Let’s talk about ‘Rogue One’: Analysis and predictions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg

Four billion dollars seems like an awfully high price to pay for a galaxy far, far away, but when Disney shelled out for the rights to “Star Wars,” they weren’t just buying the rights to make a new trilogy but rather the potential to create a constellation of films set against the rich backdrop George Lucas inaugurated with “A New Hope” (1977).

Every question the original trilogy left unanswered is a possible story: “What is a Bothan? And why did many of them have to die to bring us this information?” “Who is this Boba Fett?” and “Where did Han Solo come from?” And with the sequel trilogy successfully picking up where “Return of the Jedi” (1983) left off, Disney is planning on answering these questions with a collection of stand-alone films.

The teaser trailer for the first of these stand-alone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” released last week and, predictably, convulsed the parts of the internet that are invested in such things. The reaction was mostly positive, though the trailer didn’t quite measure up to the impossibly high standard set by the first trailer for “The Force Awakens” (2015).

The trailer opens with a moody rendition of the first bars of John William’s iconic theme, delivered on a single, mournful piano. A voice, speaking with the imperious, English-accented snarl that has come to define calculating villainy in American cinema, rattles off an impressive list of prior crimes. Our hero, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), has quite the rap sheet.

After its opening, the almost two-minute long trailer spends the rest of its run cutting between action sequences while a voiceover hints at plot details. The trailer does an admirable job tantalizing fans by revealing just enough to fuel speculation (like this article!) and build hype ahead of “Rogue One’s” December release.

From the trailer, it appears that Jyn Erso will continue the trend of strong female leads in "Star Wars" that began with Rey in “The Force Awakens." Though, Erso seems to have a harder edge than the sometimes wide-eyed Rey (Daisy Ridley).

The original “Star Wars” trilogy was notoriously White and male, so it is a welcome change to see a more diverse galaxy in the new films. But there were moments in “The Force Awakens” where the film seemed perhaps too self-congratulatory about “Star Wars’” feminist turn. The scene where Rey and Finn (John Boyega) argue about holding hands in the midst of an imperial strafing run is, for example, a ham-fisted acknowledgment of a cliché. Disney is clearly anxious to declare loudly and often that “Star Wars" is feminist now, but hopefully the writers of “Rouge One” will allow a strong female lead to simply be a strong female lead, without feeling the need to inanely trumpet the fact.

It is impossible to say how well Felicity Jones will perform as Jyn Erso, but there is one moment in the trailer where she is particularly cringe-inducing. After being confronted by Mon Mothma about her unpredictable personality, Erso response dryly with the positively wince-inducing line, “This is a rebellion, isn’t it? I rebel.” The whole scene recalls Emilia Clark’s Daenerys Targaryen at her most unimpressive. Hopefully the writers endow Erso’s dialogue with more substance than this poorly-executed one-liner.

“Star Wars” has always presented an oddly sanitized look at armed conflict, most likely in effort to remain family friendly. Starfighters explode with nary a thought given to their pilots and combatants in firefights crumple when hit, a black scorch mark the only evidence of injury. But the darker, grittier tone of the “Rogue One” teaser hints that this film may be different.

It might be a bit much to expect Disney to sanction an R-rated “Star Wars” picture with bleak intensity of a grinding war film like “Fury” (2014), but a harsher depiction of the realities of warfare and resistance would be a welcome change of pace for “Star Wars”, which has been curiously bloodless till now.

The “Rogue One” teaser, by design, doesn’t reveal much about the final product, but the clear tonal departure from the main films leads us to believe that “Rogue One” will be more than a shameless attempt to mine fan dollars in between main trilogy releases. Roll on, Boba Fett and Young Han Solo.