The Franchise Awakens
There is such a thing as having a good idea, but someone else executes it better than you. The entire Star Wars franchise was built and broken because of the refusal to accept this, and the result is a well-loved series of films with several severely-flawed films and a brand new company devoting endless energy to restore its reputation. Star Wars, an epic idea crafted by George Lucas, was built by him, thrived because of him, and started slipping over the years because of the same man. Rogue One is a finalizing of linking all six Star Wars films scattered chronologically (and by quality) while also connecting it to the few spin-offs that Disney has accepted as part of the Star Wars canon (Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels).
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Spoilers Up Ahead
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Before even touching the surface of Rogue One becoming the Empire Strikes Back of 21st Century Star Wars, we have to reach into the past and see what went right and what went wrong and why we are where we are today. George Lucas’ original Star Wars masterpiece was never expected to become a monumental blockbuster smash. Don’t let anyone fool you, George Lucas didn’t have his six-film plan back in the 70s, and the evidence lies in the storyline details of the original film drifting from the later installments—including elements about the force, the Luke/Leia connection, and of course the role of Darth Vader.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PDcBhODqo]
What made Star Wars such a success and such a delight was its overwhelming advanced special effects. The film looked better than anything we had ever seen up to that point, from production value to visual effects to cinematography. And the music, I believe we wouldn’t have the fandom today if it weren’t for John Williams’ booming soundtrack to support the galactic chaos. Also the vagueness of the original film allowed our imaginations to run absolutely wild. Clone Wars? Darth Vader? Different galaxies each with their own unique characters and aliens? The setting alone was full of potential storylines to be utilized down the road. It was a classic good versus hero story, but with admirable and memorable characters from both sides of the fight.
Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi remain amazing sequels because George Lucas still had the power to do whatever he pleased. The interference we see from movie studios nowadays is infinitely more intrusive than back in the early 80s when the Star Wars brand was extremely strong and Lucas/Spielberg were the kings of Hollywood (Indiana Jones also happened, never forget). This is why the Luke/Vader plot twist happened, the Luke/Leia connection happened, why we got such a scary and unexpected climax in Empire Strikes Back, and why the sequels were able to keep their scary high budgets and delivered top-notch production value yet again. These were ballsy moves back in the day and went against the normal grain of summer blockbusters.
Somewhere along the lines however, George Lucas lost his franchise. He greenlit far too much material, resulting in a cluttered Expanded Universe line of novels, books, and comics that turned Star Wars into a mere cash grab by writers wanting to make a name for themselves. And yes, there were some good ideas amongst the thousands of novels (Shadows of the Empire, an N64 darling, had a compelling story to tell), but it was hard looking past all the clutter. Lucas himself also became obsessed with special effects and had forgotten what made the originals stand out and look as good as they did. It was the scarcity of the plot which allowed for the fans and viewers to speculate and debate plot points for decades to come. It was the characters. It was the effective use of practical effects and superb usage of sets, props, and little details to give Star Wars the life that science fiction films usually don’t deliver to their audience. Somewhere along these lines, Lucas lost his way, and the prequels and thousands of Star Wars-related material happened.
Star Wars became bloated by giving us a prequel trilogy we didn’t exactly request, and gave us a story that could have been severely condensed to avoid issues and continuity frustrations. Episode One was memorable only for the podracing scene and Darth Maul and not for all the ridiculous politics, not for the stupid plot twist involving a forgotten Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman, and not for the special effects, which did this awkward thing of displaying technology that was more advanced than what we saw from the original trilogy---even though they were prequels. George Lucas didn’t rely on his writing team from the original three, resulting in terrible dialogue, unlikable characters, and a lack of depth of the themes we had seen during Luke Skywalker’s journey from farm boy to jedi.
By the time we reached Attack of the Clones, we had seen the competition from other movie studios and other great minds catch up. Attack of the Clones was not only a frustrating film, but in terms of special effects and groundbreaking visuals it wasn’t faring as well against the likes of Fifth Element, Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and even a film from Lucas’ old friend Spielberg (Minority Report, underrated gem). And the other thing, each of the films I mentioned were also overall superior. So the Star Wars revival could have been helped with the likes of a Spielberg, Jackson, Reimi, even the Wachowskis. But whether its arrogance, pride, or whatever other reason, Lucas alone wanted to tell this prequel story and try to bring Star Wars back to the positive limelight.
We then get the Clone Wars----two cartoons AND a film, and probably a thousand books. We then get the video games, far too many of them each wither their own story to tell. It was as if that galaxy a long long time ago is literally in war every single damn day. It became unbearable. This galaxy must have been a pain to live in.
Then Disney arrives. And it was finally out of the hands of George Lucas.
Disney has seen the overwhelming amount of damage done. Disney is fully aware that the prequels and plethora of extra non-film content had tainted everything for the remainder of the Star Wars saga. Darth Vader went from fearful villain with a questionable past into a whiny little runt that transformed into an angry teenager. Suddenly we saw backstories scrambling everything we knew and loved about the Star Wars characters big and small. Even if Disney dismantled the expanded universe, Star Wars needed an adjustment in image.
The Force Awakens was pretty much a new generation New Hope. It introduced an entire new set of characters, new set of villains, new mysteries for people to ponder, and new books to give backstory and life to smaller plotlines that have (officially) been happening since the events of Return of the Jedi. Moving forward instead of backward would allow for Star Wars to breathe and expand to new directions. Force Awakens wasn’t quite A New Hope, because Disney still wanted to test the waters, and wanted to save some of the bigger and crazier ideas for latter installments. That studio interference that directors like George Lucas always feared is occurring here. But it was egomaniacs like Lucas that forced Disney to have intense control of the IP to ensure we didn’t get the 90s/early 2000s mess of Star Wars Everything flooding the media. Disney wanted to earn back the fans and make new ones. The 2 billion in the box office was proof that they indeed geared things in the right direction. But Disney still wants to glimpse slightly into the past and fill in some gaps.
Rogue One became the second test, a riskier one. Essentially an entire movie based off of a couple words of dialogue from an opening crawl back in 1977, Rogue One gives us a new legion of characters while simultaneously answering a couple big questions that rose from A New Hope---including just how those important blueprints were stolen, why that glaring flaw in the Death Star existed in the first place, and why Leia coincidentally was close to the planet that housed Luke Skywalker AND Obi-Wan Kenobi, two vital components to ultimately destroying the Death Star. New fans were rewarded with Force Awakens, while old Star Wars fans were getting their love letter in the form of Rogue One.
Darth Vader on a cruel streak? Check. Dozens of callbacks and easter eggs to the original Star Wars? Check. Plot holes being filled? Check. Return of vital minor characters from the prequels? Check. Return of the retro futuristic feel the prequels failed to deliver? Check check. And wait, a final scene that pretty much directly connects to the actual opening scene of A New Hope? Check, mate. Rogue One I shall admit was a sketchy idea when I first heard about it, but the more we saw, the more it was apparent this wasn’t just a cash grab unlike what it felt like in the quickly-produced prequels that was a few steps away from being a fully-animated film.
The cinematography in Rogue One was the best we’ve seen since Empire Strikes Back and those gorgeous shots of Hoth, Cloud City, and of course that scary final battle against Darth Vader. Gareth Edwards does a flawless job bringing us to a slew of beautiful destinations each with a distinctive look and feel. From the gorgeous shots of the death star overlooking a planet it is about to tarnish to the incredible scenery in the final battle, this film was epic in just visual scale. It looked like Star Wars just on the backgrounds alone.
Diversity is the name of the game in Rogue One. From casting to characters to even the dialogue there was a great variety that made Rogue One not feel like just another Star Wars movie. It was less about the magic of the force and more about the human elements of fighting oppression, and standing up to evil against all odds. The movie wasn’t so black-and-white either as we see the “good guys” killing innocent people, torturing others, and engaging in some dirty tactics. This was war, and war is a dirty, dirty game. The death count is high, the tension in the second half was unbearable, and underneath the beautiful shots we also saw some grisly and depressing footage. P.S. Darth Vader’s final appearance was incredible in execution.
Each hero in the story was worth rooting for, despite their history and tactic. From the brave but tortured daughter of the actual Death Star designer (Jyn Erso) right down to the charming but deadly warrior Chirrut, everyone plays their vital roles and has their moments to shine as they go on the hunt to find the blueprints and find a way to destroy the deadliest device ever made in the universe. The movie is grim, and it would have been unbearable if it hadn’t been for the overly honest droid K-2SO delivering the laughs.
This was the type of prequel we wanted. We wanted gripping stories that help shape the backbone of the original trilogy, while also maintaining the spirit and production value we are used to seeing from a good Star Wars flick. Similar to 90s Legend of Zelda’s appeal, Star Wars survived all the decades because the first cluster of films were the best in the business, and everyone else was just trying to play catch up. In the 2000s, science fiction and movie studios caught up to Star Wars from the Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter to of course the box office champ Avatar. Now with back-to-back smash hits that raises the bar of popcorn entertainment, Rogue One allows Star Wars to be front and center in the cinema universe without ridicule or disappointment.
And it all reverts back to George Lucas finally letting go of his creation, and letting other minds (sometimes superior) take the idea and nurse it back to full strength. And once Episode VIII rolls around Disney will allow Star Wars much like Marvel to go off the leash and go wherever they deem necessary in terms of storyline. Not only do we have the best Star Wars film since Empire Strikes Back out in theaters, but for the first time since Empire things are looking up for the Star Wars universe. And as a fan of film and Star Wars, its an excellent feeling.