Adam's Thoughts - Rogue One

Check out Ed's full review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story by clicking here!

The hardest part about judging a movie like Rogue One comes with considering it's context and purpose as a film. Is it meant to be considering fully as its own piece of work, or simply just as an addition to the Star Wars cinematic universe? This experience of entering into a predetermined story is especially jarring for someone like me who is not the biggest fanatic of the Star Wars franchise, but in the end Rogue One can still be seen as a bit of fun in addition to fulfilling its quota of fan service.

Story-wise, this movie was somewhat backed into a corner, in terms of telling a story with a predetermined outcome. Some 40 years later, and a story introduced in the original Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) makes it onto the big screen in its own feature length film. That alone is a remarkable feat, and shows how powerful the franchise really is. Despite this already established story arc, Rogue One still manages to feel like the plot could go in any direction - a sign of a truly exciting narrative. A point is eventually reached where the audience remembers that this story already has an ending, but this doesn't take away from the viewing experience at all.

In a story that has to be told only in this movie alone (no trilogy for this one), it is understandable that the character building of some supporting characters might be a bit lackluster. This is especially disappointing, however, when considering the amount of unnecessary and somewhat forced comedic additions early in the movie. It's fine for even the most serious of movies to have comedic value in them, but when they are forced and in place of detailed character development, it is hard not to question their relevance. In the end, the characters realistically just fit into the cliche of the rag-tag group of outsiders going against the 'big guy', with most of them being token racial characters from different parts of the world (when I'd assume these countries don't even exist in Star Wars).

Lastly, while the fan service was necessary and ultimately pretty well balanced, I can't help but envision some wasted potential in the 'big moments' of Rogue One. Without going into spoilers, the movie maybe could have been more reserved with their limited space in terms of big reveals. While ultimately this would have led to less fan service, it could have been better fan service. In the end, however, this is just nitpicking at what was ultimately an enjoyable flick and a comfortable addition to the Star Wars movies. I can only hope that their future 'story' movies continue to feel like this one, and less like unnecessary money grabs.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The Disney-era of Star Wars is well and truly underway following the success of last year’s The Force Awakens, and it continues this year with Gareth Edward’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first in an anthology of spin-offs that focus on background events and origin stories in the rapidly expanding filmic universe.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is separated from her father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen) at an early age when he is taken by Imperial military officer Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). She finds help from Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker) and manages to stay out of Imperial sights. Years later, the Empire is building a new superweapon, the Death Star, and Jyn is recruited by the Rebel Alliance to join a team who are out to find the design blueprints of the weapon.

As the first major theatrical spin-off of the series, Rogue One is arguably the most hyped about movie of the year. Billed by many as a war-film of sorts, it’s a direction we haven’t seen the series go in before, and strikes a very different tone to The Force Awakens or indeed any of the others. Where space opera sized characters, love-triangles, story twists and endless metaphors about family have dominated previously, Rogue One focuses-down to the nitty-gritty land skirmishes, insane aerial battles and internal politics of the Rebellion that work behind the scenes in the main saga.

Rogue One is in essence the opening crawl of A New Hope, at least that’s what it is intended to be. At the forefront we have the story of Jyn Erso and the team that steal the design schematics of the Death Star. There’s a lot of back-story and character development that falls flat here, primarily because the film moves so quickly that it gets caught up in the rush and the characters don’t have time to breathe. Where these crucial character moments are expedited through the hyperbolic nature of the core films, this instalment aims for more subtlety in style and direction, thus it really can’t hope to build well-rounded characters in the time given and material covered.

Whilst it’s over two hours in length, Rogue One still manages to pack more than its fair share of content into the running time. If we’re not constantly planet hopping, we’re filling in canonic plot holes with new context. If you boil it right down, you could argue the whole film exists to explain the Death Star’s crucial design flaw. Slotted-in at the tail end of the nineteen year timeline-gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the film feels too grand in scale for a contained spin-off, and in many ways there’s not enough meat in the plot to sustain the construct of such a huge summer blockbuster.

Jones manages to do a lot with Jyn when the film slows down enough to give her the opportunity, though at times she gets lost amongst the frantic action and the various other ensemble members vying for the audience's attention. Luna’s Andor has charisma, but like Ahmed’s Bodhi is inclined to blend into the background too much for a core supporting character. Yen and Wen’s characters are the unlikely buddy-sidekicks of the film who work efficiently as a fighting unit, and Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO whilst sometimes a little too forced, is one hell of an upgrade from C-3PO. Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen are both not given nearly enough screen time, and finally we have Ben Mendelsohn who is really just the archetype evil villain.

Rogue One however does look beautiful and takes advantage of well designed sets and practical effects almost as effectively as The Force Awakens. There’s X-Wings, Y-Wings and TIE-Fighters galore, as well as various Imperial Walkers on the ground, and plenty of idiotic-as-ever Stormtroopers to be mown-down. There are a few moments of fan service just as in last year's instalment, although not as numerous, and the main sequences are tied together with a fantastic score by Michael Giacchino that weaves in just the right amount of Williams’ iconic soundtrack. One of the biggest issues with the film is *possible spoilers* the  use of CGI to bring a character back from the original films (and effectively the actor back from the dead) who I didn’t really think needed to be in the film at all.

Rogue One feels like a slightly-unnecessary, heavily bloated chapter in the greater Star Wars universe that doesn’t do enough with its characters. However it does manage to differentiate itself from the main saga, and has been made with enough love and devotion to the canon to make it worthwhile viewing for Star Wars fans.

Doctor Strange

I know that this review is a little late, but get excited kids, its finally here. The film that caused so much controversy in its decision to cast Bananapops Cucumberpatch (we all know who I’m talking about) as the title character that many fans revolted against it before even seeing a trailer. Before we pull at that thread and this review unravels completely into a lesson about whitewashing, let’s talk about the film as a whole. To be honest, I was actually really excited for this film after seeing the trailer. The special effects, the magic, the…oh who am I kidding, I’m really only seeing this because I’ve been harbouring an all consuming love for Mads Mikkelson ever since that first season of Hannibal. Anyway, let’s move on.

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a young neurosurgeon with a penchant for pushing the boundaries within his work, has been living a life of constant success: he’s recognised as one of the best in his field, is well respected, and although he has a reputation for being a bit of an ass, he is skilled enough to save lives at the drop of a hat. He has just one small problem: his people skills. Steven Strange’s world revolves around himself and his work, and nothing more. However, his entire life is shattered (literally) when he is gravely injured during a car accident, leaving his hands with severe nerve damage and being faced with the possibility that he may never practice medicine again. Unable to cope with merely accepting his fate, Steven searches the world for a cure. But what he discovers in a remote corner of Kathmandu is the world of the Ancient One and her teachings, a practice that reaches far beyond his imagination could ever fathom. Facing a challenge that threatens the earth and beyond, he will have to overcome more than his cocky personality to reach his true potential and prove his worth.

The positives: I know that I’ve said this about a few films this year, but Doctor Strange is a really good time. Tilda Swinton’s wise and surprisingly funny Ancient One balances Strange’s harsher personality well, with the supporting cast of Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelson, Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams providing the perfect foils for Strange’s in a variety of ways. These actors are talented and clearly had a great rapport off screen that was evident in the film. The comedy was timed well and the jokes landed (easily noted by the audience in the screening I went to) but above all the visuals were stunning. Think Inception meets Iron Man meets Harry Potter, the different universes and settings this film gives its audience is an eyeful that really helps to immerse us into the realm of the Masters. I felt that my money was well spent on that alone. This film shows how you can balance darker themes of loss and loneliness with humour and dignity (take note DC), and reminds us that even at our lowest there is always something that makes life worthwhile.

The negatives: I’ll be honest here, if you’re not a fan of Tony Stark or his character arc or progression, you’re not going to like Stephen Strange as this story is surprisingly similar. I also felt that Mads Mikkelson’s character, the villain Kaecilius (Kai-sill-ee-us), wasn’t used enough and could’ve had more screentime (I’m not being biased I swear) in order to help explain his backstory which is mostly done through other characters. Also, I felt that the pacing was a little off in this film: not nearly as bad as the pacing in Suicide Squad, but this film tended to have the same vibe in that it was trying to pack a lot of information into one relatively short film, meaning that we were shunted through a vast amount of story and locations very quickly without enough time to properly understand what we were seeing. But now for the cherry:

Remember how I mentioned we were setting aside the whole whitewashing thing at the beginning of this review? Well its time to bring that chestnut back. Yes, the film as a whole was good and enjoyable. Yes, the acting was also great and the characters were entertaining and fit the film well. But fans of the character had a right to be angry, and just because the film was good, that doesn’t negate the importance of ‘why’ they were and still are angry. To be completely honest, as a South American person, I can’t blame them. Whitewashing is still a problem today and is seen time and time again in Hollywood, from The Last Airbender (2010) to the shock that was the live action Mulan’s first leaked scriptnotes just a few weeks ago. To act like its not insulting to the characters and their creators would be doing those characters a disservice. I’m not saying we all have to openly hate this film. I understand that for some people, seeing their favourite character/s of Stephen Strange and The Ancient One brought to life on the big screen is a huge deal. But what I am saying is that it would be wrong to just ignore the facts. In today’s society where voices speaking out against oppression and racial prejudice are louder than ever? Come on Marvel. If you can make the entire cast of the upcoming Black Panther movie completely African American as per the comics, you could’ve taken the time to put the same thought and planning into Doctor Strange and maybe saved a lot of fans’ disappointment.

In the end, Doctor Strange is a fun and entertaining movie that people of all ages are gonna love. Its got comedy, action and great characters to boot, and it’ll be fun to watch this character saddle up alongside our other favourite superheroes in the upcoming Infinity War with Thanos (which gets closer by the movie). Also, the end credits scene will be a hit with Loki fans everywhere (is that too much of a spoiler? Oops). All in all, whether you’re seeing it in the movies or illegally downloading a copy, you’re in for a good time.