A Blooming Flower in the Dark Room of Star Wars Films
During this week, I felt like switching up the kinds of films I was watching and the platforms I was watching them on. I’ve watched BlackKklansman on HBOgo and last night, I finished Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Disney+. After I finished Rogue One last night, I was very happy with what I watched because it gave me some relief in my everlasting belief that Disney had ruined the Star Wars films. I’ve been a life-long Star Wars fan, but the recent films haven’t been as great as the previous trilogies, so I didn’t even bother watching Rogue One, even on multiple tries, and I’ll admit that I was wrong for that.
My issue with what Disney had been doing with their 2012 purchase was, though she was the lead character, it felt like the producers and writers were trying to shove Rey down our throat and force the storyline that Rey was the rightful heir to Skywalker name, instead of Ben Skywalker (Kylo Ren), who is from the same bloodine. I also felt like The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, were predictable. It felt like I was being overwhelmed with the build of Rey’s character and I wasn’t getting enough of the characters that were interesting, such as Kylo Ren and Finn. But that’s where Rogue One differentiates itself from the other three films because this film was the first stand alone film in the franchise and has a different spin on the Star Wars universe, with a great and unique character building.
Rogue One is the film that’s set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, which, to me, were two of the finest films in the franchise. The film revolves a new character Jyn Erso with her new allies, Cassian and his reprogrammed imperial droid K-2SO, Baze Malbus, and his mentor Chirrut Imwe, who is a blind man who is guided by the presence of the force, as they attempt to steal the secret, left by Jyn’s father Galen, that he left a fatal mistake in the core of the Death Star, that could lead to it being destroyed. The Empire attempt to stop this attempt of potential rebellion by the Allies.
One of the main factors that makes Rogue One the best Star Wars film in the Disney era is the proper use of previously used characters. I believe that the ending scene where Vader slaughtered those allie troopers with ease, but in such a vicious way, rather than just a simple strategy, was legit a true testament to how powerful of a character Vader actually is and how proper storybuilding could make for thrilling moments, such as this one:
Take that and compare it to how Mark Hamill was used in the three Disney films and it was atrocious. Even Hamill spoke of the displeasure he had on the use of the Luke Skywalker character throughout the making of The Last Jedi because he felt like JJ Abrams (the main producer of the recent trilogy of films) was tearing down the character, in order to build up the character of Rey.
Hamill said it best, “this film was written by kids”, though he was solely talking about The Last Jedi, I feel that way about all three films in the sequel trilogy because they didn’t feel like an authentic Star Wars film. The films felt like there wasn’t any consideration to how the previous films were written and were rather written with the intention of building a strong female lead, which I don’t have a problem with, but I hate that they had to completely trash the fan favorite characters, to build the lead. Kathleen Kennedy is mostly to blame for this because, in the acquisition of Star Wars, Disney decided to make her the President of Lucasfilm and her sole intent for the sequel trilogy was to have a female lead that was stronger than males. Since the release of The Rise of Skywalker, she has been relieved of her role as the President of Lucasfilm.
The other factor where Rogue One excelled was that it seemed like “a breath of fresh air”. Yes, the film did have recurring characters from previous films, such as Darth Vader, Moff Tarkin, Basil Organa, and Princess Leia, but the film wasn’t entirely centered around those characters. The film is centered around characters who were never talked about or mentioned in previous films, so it felt enlightening to discover another portion of the Star Wars universe.
Another enjoyable element to this film was that the film ended when Jyn and Cassian died on the beach of Scarif from the Death Star beam and that was the end of their stories; they didn’t linger around like bad breath. It ends with the Rebellion ship entering hyper-speed and the film cutting off from there, but if you wanted to, you could start with A New Hope and it would be a seamless transition between films. This was a new feature, that was introduced in this film, that I really enjoyed it and hope that they do it in future films.
I do believe that there is hope for the Star Wars franchise with what they have planned. They’re starting all over again, as if they were George Lucas in 1977. They must create new characters, new storylines, and new settings, without following the same blueprint they used for previous trilogies. I hope that they go back to what made their franchise amazing: unique scenarios with proper actors that fit the characters, while maintaining the same enjoyment that previous installments had.
As always, let me know what you think, and all criticism and critiques are welcomed!
-IZ
