maxresdefaultNope, not a game-related blog today, a movie one.

Let me open by saying if you haven’t watched f Rogue One, stop right here, go watch the film and don’t get spoilered by me.

You have been warned.

It’s OK, I’ll wait.

OK, done? Then’s lets begin.

We all know how this story ends, the Death Star plans end up on a small Corellian Corvette (the Tantive IV) in a desperate run to get them to the rebels (which is where Leia pops them inside R2-D2). So any mission that is out to get these plans is a doomed mission for those on it – none of our heroes make it to Episode IV.

I went in knowing that.

Somehow I still felt that I was going to get a Star Wars film, not a WWII film with lasers. I really feel like I just sat down and watched a Star Wars  do-over of The Dirty Dozen or The Magnificent 7.

I also feel like it was two movies compressed in to one.

Before Disney bought Star Wars and abolished the expanded universe, it was Bria Tharen who got the Death Star plans to the Rebels. A strong female lead, conned in to slavery, busting up a drug-based cult, having a fling with Han Solo, AND getting the plans out (sacrificing herself in the process) over, I think, three novels. Yes, the story of how R2 got the plans had already been told once, and it’s tale would have been a couple of damned good films! So there’s my first beef with Rogue One, it’s a story that didn’t need reinventing. Reinvent it they did, and Rogue One is what we got.

I said it felt like two movies compressed in to one – here’s why. The first half of movie jumps around. A lot. It has to, there’s 7 Rebel characters that we’re never going to see again who need to have back stories put across. Did I say Seven?

Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, K-2S0, Baze Malbus, Bodhi Rook, Chirrut Imwe, Saw Gerrera

Yup, Seven. Seven’s a good number when you face insurmountable odds, ask Akira Kurosawa.

Again, because it has to compress so much in to a single movie some situations are forced. When (adult) Jyn is facing Gererra he is by this time a grizzled (and slightly mad and paranoid) veteran terrorist. When faced with his old friend he asks “is this a trap”. He switches from suspecting a trap to ‘let me show you something’ with such speed it could snap your neck.

For me, Rogue One didn’t become a Star Wars film until the mission to get the plans launched. Up until that point it was bitty, staccato, and rushed, not too sure when it was supposed to be focusing. Once the crew was together, and the pilot hastily cobbled together his call sign, we had a Star Wars film. From here, it really picked up for me.

A militant group of Rebels ignore Alliance orders and take military action in support of their beliefs. Yup our heroes are technically terrorists and insubordinates, but one man’s terrorist is another man’s Rebel…
(Before anyone gets overly riled about my use of the word ‘Terrorist’ here, I give you the definition of Terrorism: the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. Their attack on the imperial facility was unauthorised and unsanctioned – they were flat out told No, but went anyway)

The nods to A New Hope were awesome; Red Leader (and a couple of other Ep IV pilots) making his appearance; Governor Tarkin being, well, awesome, even Leia made an appearance. The continuity in to Ep IV was flawless.

We’ve seen Jyn Erso’s short story now (much as I still feel robbed of a screen adaptation of Bria Tharen’s), I wonder, will we see the life of Chirrut Imwe up to his meeting with Jyn? How did he befriend Baze Malbus? We’ll probably never know. It’s a pity, for me they were the stand-out pair of the movie.

I now a lot of people out there loved the film to bit, I’m not one of them. It was, however, excellent in parts.