Director Gareth Edwards brings dazzling scope to the franchise
By Dylan Jones
Spin-off movies are always a bit of a risk. It’s hard for them not to feel like a spare part, or nothing more than cash cows for whatever movie studio is churning them out. Too often, this has been the case. But recently, there have been a couple of notable exceptions; Fantastic Beasts was arguably better than many of its Harry Potter source movies, and now Rogue One easily earns its place as a credible contribution to Star Wars.
British director Gareth Edwards is a unique and visionary filmmaker. He was an interesting and adventurous choice as someone to contribute to the Star Wars universe. He’s only got two movies under his belt, and both were surprising and divisive upon their release.
He gained attention in 2010 with independent venture Monsters, a beguilingly thoughtful and almost jarringly human take on the alien invasion format. It took a mere £500,000 to make. Despite this, critics were blown away by his stunningly inventive use of special effects. He then went on to direct the 2014 remake of Godzilla, which again received praise for mindblowing visuals and unexpected emotional complexity.
He’s brought that same inventive aesthetic to Rogue One. Yes, it’s full of space battles and explosions, but it couldn’t be further from the glitzily Hollywood drama of Spielberg, or the mindless mulch of Michael Bay. A trademark Edwards trait is how he likes to ponder over things. Dustclouds bloom beautifully as ships wheel and dip and dive in slow motion like great prehistoric birds. He finds a beauty in the Star Wars universe, in an angle it’s never been captured from before.
The premise of Rogue One is simple – give the Death Star plans to the rebels before it’s too late! There are no side plots and, unusually for Star Wars, it doesn’t jump between various storylines or sets of characters. We’re on one, almost realtime thrill ride with one group of gritty, hard-faced fighters. In this sense, it’s not a Star Wars movie.
Thinking about it, apart from the occasional fan-pleasing reference, it carries absolutely zero similarities to any of the others. The tone is different, perhaps partly down to the fact that this is the first Star Wars not scored by its trademark John Williams. This is not a sentimental space opera, or even a modern sci-fi romp. It’s a war movie.
Despite its 12A rating, the average child under the age of fifteen probably won’t enjoy it. There are no lush jungles or cute aliens. Mostly, the landscape is a dusty desertscape, startingly and no doubt deliberately reminiscent of the Middle East. And references to modern warfare are not shied away from – some of the scenes that unfold on the desert moon Jedha could have been straight out of a BBC news report on Aleppo.
Felicity Jones is interesting as main character Jyn Erso. Star Wars continue to lead the charge in introducing strong female characters not only as convincing adventure heroes but now, as convincing war heroes. And she IS utterly convincing in the action sequences – hardened and dispassionate, it’s completely bizarre to even consider the fact that Natalie Portman’s awful, swooning Padme was even part of the same universe. But there’s something about Jones’ performance that just doesn’t quite land. Her speeches aren’t quite engaging enough, and there’s not really enough feeling behind her eyes for us to care about her character. There are missed opportunities here.
The inclusion of a wise-cracking droid was also a bizarre choice. The need for comic relief is understandable, but the droid’s jokes are too childish and too basic, and it’s jarring against the self-consciously wonderful and grown up action of the rest of the movie.
The best performance was Riz Ahmed’s tremblingly damaged turn as defected Imperial pilot Bodhi – of all the cast, he perhaps gave the most chillingly accurate depiction of the terror people feel from sudden war and violence.
Rogue One certainly succeeds in doing something different with the franchise – and it more than stands out in its own right. Which, following in the footsteps of the universally adored The Force Awakens, is no mean feat. Hopefully we’ll be seeing much more of Gareth Edwards’ thoughtful, sweeping spacescapes in years to come.
Rogue One is out now
