The 10 Best Things About Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is now in theaters, and it's already breaking records for this year. The newest Star Wars film takes place right before the A New Hope and details the events of a team of Rebels getting the plans for the Death Star.
Make sure to check out GameSpot's full, spoiler-free review, if you haven't seen the film.
Warning:Spoilers for Rogue One ahead, especially the final two slides.
It Has a Whole Different Tone
Star Wars movies have felt like films the whole family can enjoy. Good guys take on bad guys, and in the end, everyone celebrates when the antagonist is defeated. Rogue One is not that type of movie. It takes place during the darkest time in the galaxy, when the Empire has control and is mere moments from unleashing their greatest weapon, the Death Star. While "hope" is a theme that repeats over and over again, most of the time, the quest to get the Death Star plans feels completely hopeless. It is easily the darkest film in the franchise.
K-2SO Lightens the Mood
While the idea of an Imperial droid being the comic relief of this film is disturbing, K-2SO was the light at the end of the tunnel for this dark film. Alan Tudyk's voice of K-2SO was incredibly soothing, even during hyper-intense moments. What made this character work so well was that K-2SO wasn't telling jokes, he was telling the truth. His honesty about how they were constantly all going to die was somehow incredibly humorous. If Jar Jar Binks was the standard for terrible comedic characters, K-2SO was completely on the other side of that spectrum.
Chirrut Îmwe
The character Chirrut Îmwe showed fans how other characters in the Star Wars Universe think and feel about The Force. While everyone is familiar with the Jedi and Sith, who are tapped into the Force and gain powers from it, Îmwe is more of a Force zealot. He worshiped the Force and believed that it would guide him and protect him. The blind fighter, played by Donnie Yen, came off as a bit out-there and bizarre, but he was the most hopeful if the group and came in handy on more than one occasion.
We See Through the Eyes of the Empire
While A New Hope also showed the Empire at its peak, Rogue One showed the Empire as a much more terrifying force, and this was before they blew up Alderaan. The way the film delivered is by letting the audience see how this group worked through the Empire's perspective. We mainly saw the Empire's inner-workings through Orson Krennic's narrative, the man who was in charge of the security of the construction of the Death Star. Strangely enough, these scenes helped humanize this tyrannical group and added more depth to the most hated force in the galaxy.
Jedha is Everything About Star Wars, Wrapped Up Into One
Nothing during Rogue One epitomized Star Wars more than Jedha, the desert moon which was being mined by the Empire to power their Death Star. We saw a desert city bustling with droids, aliens, and the occasional Stormtrooper trying to maintain control. However, what was going on in that city says so much more about the current state of the galaxy: a military force was mining a holy city dry that the people could not fight. Looming over the city was an Imperial Destroyer, letting everyone know who is really in charge.
Cameos and Callbacks to the Original Trilogy
If you were observant during Rogue One, you probably saw a lot of callbacks and cameos to the original trilogy, and more than just Darth Vader. Ex-politician and revolutionary leader Mon Mothma played a larger role in this film, and on the Empire's side, Grand Moff Tarkin appeared. In addition, there were some quick cameos of C-3PO and R2D2. Lastly, we briefly saw Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba in Jedha City, who were in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope.
The Rebellion is a Mess
The Rebellion, as we know it from the original trilogy, seemed to know what they were doing. They were pretty well organized, even when they were up against impossible odds. In Rogue One, the Rebellion did not have their act together. Saw Gerrera, once a member of the Rebels, split from the group to start his own faction because he was too aggressive for everyone else. As for the rest of the Rebels, they couldn't really seem to decide on the best action or even agree with each other. Some members wanted to disband the group. All-in-all, they ended up winning, but this group needed a lot of work if it wanted to beat the Empire.
The Battle of Scarif
The final act of this film features one of the best battles in the history of Star Wars: The Battle of Scarif. The Rogue One team infiltrated Scarif with only a few Rebels leading the way. However, their surprise attack, along with the guerrilla-style tactics, led to one hell of a battle. Very quickly, more Rebels showed up to add to an air and space battle. It was chaotic, hectic, intense, but not at all hard to follow. Plus, we got to see an Imperial Destroyer crash into another Destroyer.
Darth Vader is Unleashed
Darth Vader was woken from his insane castle on Mustafar to join the battle at Scarif, during the final moments. Vader got aboard one of the Rebel ships, took out his lightsaber, and unleashed his fury. This was more than just tossing this iconic character into the film. He had purpose and was on the front lines. Plus, it was an awesome scene.
The Fate of Rogue One
The biggest shocker from Rogue One came from the last act of the film. We knew not everyone from the Rogue One group would survive, but we had hope that maybe one or two of them would live to see another day or maybe a sequel. What happened was that one-by-one, every single member of this group died. The film was unforgiving about this, and it was startling. Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor were the final two survivors, holding each other as they, and the base on Scarif, was destroyed by the Death Star. It was brutal.