In A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I am so excited! This year, for my resolution project, I’m rewatching the Star Wars franchise. I chose it because I love Star Wars, and I thought it would be fun to re-watch the movies in order of release date, with perhaps a bit more of a critical and appreciative eye than I have before.

This month’s installment: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The Premise:

The daughter of an Imperial scientist joins the Rebel Alliance in a risky move to steal the Death Star plans.

Spoilers for a 3-year-old film ahead.

You know how sometimes you’re really excited about seeing a movie, and you want it to be the purest experience ever so you do everything in your power to avoid any kind of spoiler whatsoever? I did that for this movie when it first came out. What I understood going in was that it wasn’t a part of the trilogy of trilogies, also known as the Skywalker Saga. What I thought that meant was that this movie took place in the Star Wars universe but had an entirely different story line.

Super excited to see what else could happen in the Star Wars universe, what other Rebel Alliances might be up to, what other baddies there might be, I started to curse inwardly that there was yet another fucking Death Star. We had Vader’s two Death Stars that needed to be destroyed, and we just had Kylo Ren’s Starkiller. Couldn’t they come up with something a little more original?

It took me until about half-way through the movie to figure out this was more of a prequel, this is how the Rebels got the plans to the original Death Star. I was very relieved and learned my lesson that at least some idea of the plot before going in to a movie is probably a good thing.

Having spent half the movie annoyed about another Death Star, I have to admit, I hadn’t followed things as closely as I should have. By the end of the movie, I loved it and agree with everyone who says this is truly the prequel that should have been.

Taking the opportunity to watch it again now, I appreciate it even more. It also helped me understand who is who and what was actually going on!

Something I have noticed during this re-watch of the Star Wars franchise is the persistent theme of parentage and surrogate family. Anakin is the son of a slave but does not know who his father is and is essentially raised by the Jedi. Luke and Leia’s mother dies after childbirth from grief, as far as they know their father is gone or dead; Luke is raised by his Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine, and Leia is raised by the royal family on Aldaraan. Presumably, Luke and Leia have the Force because they, as it turns out, are the children of Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader. Kylo Ren is the son of Han Solo and Leia, and as far as we know, he was raised by them until Luke took him under his wing to become a Jedi. Rey’s parentage is a mystery. We know that they left her when she was a child, saying that they would return, but she has grown up alone. When The Force Awakens first came out, there was a lot of speculation about Rey’s parents, suggesting she was somehow related to Luke or Leia, and that’s why she has the Force.

In Rogue One, once again we have a child, Jyn, whose mother is murdered, and her father is taken away by the Empire. Jyn is raised, not by a relative or the Jedi, but by Saw Gerrera, not just a rebel but an extremist.

This may well have been an easy plot device to use over and over again. It is convenient to have a main character with no real family to speak of. It helps get that character to take action and risks they might not otherwise. It also helps give them an identity crisis, and a motive for heroics once they find out who their real family is.

The question of parentage comes into play especially around the use of the Force. In Rogue One, there is no real use of the Force. A lightsaber doesn’t even appear until the very end. But there is one character, Chirrut Îmwe, who helps Jyn on her quest. We don’t know who he is, but he seems to know something about the Jedi. He says, “I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.” From what we can see, he doesn’t really have the Force, nor does he really have any means of using it, and yet when he says this, he does seem to have some kind of protection. The idea that the Force is for everyone begins here, and will continue in The Last Jedi.

Rogue One had a lot of the same plot points as the other Star Wars movies. Secret plans need to be taken to the Rebels, there is a massive weapon that needs to be destroyed, the hero and their crew has to go onto the Empire’s base to get the plans for the weapon and transmit them to the Rebels so the Rebels can attack the shields around the base long enough for the plans to be transmitted, sacrificing a lot of lives in the process.

Unlike the other movies, Jyn is stranded and dies, knowing that her father is a good man who has sabotaged the weapon and given the Rebels a chance, and knowing that the Rebels now have the plans to destroy the Empire’s weapon.

I especially liked that it wasn’t until the very end that we see Darth Vader, and we see Princess Leia getting the plans, essentially bringing us to where A New Hope picks up the story.

And it brought back the magic of that first Star Wars movie for me. It must be seeing Carrie Fisher — even an actress CGI-ed to look like her — in that white outfit with the buns in her hair.

In conclusion: This really is the prequel that should have been. I think had they told the story of Anakin becoming Darth Vader in one movie, maybe two, then this one, it would have been much better storytelling. It is far more interesting to me how the Rebels got the plans for the Death Star, rather than watching a moody Anakin slowly descend into Darth Vader.

What did you think of Rogue One? What events before A New Hope would you have liked to see in a prequel?

Up next: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.