about the property after a polarizing era helmed by the prequels.
Once the hooks of nostalgia infused marketing sink into it
however, it’s shift in focus away from its fresh contributions to the Star Wars
mythology, only serves to cement to me that as good as the film undeniably was, it would take an extra year for me to get the outside of the box cinematic
experience that I hoped to receive from this series after a 10-year absence
from the Silver Screen in the form of the franchise’s kickoff to the anthology
films, “Rogue One.”
The common perception of “Rogue One” is that it is
essentially a hold over film until the sequel to the movie that everybody
actually cared about hit theaters and on some level it's not hard to believe
that may have even been the thought process behind marketing within circles of
the Disney offices.
Whatever the temporary place the film was intended to hold
within the pantheon of the series’ merchandising plan, I honestly found the
final product to be far more cathartic as a veteran “Star Wars” fan than I ever
actually found “The Force Awakens” to be.
Freed from the burdens of franchise building and sequel
establishment for a product to be heralded by an entire generation, the film
instead is allowed the creative freedom to boldly tell a fresh story of its
choosing to the benefit of the mythology that it is set within, marketing be
damned
The result is a movie that exalts the spirit of the original
Star Wars for more than any other entry of the series has done while moving
forward with an unparalleled level of dramatic heft for the franchise, barring
“Empire Strikes Back” because, of course, nothing will ever top one of the
greatest sequels ever made.
Without the overhang of merchandising to children that the
series has succumbed to ever since “Return of the Jedi,” the film is allowed to
be truer to itself than any entry of the saga has ever been since “Empire
Strikes Back,” creating a true Star Wars movie of the 21st Century.
In this case that trueness manifests itself in the form of a
grittiness that no other film of the franchise has managed. While still being
vaguely appropriate for all ages, "Rogue One" is without a doubt the most adult
film of the series, with the footprint of the Galactic Empire firmly pressing
upon the citizens of the galaxy by displaying to the audience ground level
oppression that “Star Wars” has barely if ever really explored on film.
Family is torn apart over political gain, religion and faith
is tested by the intervention of a government that sees the aid that it can
provide for the opposing Galactic Rebellion and in a rare case of humanizing
the antagonizing force, the structure and social mores of the Empire hint at a
proud glory seeking society that may not be as blindly dedicated to the
maliciously dominating tactics of their authoritarian regime as iconography
suggests.
The deconstruction of said iconography feeding back into a
reconstructive affirmation of its mythological weight not only provides for a
more complexly villainous Empire but goes into the portrayal of a three
dimensional Rebel Alliance that serves as a metatextual origin story for the franchise’s
inaugural entry.
The Rebel Alliance that we see isn’t the noble finely tuned
ideological spear led by freedom fighters making the ultimate sacrifice for a
better tomorrow for Imperial victims across the galaxy but rather a group of
well meaning but ultimately opportunistic politicians too timid over what they
risk in order to dedicate to the cause and work together with the resources
that they definitely have to pull the job off. The political squabbling amongst
the heads of the Alliance are not unlike governmentally divided houses of
countries operating today, which makes the threat of the Death Star and the
devastation that it can wreak all the more heavy when you see them granted with
a moment of truth provided by the team’s motivation to arms action of
infiltrating Scarif to steal its blueprints.
Faced with the chance to hide and disband once and for
all or declare open war, the rebellion gambles on the impossible and sets the
stage for a saga that has come to be a defining story for generations of
science fiction/fantasy fans.
And Gareth Edwards and his production crew did this not with
an amped up cartoonish Star Killer Base taking out several planets at once but
by simply focusing on the planet destroying weapon that the audience knows and
depicting its genocidal action in a capacity both scary and heart wrenching
that was consistent with its original concept. This is the movie’s true ace in
the hole.
“Rogue One” takes the established “Star Wars” universe and
the context behind many of its concepts and tells a story that works well
within the cannon but ultimately updates the purpose that they serve for the
modern day, making it a definitively harder brand of science fiction than what
much of the franchise has been for decades.
Remember that previously mentioned infighting between
political powers? Recall if you will that this fighting is further compounded
by the fact that Rebel operations are practically stumbling over one another as
demonstrated by Cassian Andor, whose interests could easily conflict with his
orders and allies, introduced by his betrayal and murder of his Death Star
informant while bolstered by his attempt to spare and rescue Galen Erso in
defiance of his orders and mission parameters.
Aspects like these black operations, political strife, and
the boldly depicted battle on Jeddha, in which radical rebels with little
regard for collateral damage and loss of civilian life wage war in a chaotic skirmish
that is gloriously and uncomfortably similar to military altercations in the
Middle East, all present the vision of a “Star Wars” utilizing the classic
material and iconography of the franchise in a manner informed by modern
perceptions of conflict, something that the series has never explored,
preferring to remain within the realms of conflict characterized by the World
War II era pulp serials that inspired the original movie.
Rather than use this shift in tone as an indictment of some
sort against the franchise however, what “Rogue One” does is utilize advances
in technology, filmmaking technique, and even political perceptions to flesh
out the “Star Wars” galaxy with the addition of a legend that both celebrates
the mythology that it pulls from while adding weight to that mythology with a
cinematic epic that comes across as an in-universe historical drama documenting
the catalyst behind a major turning point in galactic history that informs the
story of the series that we all know and love.
In doing so, it further provides a perfect picture of what
serialized cinematic storytelling is supposed to do; enhance and be enhanced by
the existence of other entries while functioning as a story on its own.
The nature of the film as a cinematic epic is further
reflected in the treatment of its characters.
“Rogue One” is often criticized as having a cast of more
passive and debatably bland characters than those of the primary Saga and its
intensely character-centric narratives regarding themes of family, allegiance,
destiny, morality and legacy.
The film is unapologetically thematic and plot focused and
while that may not be everybody’s cup of tea, I do take umbrage with the notion
of its characters being “bland.”
K2SO and Donnie Yen’s Chirrut are often cited as break outs
and the film’s MVPs with good reason but while I would acquiesce that Chirrut’s
friend and partner Baze is an unfortunate victim of having too little to work
with, I often find that the others are taken a bit too far out of context.
The cast is ultimately composed of the types of background
soldiers and specialists that serve as minor players in the grander narrative
of the “Star Wars” Saga if they were to receive any attention at all and thusly
they become rather unfairly compared to the prophesized chosen Jedi such as
Luke and Rey or the troubled loners motivated to arms by being in the wrong
place in the wrong time like Finn or Han Solo rather than the smaller scale and
grounded scope operators present in those very movies like Wedge Antilles.
These are characters meant to be swept up by their
circumstances rather than the overhead shakers and movers that break the chains
of destiny that bind them and undergo personal journeys to do so.
Even by those standards however, I would nevertheless argue
that they still function well enough on an objective level.
While much of Felicity Jones’ material was clearly left on
the cutting room floor, she still manages to capture the ferocity of someone
capable of being a great soldier with the right motivation; a motivation that
she clearly lacked given her disillusionment with everything she held sacred
(her father’s work for the Empire and Saw Gerrera’s abandonment) but would
later gain when presented with the resources to make a difference along with
the emotional revelation that those that betrayed her in fact did so to assist
and protect her for years to come.
Her wishy-washy convictions serve as a compliment toward
Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor, whose unwavering conviction provides her with a
solid direction to move towards while her perceptiveness grants him the perspective
that he lacked in his short sighted aims to further the rebellion at any cost
born from a childhood raised in the chaos of Imperial reign.
Furthermore, Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook is one of the most
underrated characters of the entire Disney era of the series as far as I’m
concerned. He does unfortunately suffer from screentime prioritization that
keeps his fascinatingly hinted turn of conscience from being explored in more
satisfying detail but the utter conviction of his performance made him one of the
hardest losses to watch in the movie. His admiration of Jyn and dialogue with
her lavishing worship of her father and dejection that his motivation to do the
right thing may have been for naught alone convinced me of the harsh realness
of the Star Wars galaxy in a way I haven’t been convinced of in over a decade.
“Rogue One’s” cast has plenty of colorful details that could
probably fill up pages of their own novels if an attempt were made but their
existence was subservient to the narrative of the film, aiming for that of a
cinematic epic that demonstrates how a few people taking a stand for what’s
right can turn sway the tides of conflict while simultaneously focusing on an
anti-war sentiment that should be fundamental to stories about armed conflict; war
can become a force of nature and when it gets underway, it has little regard
for who loses life in the grand scheme of things.
“The Force Awakens” made major strides in slowly building a
vision of “Star Wars” that can reconcile its fractured fan base and while I
criticize its decision to adhere to “A New Hope’s” template rather than build
upon it in the end, its introduction of a trio of slightly unbalanced but
interesting new leads and an ultimate positioning of them as the future shakers
and movers of the franchise gives much to hope for and reminds me of what it
was like to look upon this franchise cinematically with a sense of excitement
again.
Where that movie merely made me think back on that feeling
fondly however, “Rogue One” is the feeling that instilled it within me as an
adult by being the “Star Wars” movie that I had always hoped to grow up with,
pulling itself together from a new vision inspired by its predecessors rather
than seeking to copy, succeed, or recreate them.
(This post is a companion/counter piece MovieMan Madness. Follow him here for his reviews, Cinema Spotlight series, and counter argument on what makes "The Force Awakens" the superior entry of "Star Wars'" Disney era before "The Last Jedi" hits theaters, this December 14.)
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