"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ..."
Hello everyone!
I know, right? Talk about a place where you think about movies!
But in the store, I ran into the DVD shelves they have (not numerous, as a rule, but occasionally you'll find movies there that come at a slightly cheaper price than in some specialised shops) and lo and behold, what DVD would my mother pick up but Rogue One: A Star Wars Story?
Then it was my turn to go 'Oh, snap!' about the fact that I'd actually already seen it - but never sat down to write a proper blog about it.
I should be ashamed of myself. I know this.
Anyway, seeing the DVD last night reminded me that I have the summary in my faithful sheep notebook, ergo, without further ado, let's head into the review!
Our story begins in a rather lonely place where the incomparable Mads Mikkelsen, playing Galen Erso, someone we will later learn is rather important, is apparently farming for a living, having a quiet life with his wife and daughter. That is, until Imperial soldiers find them and politely ask (read: demand) that Galen return with them to the heart of the Empire and finish constructing the machine he had promised the Emperor.
Allow me to refresh your memory: this is all happening after the events of the Prequel Trilogy, but before the Original Trilogy. Emperor here means Emperor Palpatine.
Galen tries to refuse, but his efforts only lead to his wife getting murdered and his daughter, Jyn, to run for her life and hide until she can be found by the person her mother had previously sent a message to: Saw Gerrera.
We don't rightly know what happens next, however, since our first glimpse at an adult Jyn is her being transported with some other Imperial prisoners, apparently having gotten herself into a heap of trouble somewhere. Until the Rebel Alliance rescues her, she's pretty convinced she's about to suffer a rather dreary faith, but then again, the rebels need her.
They need her to lead them to Saw Gerrera, who they believe holds the key to a much bigger mystery. Rumours leaked across the Galaxy about a pilot who had run from the Empire and brought a message, a message seemingly from Galen Erso, and Saw, the recluse he had become while leading his own little band of fanatics, won't trust the rebels without a friendly face to help along the way.
Jyn agrees to help, seeing no other way, and together with Cassian (and his sarcastic droid who reminds me way too much of the ship in Hitchiker's Guide with his deadpan responses) they go to find Saw, ending up taking a couple of friends with them, but also finding Saw.
On Jedha, the sacret planet of the Jedi, the Empire is mining kyber crystals to eventually fuel the Death Star, and Saw is there battling them for it. But he does recognise Jyn, and we learn that he needed to send her away before anyone recognised her as Galen's daughter, but also that he had taught her everything he knew so that she could survive.
And oh, yes, the message: Galen has secretly been supporting the rebel movement in any way he possibly can, the last of which being that he has installed a fuse into the Death Star which, if triggered, can destroy the entire machine.
Unfortunately, Cassian & Co need to flee Jedha after they're discovered, leaving Saw behind to go down with his ship - er, planet, when the Death Star is tested on Jedha itself.
But now that they know about the fuse, their next step is to try and talk to Galen, extract him if possible, and see whether it's the truth, though Cassian is given side-orders to kill the man as opposed to doing anything else.
Things definitely don't go according to plan as the Imperial presence there ends with Galen dying in his daughter's arm after being shot. Now they do know the truth, however, and need to get the schematics for the fuse from the highly guarded Imperial databank on the planet Scarif - though not before Jyn accuses Cassian of trying to murder her father, and trying to rally support from the Alliance to go get the plans before it's too late.
Neither Bail Organa nor Mon Mothma feel like this is a wise course to take, and dismiss her, but luckily for Jyn the group with which she'd been tagging along all movie decide, to hell with it, they're going for the schematics themselves, supported by a minor faction of rebels who want to se the end of this.
Stealing the already-stolen Imperial ship from the rebel docks, and naming it 'Rogue One', Jyn and the others fly to Scariff and manage to get into the base, but realise they will never be able to get out if the protective shield around the planet isn't brought down.
The Rebels intercept the messages travelling through the Galaxy, and deploy to offer support, and if nothing else try to take down the protective shield.
In the meanwhile, the Imperials have figured out something is going on, so it's now a race against the clock - and for their lives - as K-2SO, Cassian's reprogrammed Imperial droid, sacrifices himself so that Jyn and Cassian can get the schematics. Now they face a problem - how to get them out of there? They can't very well fly out, so their only option is to transfer them via transmission, but the only way to do this is to deactivate that blasted shield.
So while Cassian and Jyn are climbing up the tower to get to a transmission point, the Rebels attack the blockade to free the communications so they can actually get those schematics.
Unfortunately, Cassian gets hurt and Jyn must carry on alone, fighting off the man who had initially befriended and then betrayed her father, Krennick, who declares the Empire has won, despite Jyn's best efforts. Sadly, he isn't counting on Cassian, who shoots him so that Jyn can transmit her message.
Just as it's finished, and the rebels are trying to figure out how to save their dying members, the Death Stars appears in orbit, scattering the fleet, and honing in on the planet so that it can destroy the base and thus prevent anyone from getting the schematics. Jyn and Cassian embrace on the beach as the wave catches them, and the Rebel Alliance loses the entire Rogue One team, not to mention many others.
But.
They get the schematics transmission.
And even as Vader intercepts the fleeing ships, the rebels manage to spirit the plans away to Princess Leia, as A New Hope for the entire rebellion against the Empire.
It wasn't the best of movies set in the Star Wars universe, but it was definitely the one to explain what happened when in movie four we're told so many were lost to acquire the plans the Alliance needs to bring down the Empire, and Vader. Some things - like just why, exactly, Saw Gerrera became such a fanatic in the first place - were left a bit rushed, but overall it was another enjoyable experience and I liked watching Felicity Jones become another strong female character in a galaxy far, far away (and I shed a tear knowing she and Cassian could never be; oh, Force).
This was also a very bright step into stand-alone movies that don't connect to the main franchise other than by name or certain characters, and I'm eager to see what else they come up with!
Until then - may the Force be with you!
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment