Star Wars is one of the greatest
movie franchise of all time, it spans 40 years, beginning with the classic “A
New Hope”, which was first released in theatres in 1977. In 2012 Disney coming
of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, acquired Lucas film and all
the intellectual property associated with the franchise for 4.05 billion
dollars. Following this, Disney kicked started the process to create a series
of films called the sequel-trilogy along with a set of anthology films, as of
April 2017 we have both opening entries, with the sequel trilogy being Episode
VII: The Force Awakens and the first of the anthology films Rogue One: A Star
Wars story. Yet there has been a “great
disturbance in the force”, fans have been arguing back and forth, which is
the better movie? So, let’s solve this most necessary of issues and decide
which is the best new Star Wars Movie? (Spoilers
are ahead if have not seen the movie)
Episode VII is set 30 years after
Return of the Jedi (Episode VI, the last film of the original trilogy). The
evil galactic empire has fallen, however all is not well with the galaxy. A
group of remaining imperial soldiers and officers have formed a new faction
called the First-order, which casts a
dark shadow over the galaxy. The First-order is led by the mysterious
supreme-leader Snoke along with the red cross guard lightsabre wielding Kylo
Ren. The Jedi are all but a myth, their
role as keepers of the peace have all but been forgotten. The protagonist, Rey (Daisy
Ridley) is an abandoned orphan living on a desert planet, yet much of the story
centres around Finn (John Boyega), a turn coat storm trooper. Additionally, the
cast of the original trilogy plays a central role in this film, this is one of
many through backs to the original Star Wars saga.
Rogue One on the other hand plays
to a different beat. It is set just before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope,
it can be thought of as Star Wars Episode 3.9. Rogue one loosely follows the
story of Jyn Erso(Felicity Jones) daughter of the Death Star designer Galen
Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) and how she and the rebel alliance stole death star plans
from the empire. The ensemble cast of captain Andor(Diego Luna), the droid
K2SO(Alan Tuydk), the imperial pilot boohdi(Riz Ahmed) and the monks
Chirrut(Donnie Yen) and Baze(Jiang Wen) play memorable roles despite the lack
of screen time and development. The entire plot of the movie can be easily
summarised by the now iconic title crawl
of Episode IV. Ironically, this is something rogue one does not have. Similar
to TFA there are plenty of throwbacks to the original trilogy, though there are
bit more subtle and harder to notice when compared with Episode VII.
With Episode VII, J.J Abrahams
tries to create a film which would attract a younger audience to the franchise
whilst at the same time invoke nostalgia such that older fans are able to
connect with the film. From the box office earnings to the sales of the merchandise
Episode VII was immensely successful. But a lingering thought remains, was it a
good movie? Upon re-watching the film the answer is “meh”, while it’s not a bad movie per say, it’s not worthy of the
overwhelming positive response that it received, it is at best a mediocre film.
While it captures the style of the original trilogy, which is something that
the prequels never did, TFA has no soul of its own. It copies far too much from
episode IV in terms of broad plot points. Both movies have
- An orphan living on a desert planet go off on an
adventure to rescue the galaxy from a great evil
- A death Star
- A droid Hiding plans
- A death of an old Mentor type
This is where Rogue One
surprisingly shines, the original trilogy is 4 decades old at this point, but
Gareth Edwards has crafted a movie which works so well that once I finished
watching rogue one in theatres last year, I went home and put my copy of
episode IV in the Blu-ray player and started watching. Episode VII borrows from
the original trilogy, rogue one enhances it. Despite the fact we pretty much
know the broad plot points of rogue one, it’s visualises brand new concepts
into the star wars universe. We get a background into the construction of the
death star and the famous exhaust port. We see a much more splintered rebel
alliance pitted against a truly gargantuan empire. For the first time we see
why Darth Vader is so feared and for the first time we see the self-sacrifice
and plight of the rebellion.
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| Berserker mode activated |
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| My pants are no longer clean |
Since this movie is directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue
one has a slow burn. For many they will consider the first half slow, yet I saw
it as building up to a spectacular second half.
I must admit that the first 30
minutes of TFA is excellent. Episode VII sets up the characters and their
motivations perfectly. However, the film quickly squanders much these
opportunities. The plot of a film can be thought of as a series of elements
which once set up partakes in a certain payoff being the conclusion/revelation.
One of the largest flaws in Episode VII is story elements are set up perfectly
yet the payoff is disjointed, the best example of this is the reveal that Kylo
Ren is Ben Solo. Instead of utilising the scene when Han confronts Ben at
Starkiller Base, it is revealed by Supreme-leader Snoke earlier in a scene with
General Hux and Kylo Ren. This diminishes the value of the reveal and the words
“I want to see the face of my son”.
Characters too, are underutilised, Captain
Phasma only has approximately 3 minute of screen time yet being built up as an
important character. Finns crisis of conscience is all but glossed over by the
end of the film.
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| Use the force |
The Story and pacing also feels jumbled, with Episode IV, the
death star was a central theme, the plans stored on R2D2 related to it, it
destroyed Alderaan and it was blown up by firing a proton torpedo into an
exhaust port. Though with Episode VII, Starkiller base was not the central
theme, it was shoehorned in the second half of the movie.
Rogue one on the other hand
follows a more linear story structure, the central theme of the movies is the
then secret mega weapon constructed by the empire. While it is a simple story,
it is told well. While the characters of rogue one have nowhere near the
character development of TFA, though it is sufficient. Plus, each character
oozes with personality which more than makes up for the lack of development. My
favourite character within Rogue one is the droid K2SO, he is in my mind the
best robot within Star Wars. He is like a snarky C3PO, who is actually useful
in a fight.
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| BB8 eat your heart out |
My second favourite would be chirrut, he plays the trope of the
blind warrior. Chirrut embodies the mysticism of the force, while not being a
Jedi, there are hints that he uses it, this in my opinion is the best way to demonstrate
the force.
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| Bad-ass |
Rogue one plays like a war film, once the battle gets started,
there’s a lot of action, a lot of death and plenty of sacrifices. This is the
first film since Empire strikes back that we actually see war, but in rogue one
the fight choreography is turned up to eleven in both the space battles and the
ground war.
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| Die rebel scum |
 |
| pew pew pew |
While Episode VII has many dull
spots, it has just as many bright spots. The film is beautifully shot, for the
first time in a Star Wars film we see the grand scale of the star destroyers.
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| My ship has a cross guard as well |
One of my favourite scenes is on Starkiller Base when Han confronts Ben, half
of Bens face is illuminated by red light and half by white. This perfectly
illustrates the inner conflict within Ben/Kylo Ren.
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| I'm a two face |
The musical score is good,
while it is not as epic as the prequels nor is it iconic as the original
trilogy, it is composed by John Williams. Since the London symphony orchestra
was not available for TFA thus music feels a bit flat. Rogue Ones score is
composed by Michael Giacchino. While nowhere near as iconic like the originals,
it does mesh well with the movie. It’s been reported that Giacchino composed
the score for the film in 4 weeks. For that amount of time he has done a pretty
good job.
Both these movies serve different
purposes, Episode VII is about brand renewal whereas Rogue one is about Brand
loyalty. Episode VII has been made for a younger demographic thus it tries to
hold your hand and spell out plot points where ever possible. Rogue one feels
more like a celebration of Star Wars up to this point, it acknowledges the prequels
as much as the original trilogy. It acts as a bridge between the two, as such
has been made for a more mature audience. I think Rogue one is a better film,
to me as a Star Wars fan it’s the distillation of all that is awesome with franchise
and it can stand on its own. It does not rehash what been done before, it takes
chances and a different approach which ultimately payoff. Do you think I’m correct or am I dead wrong? comment below
By Abir
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