Rogue One: The Dark Times Are Upon Us

How awesome has the past two weeks of Star Wars fandom been? Wednesday, March 30th we had the controversially amazing Season Two finale of Star Wars Rebels (Ahsoka Lives!), two days later, on April 1st, we had the digital release of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, followed by the Tuesday, April 5th release of The Force Awakens on Blu Ray and DVD. The day after that we had the much anticipated comic release of Poe Dameron #1 (which was awesome!), and next week we finally (fingers crossed) get the C-3PO one-shot that explains his confounded red arm. “Ahem…I’ll believe it when I see it”, he says with contempt.

This is my best impersonation of me on Wednesday night: “Wait what? A teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is premiering tomorrow morning on GMA?” Insert fanboy flail! Where did that come from? Sprinkle in this little bit of news over the past week and there you have one of the best two week spans of Star Wars fandom…ever. There is only one way you’re going to get me to tape (yes, I still say tape) Good Morning America, and that is to slap a Star Wars trailer in it, even though I knew, as we all knew, it would be all over the inter-webs that morning anyway. I have to admit I was a bad boy at work on Thursday morning. While in the men’s room I remembered about the trailer and proceeded to take my phone out of my pocket. Don’t worry I was done. Just let me check out this little trailer, it’ll only take a second boss.

1 minute and 57 seconds later I had an adrenaline shot like no other. I went straight to my boss’s office and told him about the trailer that I had just watched (not the smartest thing I ever did), but considering he’s a Vader fan I told him Vader was in the movie to make it up to him. I think my production went up 50% for the rest of the day. My boss should let me watch Star Wars every day at work. Jason, if you’re reading this…

So let’s get into it. These are my initial thoughts and reactions. I’m sure you’ll be reading a couple of these for the next 8 months.

It opens with an Imperial…I mean a man with an English accent, reading off a list of offensives committed by one Jyn Erso, played by English actress, Felicity Jones. I say Imperial because that was my initial reaction. “Oh she was captured by The Empire and they’re reading off her list of crimes.” After a dozen or so more viewings I realize I’m wrong (it happens). The accent is actually coming from a Rebel Leader, possibly a general. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

So we see Jyn being led through a rebel hanger in “binders” by a Rebel Trooper, who is dressed in the same uniform as the Rebel Troopers in the Original Trilogy. Check a box for consistency. In the background we see a classic T-65 X-Wing fighter, and an R5 unit moving about on the right. The one thing I really like about this scene is that it feels like the hanger scene in A New Hope; organized chaos.
Then it cuts to one of my favorite scenes, and that’s with Mon Mothma. “Woah, is that who I think it is?” Thinks of cut scene from Revenge of the Sith. Googles “Mon Mothma Episode III”. It is you! It is you! Ms. Genevieve O’Reilly, who played the same character back in 2005 is back to revive her role as the rebel leader. Perfect!

Diego Luna. Who are you? What’s your rank? According to my 1994 edition of the Rebel Alliance sourcebook he is a captain. As of now, I don’t think his character’s name has officially been released, and speculation bores me. I’m sure however, his character and Jyn will have to work out some…moral quandaries before they embark on this mission. Call it a Force vison.

This brings me back to the rebel that is reading off Jyn’s crimes. “Forgery of Imperial documents, possession of stolen property, aggravated assault, resisting arrest”, sounds like exactly who they need. He’s a general according to his rank insignia, and a hard-ass judging by the tone of voice. He sounds like the type of general that doesn’t have time for criminals, and is reluctant to align with one. By the way, I believe the General is played by actor Alistair Petrie who according to IMDB, was in The Bank Job (2008) and Rush (2013).

Next…commence the Thrawn theories please! Yea no…sorry. Not buying it, and while I’m at it that’s the Emperor sitting, not bowing, in front of something that I’m not convinced is a bacta tank, with Royal Guards flanking him. These rumors of it being Vader do not make sense to me; Vader doesn’t wear a hood. Maybe it’s not the Emperor, but it’s definitely not Vader. Okay, back to the Admiral, it looks like he is played by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises). I like the image of him standing in front of the same display as Tarkin once did in A New Hope. It’s very original trilogy-y. That’s a word now.

We have Special Forces Stormtroopers patrolling the streets of an unknown location in a tank-like vehicle. Very cool. Queue the Saving Private Ryan visuals.

Forest Whitaker: what’s his deal? That’s what I want to know.

There’s a scene that was filmed in the Canary Wharf Tube Station in London (subway to us yanks). Very fab!

The image of the superlaser being installed into the Death Star was a “squeee” moment for me, and can we please talk about the AT-AT’s laying waste to some rebel scum? That was the deal breaker for me. I need to see this movie right now! Isn’t that just like the Empire though? Using giant walkers to take out a few rebels. That’s why you lost Palpatine!

Okay I need to wrap this up before the hook comes out. Another initial thought I had after seeing this trailer the first time, was that the title “Rogue One” does not necessarily refer to the X-Wing squadron as I first thought, but instead the character of Jyn Erso, she is a rogue one; a rule breaker. I’ve heard theories that perhaps the fighter squadron was named after her; that is plausible.

My favorite scenes were of the superlaser being installed into the Death Star, with the comparably small Star Destroyers in orbit nearby, the hooded figure with the Royal Guards, and the AT-AT’s firing on the rebels. My least favorite scenes, and this is purely based on the 5 seconds of dialogue we have, and I’m not saying they’re bad scenes just not as good as some of the other ones, but I didn’t find Felicity Jones’ lines very convincing. They felt cliché to me (shut up Eric you don’t know what you’re talking about). That is me splitting hairs. This movie is going to be awesome and I can’t wait for December 15th!

The Cantina Cast

The wretched hive your Jedi Master warned you about!

 

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