‘Rogue One’: Rebels at war

Two trilogies and a redemptive seventh installment later, the Star Wars movie franchise marches into parts unknown with its first film supposedly outside the regular series of episodes.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is the first so-called standalone or one-off film based on the universe created and popularized by George Lucas (and eventually vilified, thank you, Jar Jar Binks, et al).

Veering away from the hero’s journey of clan Skywalker, “Rogue One” attempts to flesh out what may have initially been a throwaway context-setting line from the introduction back in 1977. It derives its plot from the following excerpt from the movie’s beginning crawl:

“… Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.”

The reality is that “Rogue One” is hardly standalone since it’s a bridge between episodes III and IV, and seems very much like a Star Wars movie, checking off all the characteristic boxes — space, action, adventure, aliens, droids, the Force.

The rebels-as-protagonists has always been a subtly subversive component of the Star Wars films. Historically, labels like “insurgency” and “revolt” are reserved for the bad guys, but these movies have always cheered them on as heroes. The resistance fighters are the good guys, struggling against and eventually beating the evil Empire — the hegemonic, imperialistic, fascist organization you learned to love to hate during your liberal arts classes.

So what’s different? “Rogue One,” steps this up significantly.

To that point, parts of the story are set in a desert environment highly reminiscent of the Middle East. There’s even a scene when a group of extremists ambush an Empire convoy (including a tank-like vehicle) using weapons and tactics similar to those you might find in places like Fallujah or the Kunar Province.

The on-screen violence is also stepped up in “Rogue One.” But to say this movie is “darker” than the episode movies is misleading. Yes it has violence and mature themes, but so do all the other movies if you just look past the furry creatures and silly looking aliens. The original films had plenty of “dark” things going on including healthy doses of dismemberment, decapitation, patricide, torture, illicit romance and child endangerment.

But let’s applaud the person who thought of integrating a war movie into the Star Wars universe. While it isn’t quite “Black Hawk Down,” or “Saving Private Ryan,” the ground and guerrilla warfare components are ratcheted up significantly from the original movies.

The aerial battles are as thrilling as ever, and you can tell the filmmakers have done their tactical homework, as the interplay between ground combat and air support look quite legitimate. The huge battle ships maneuvering in space serve as this universe’s naval support.

The only quibble with the battle scenes is that not even the talented folks at Lucasfilm have quite figured out how to make laser shooting not seem cartoonish. Maybe it’s because the lasers don’t sound as visceral as gunfire.

Speaking of cartoonish, the story itself is overly simple and quite conventional — a ragtag group of resistance fighters come together and strives to steal the Death Star plans. It’s highly reminiscent of the “Dirty Dozen” or a western like “Magnificent Seven.”

Give the filmmakers credit though. How hard it must be to create suspense and emotional investment in a story when the audience knows the ending already. Director Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) makes good on the studio’s investment in a relative unknown person at the helm.

Another reason the movie succeeds is the solid acting. Much like Marvel Comics movies, the Star Wars franchise attracts top-notch talent. Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”) and Diego Luna (“Y Tu Mama Tambien”) lend heavy doses of gravitas to their characters. Alan Tudyk (“Firefly”) also excels, playing a motion capture role as a black humored droid.

And for the first time in the Star Wars universe, Asian actors join the main cast — Hong Kong action film legend Donnie Yen and Chinese film star Wen Jiang. Of course, this is less about progressive cinematic politics in Hollywood and probably more about overseas gross receipts in China. And unsurprisingly, even in a galaxy far, far away, there’s kung fu, because you know — Asians.

Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen round out the major parts, but even the minor supporting roles are played by amazing actors and stage veterans — Ian McElhinney, Jonathan Aris, Alistair Petrie, Peter Cushing (sort of) and much, much more. It’s as if the casting director picked up the building containing the Royal Shakespeare Company, and shook it vigorously until a mob of amazing actors fell onto the “Rogue One” set.

Disney is performing remarkably well as the steward of the Star Wars brand. Upcoming standalone films about Han Solo (presumably “funnier” to this movie’s “darker”) and Boba Fett (more “bounty hunterer?”) would seem promising after the success of “Rogue One.” Episode VIII is due next December and is being directed by another up and coming director, Rian Johnson. The future is bright, despite the “darkness.”