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| The real 'Suicide Squad' of 2016 |
The Basics:
Who made it? Disney,
Lucasfilm, Gareth Edwards (director), Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy
(screenplay)
Who’s in it? Felicity
Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendolsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, wow
there’s a lot of awesome people in here, Darth Vader
Synopsis:
The Rebel Alliance, led by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Cassian Andor (Diego
Luna), makes a risky move to steal the plans for the Death Star, setting up the
epic saga to follow. Trailer.
Disclaimer: Being familiar with Star Wars
will be helpful while reading this review.
Maaan,
Rogue One made me feel like a kid
again. Just the wonder at what I was seeing on the screen and getting caught up
in a fantastical adventure transported me back. Also, Darth Vader doing Darth
Vader stuff. It helps that director Gareth Edwards has a great sense of
scaling, giving the audience a sense of just how big and formidable the AT-ATs and
the Death Star are. And overall, I’d say that this is by far the best looking
of the Star Wars movies.
That
said, Rogue One is not a perfect
film. The first hour is a bit weak, jumping around from planet to planet very
quickly before the plot really kicks in. It does a great job at setting up each
character’s motivations, but not really exploring them as characters. For
example, Donnie Yen’s and Wen Jiang’s characters were my favorite part of the
movie, but while watching it I couldn’t tell you what their names were.
But
when Rogue One is going, it goes like
crazy. The core group of characters is great, and just a lot of fun. Even with
though I didn’t know much about them, I still found myself caring about them.
And that adds actual stakes to this movie. Since the characters aren’t tied to
a larger movie, there’s always the very real chance any of the, could die. Also,
big fan of Star Wars movies getting away from desert planets. There’s a whole
galaxy, use some diverse locales. Seeing the opening scene shot on Iceland (I’m
a bit partial) was very cool.
Rogue One
has been described as a war movie, and it delivers on that promise. The third
act is exhilarating, and delivers the best war action since Saving Private Ryan. Particularly, I
like how it shows all the personal dedication and sacrifice it takes to reach a
goal. None of these characters will get to be the big hero that blows up the
Death Star, but they believe in their cause and are willing to do whatever it
takes for the greater good. (Not naming names, but sacrifice for the greater
good they do.) No great big thing happens without a lot of smaller things to
set it up, even if history is going to most likely forget those small things
and the people that made them possible.
Scene of the film: The third act of the film is incredible, coherently
connecting a space fight, a ground battle, and a fortress infiltration (harder
than it sounds). And, while this may seem a bit morbid, I’m always a sucker for
a good heroic/sacrificial death scene(s).
Watch it if you like: Star Wars obviously, but also war movies, sci-fi, action,
My Rating: 8/10
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