SPOILER "Rogue One: a Star War Story" ALERT

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is billed as the first "stand alone" film in the popular beyond all reason science fantasy movie franchise, that up to now has been following a fairly strait forward narrative. "Stand alone" is in quotes for a reason. Rogue One doesn't stand on its own in any significant way, since it serves as a direct prequel of the original 1977 film, reintroduces old characters without explaining them, which I guess I shouldn't complain about since the new characters aren't really fleshed out either, and throws in visual throwbacks that only viewers familiar with the original trilogy will get. 

Before I go too far, and you get the wrong idea: I liked it, I guess - not as much as last year's series soft reboot The Force Awakens, but it was worth the $6.00, 10:10 a.m. holiday matinee ticket price.

The movie's been out for over two weeks now, and I had the disadvantage walking in already having read and viewed several critiques before hand. My critical sense was compromised, and I was reacting to the critics in my head while watching the movie instead of simply taking it in emotionally, as any audience member, critic or civilian, or hybrid like myself, should. 

I knew what was going to happen, true, but I was still curious as to how they were going to get there. And by knowing what was going to happen, I mean more than that the Rebel Alliance steals the plans to the Death Star. Anyone who saw Episode IV: A New Hope knows that. I knew we were getting computer generated recreations of Grand Moff (here Governor) Tarkin (Peter Cushing) and the young Princes Leia (Carrie Fisher). I knew Darth Vader was going to be back - still voiced by James Earl Jones. I knew about the inside jokes and references meant to please the die hard fans, but that otherwise had nothing to do with the story. I knew that all our new heroes die in the line of duty - so needless to say, there'll be no Rogue Two. On second thought, if this one does good enough business, I'm sure the geniuses back in the sequel factory that is contemporary Hollywood will find a way to get the band back together. But I digress.

As briefly as is humanly possible, considering how over cluttered and complicated the proceedings are, Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a scientist who is pressed back into service to build the planet destroying super weapon, the Death Star, on behalf of the Galactic Empire. (Remember the Death Star? Seems like we can't have a Star Wars movie without it, or at least a thinly veiled facsimile.) When the Empire comes for him, Galen sends Jyn to be cared for by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a rebel extremist - kind of an intergalactic Colonel Kurtz. We are then jumped 16 years into the future, where Jyn is no longer under her guardian's care, and being held prisoner for some vague reason by the Empire. We get snippets of a back story, like that she had essentially been a child soldier while with Gerrera, and is now a Han Solo style outlaw swindler, disillusioned with the cause. She's broken out of prison, reluctantly, by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) a rebel intelligence officer who wants to use her to get at her father. 

The mission, in the end, is rather simple - get the plans to the Death Star, find the structural flaw that Galen purposely designed into the station, and blow it up good. Of course, we never get to objectives two and three here, which are taken care of in A New Hope. That said, what should be a pretty simple plot gets bogged down at times, with the characters going most of the movie not really sure what it is exactly that they are supposed to do, or if they even trust each other enough to work it out. 

A common criticism of Rogue One is that the characterizations are kinda thin, and I have to concur. There are just too many characters we are expected to care about and too little background given to help us get there. While it runs over two hours, we still would have needed another twenty minutes at least to help flesh out these characters. And it's not like we have other films coming that can do the job for us. This is it, unless they go and do prequels, which I'm not sure is in the cards. 

The sad thing is, there was potential here for some memorable characters. Donnie Yen plays Chirrut Îmwe, a blind martial arts fighter who has a strong devotion to the Force. He and his friend Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), join along for the adventure, but who they are, why they want to come, and even why they are allowed to isn't fully established. These and others are thrown together, sent on a mission, and sacrifice for each other, but I found myself wondering why. 

In a way, I saw Rogue One as a photo negative of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Both involve a scruffy, rag tag band of misfits and desperadoes forced to work with each other out of necessity, who in the end form a genuine bond. But where as Guardians has a strong, well defined lead character within it's ensemble in Chris Pratt's Peter Quill, Felicity Jones isn't given much to work with as Jyn. She's ambivalent to the point of being obscure, and I was more surprised that she was angry when she found out that the original mission was to kill her father, not extract him, since she seemed capable of killing him herself. One moment she's cynical about the rebellion, and next she's giving an impassioned plea to the Alliance leaders to go ahead with the raid on the Imperial base. Such a shift isn't impossible. I'm just not sure how she got there. Without that strong core personality, with a clear objective, nothing else really came together. Where as Guardians maintained a light hearted whimsy underneath its gritty exterior, a sense of humorless gloom hangs over Rogue One that only punctuates the personal muddle.

As for the computer regenerated Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher, Hollywood is certainly a long way from leaving the uncanny valley. Beyond the creepiness many feel at seeing eerily lifelike but still clearly artificial human features reproduced in robots and computer animation, which is definitely on display here, it was unnecessary. The original film is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year, and Peter Cushing, fine actor that he was, has been gone for over 20. He was only in that first movie, and wasn't the most memorable villain in it. He may play a larger role in the so called "expanded universe" of novels, comics and animated series, but he's kind of a footnote in the films. Audiences accept that new actors are sometimes called upon to play roles made famous by others. How many actors have played Ernst Blofeld over the years in James Bond movies, even as the actor playing Bond stayed the same? I think the audience, even one that can be as over zealously exacting as the one for Star Wars, would have accepted someone else there, and the general public wouldn't have even noticed the difference. 

As for the digitally rejuvenated Leia, this was done, obviously, before Carrie Fisher's tragic death just after Christmas. The producers had no way of knowing that what was conceived as a cute throwback, was to become a touching memorial - or at least it should have been but for the clearly awkward, off putting and stiff computer animation. At least with Tarkin, the character is rigid by nature, so that he walks around ramrod straight is in line with who he is. Here, Leia's face just doesn't look right, and her movements are stilted, unnatural. 

The only saving grace is that she's only on screen for a matter of seconds. Tarkin, on the other hand, is a major player in the story, and while the work done on recreating Peter Cushing's features are better than the work done on behalf of Fisher, I was always aware that I was looking at body double with Cushing's face superimposed over the real actor's face. This took me too far outside the movie to really take it in, and suspend belief, which is essential for a fantasy film. 

I said before that I liked Rogue One, and I kind of did. The action set pieces are well done, the effects are what you would expect in a film like this. I guess I would say, if you haven't seen it yet, wait for the video and a rainy day.

This has been an admittedly scattershot review, in large part because this was a scattershot film. But I will revisit Rogue One again soon to talk about two deeper aspects of the movie: it's attempt at a sort of realism within the fantasy genre, and the theme of self sacrifice for a cause. I believe the one was a misstep (or a half misstep), the other a missed opportunity. And I'll tell you why, coming up soon.