Kyra Rozanitis ’18
The prequel to the original Star Wars movie, Rogue One is visually incredible, exciting, and action-packed but lacking in its emotional element. The plot is about a young, solitary, seemingly purposeless girl who finds a cause worth fighting for: a rebellion against the Empire; however, there is a major weakness in the film. As the plot unfolds, the audience continues to expect a more developed connection with the characters, but it never comes. Even the main characters, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, are shockingly underdeveloped.
This causes the viewers to never fully enjoy all that Rogue One could have been as they never feel a deep connection with the characters. Despite these flaws in the script, Felicity Jones (Jyn) and Diego Luna (Cassian) have phenomenal performances (chemistry and the ability to make even underdeveloped characters captivating) that almost makeup for the disconnect.
However, no matter how well they acted, Jones and Luna could not repair the aforementioned flaws. Therefore, what was supposed to be an emotional and moving ending, was only a semi-powerful conclusion to what had the potential to be a suspenseful plot with a sad but riveting ending. There was so much unused talent and untapped potential, which was disappointing.
The emotional disconnect aside, Rogue One still managed to be an above average film with a talented cast and a decent plot. Since it managed to receive an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and the third-best opening of the year, it’s difficult to argue that the film was not successful. Some of the supporting characters were interesting, and each provided much needed effects to the film. K-2SO (a reprogrammed Imperial drone played by Alan Tudyk) provided the comic relief by bluntly stating whatever came to mind, including the likeliness of other characters’ deaths during certain points in the movie.
By far, the coolest character was Chirrut Imwe (played by Donnie Yen), who served as the film’s quasi-jedi because there were no real jedi seen in Rogue One. Imwe, a blind, force-sensitive human from Jedha, used the Force to sense others’ movements because he couldn’t see. Even though he was blind, Imwe managed to aid the crew by battling fearlessly with his staff and being deeply connected with The Force. While he didn’t wield a lightsaber and never used the Force to choke anyone, he embodied the jedi in this film, in which there were none. Many of the other characters provided necessary characteristics for the movie but were, again, not developed enough (just like the main characters).
Despite its weaknesses, overall, Rogue One is worth the money and the time that will be spent to see it, especially if you are a fan that can overlook these flaws and appreciate the epic series that is Star Wars.
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