Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first film in the planned series of unnumbered installments that will further flesh out the Star Wars universe while dancing around the events of the core films. This particular episode fits seamlessly between the third and fourth episodes of the main franchise and was born from a single sentence spoken by Leia and mentioned in the opening crawl of A New Hope explaining how many rebel lives were sacrificed to obtain the plans to the Empire’s new weapons, the Death Star.
Rogue One sets itself apart almost immediately by omitting the signature text crawl and pushing the title card several minutes into the film after we have met Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the architect responsible for the Death Star. Galen is whisked away by the Empire, forced to leave behind his young daughter who is ultimately raised by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) into the feisty Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). The rebels are trying to join forces with Saw Gerrera and attempt to use Jyn’s prior relationship to facilitate an introduction.
The resulting trip to the Jedi home world of Jedha introduces several new characters that will ultimately join forces with Jyn and ultimately the rebellion as they learn about Galen’s planet-killer and his secret plan on how to destroy it. From this point on the movie turns into a by-the-numbers ensemble war movie that surprisingly gives each cast member time to shine allowing you to care about them just in time for them to die; even the loveable surly robot, K2SO (Alan Tudyk).
Everything about Rogue One from the story, style, characters, and action is totally originally, which is a refreshing change from the fan-service rampant cribbing of The Force Awakens. Rogue One felt more like a war movie set in the Star Wars universe, but not some sci-fi epic like The Clone Wars; more like The Dirty Dozen. There was a cool stormy-night recon mission with a sniper, and a massive beach assault with AT-AT walkers and X-Wing cover fire, all the while this epic space battle was raging in orbit above the planet. And while we’ve seen this space battle in nearly every other Star Wars films, there was something very structured and realistic about this one. The filmmakers weren’t trying to impress us with how many ships they could render on the screen, but instead put us in the ships and view thoughtful combat tactics from the cockpit.
The overall pacing of Rogue One was fantastic, and for the most part the film was non-stop action and suspense with only a few brief respites for character or story development. Director Gareth Edwards goes to great lengths to fit this film seamlessly into the existing franchise while paying proper tribute to the existing material. There are numerous winks and nods that serious fans will notice and appreciate, and only a few actually seemed forced and perhaps cheesy. The most obvious moments of Episode IV tie-ins are the digitally created characters of Tarkin and Leia. The CG version of the late Peter Cushing could have worked if they hadn’t forced so many close-ups, and the CG face replacement of a 1976 Carrie Fisher seemed unnecessary after I saw the actress playing her – she was already remarkably similar. Sadly, both of these characters got into uncanny valley territory and became distracting.
I’ve been giving Disney a pass on not releasing 4K Blu-rays but I think that has to end here; especially when I learned that Rogue One was mastered in 4K. This movie is loaded with dark scenes, interiors, and an extended sequence on a stormy planet at night and there is a lot of detail getting lost in that darkness. The film was shot digitally so I can only assume the heavy layer of grain was intentionally added in post to give the live action sequences a more war-movie feel. It’s almost distracting to see the grain-heavy planet-side scenes juxtaposed with the pristine visuals of space battles that are crystal clear. Colors are realistic yet muted, and the only standout visuals of the film are during the final battle, both on the beaches of Scarif and the orbital battle outside the shield portal.
Rogue One offers a DTS-HD MA 7.1 track that suffers from some poor mixing levels for the primary dialogue – something I’ve never had issue before in any prior Disney release. When I saw Rogue One in the theater in Dolby Atmos there was no problem, so something is up either with this particular mix or during the mastering process. There were several sequences in the film where I had to hit the CC button just to read what they were saying. If I turned the volume up to where I could understand the dialogue, then I was blown away by the music and effects. There is great use of all the surround channels and ample LFE to keep your subwoofer busy during the battle scenes. Hopefully we see an Atmos mix available in the inevitable 4K release.
There is a deceptive amount of bonus material in this Rogue One package. Aside from the DVD and digital copy you also get a separate bonus disc that might have you wondering why they just didn’t put the 68 minutes of features on the same disc. The bonus disc offers two options, The Stories, a multi-part documentary with a Play All button and Rogue Connections that spends just over four minutes pointing out all the Easter eggs in the film.
The Stories can be broken down into its various chapters, starting with A Rogue Idea where John Knoll tells us about his idea and pitch for the film. Jyn: The Rebel showcases the film’s main character and the actress that plays her. Cassian: The Spy discusses the casting of Diego Luna and how this character fits into the film. K-2SO: The Droid is one of my favorite segments and goes into detail with Alan Tudyk’s on his motion capture performance and how his personality was captured within a droid. Baze & Chirrut: Guardians of the Whills discusses the casting of these two internationally famous stars and what they brought to the franchise. Bodhi & Saw: The Pilot & The Revolutionary shows us some early audition tapes with Riz Ahmed then moves on to discuss Forest Whitaker’s character and his own personal insight into the role. The Empire covers most of the villains including Galen Erso, Orson Krennic, Grand Moff Tarkin, and Darth Vader.
Visions of Hope: The Look of Rogue One breaks away from the character profiles and goes into detail discussing the creation of a film that can be totally originally while staying true to the Star Wars universe right down to the smallest detail. The Princess & The Governor is a brief yet informative look on how two important characters were digitally recreated to link two movies separated by four decades. Epilogue: The Story Continues highlights the film’s opening night in Hollywood along with various clips from the film.
Before you hit send on that flaming comment about my score for Rogue One let me say that this is a “product review” and not a film critique. If I were reviewing the movie, it would easily get five stars as this is in my top three Star Wars films of all-time. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a fantastic movie and gives me…err…new hope for the future of these spin-off story films, but when it comes to the home release, I would have to advise you to wait. There is almost certainly going to be a deluxe special edition coming soon with commentary and 3D and more bonus features, and for you growing number of people with 4K TV’s and 4K players I’m betting you can get this same movie in 4K by the end of the year. Of course, die hard Star Wars fans and those with disposable $20 bills can enjoy this film now and repurchase in a few months.
