If there is one word that could be used to describe the newest installment in the Star Wars cinematic universe, Rogue One, it would be a simple one:
Bold.
Everything about this movie is bold, every decision is an intentional homage and/or challenge to the original Star Wars film and to the film series in general. That’s right, I used the classic literary cheat of ‘and/or’. I do this because this film walks a line that continuously flirts with both of these options. Some scenes manage to be both homage and a challenge to the entire mythos of Star Wars in the exact same moment.
Even the shortcomings of this film are bold, the decisions so brave and committed you can’t help but admire them, even with they fail. The most notable failure, both ethically and visually is the digital puppetry of a few characters returning from A New Hope. The effect is impressive but limited, the audience is ripped from the narrative to stare at this digitization of the uncanny valley. If Polar Express taught the world anything it is that this time of digital manipulation does not age well. When considered though, the filmmakers could have kept most of this off-screen. The return of the characters could have been shown quickly, shown in reflections, shown at a quarter-angle, could have been portrayed in a thousand practical ways. The filmmakers, though, did none of these. They put this effect and those characters in full display for long periods of time. Regardless of the general failure in technique, this is an example of how bold the approach is here. There will be no curbing of ideas or technique in Rogue One. Everything is here, it is front and center, it is grimy, and it demands you look at it.
This approach, which leads to the more noticeable failures of the film, also leads to its most impressive successes. This is a Star Wars universe not directly tinted by the glorified myth and ethos of the Skywalker family. This is a Star Wars universe like ours, murky, complicated, ethically tenuous, and most of all scary. There is death all around this film, and not all of it is because of the actions of the Empire. No, much of the blood is on the hands of the rebellion. This fact is one of two thematic explorations that make this film so interesting, so entertaining, and memorable.
In the same boldness mentioned above the filmmakers do not shy away from the idea that the rebels have done terrible things as well. Explore the idea that the rebels are rationalizing these acts away as tasks done in the name of the higher good. The filmmakers also don’t shy away from the idea that this is exactly how the Empire envisions itself. It’s almost as if both sides are flawed, with one side teetering noticeably closer with monstrosity. Much like our own history, we then have to choose a side when there is no purely good side. There is a bad and a worse. Humanity is full of flaws and atrocities, even when attempting to do good. That we now have a Star Wars entry that dares to examine that side of warfare is, yes I’ll say it again, nothing less than bold.
Finally, and perhaps the boldest choice, was the choice to have the members of Rogue One composed solely of minorities. I know this annoyed some pesky boycotters out there, but this choice is what really packs in the emotional and social heft of this film. Again, consider our own past and the general whitewashing of history. Consider all of the minorities that have directly affected history only to be forgotten during your high school social studies class. The fact that this Rogue One crew is made up of people of color, people of different nationalities, people of the female variety encapsulates so much about the Star Wars universe, a symbolic representation of our own, that the film’s mere existence adds nuance and complexity to the mythos. I will stop short of spoiling the ending, but consider the way the final act plays out and then consider how much this crew is discussed throughout the rest of the films. While I know the first trilogy couldn’t acknowledge characters that didn’t creatively exist yet, the fact that the filmmakers behind Rogue One retroactively added the social layer of minorities being forgotten, while the lily-white Skywalker family is written into history as the lone heroes of the rebellion, well that is the apex of powerful filmmaking.
Even if you ignore all of these bold (I swear that’s the last time I’ll use that word) choices by the filmmakers, Rogue One is also unique in the fact that it actually narratively improves the film it chronologically proceeds, ‘A New Hope’. Silly plot holes have been filled, character motivations created, threats expanded. If nothing else, Rogue One has retroactively given us a stronger Star Wars universe and for that we should all be thankful.
