No More Cutesy Droids, Star Wars’ Rogue One Is For Grown-Ups!
With the arrival of the first trailer for ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘ brings a shift in the film franchise. Absent from the preview was that sense of child-like wonderment & family friendly themes; the only thing we find here is a chaotic war & adult tones. This will be the first real attempt at a much darker & grittier Star Wars movie…this could be their ‘Batman Begins’.
The trailer begins with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) showing The Rebellion & the whole world exactly who she is. The self-proclaimed rebel is a highly-skilled felon that lands a mission that will change her life. What I noticed about the film is the lack of “youthful” characters. The cast is a bit older than we are used to seeing in a first Star Wars film; ”A New Hope‘, ‘Phantom Menace‘, and now ‘Force Awakens‘ all featured a young lead trying to find themselves. Jyn Erso knows exactly how bad-ass she is by now. This alone adds a different element to ‘Rogue One. We skip the coming-of-age story & see a story of someone a bit more established at what they do.
Another major difference I noticed from this trailer is a totally different style of action. This trailer featured a lot of hand-to-hand combat; this type of close fighting is much different than the usual blaster fights we’ve seen. Also while the trailer may have lacked a lightsaber, seeing Donnie Yen’s character use that staff to take down stormtroopers was a good substitute. Though the trailer does feature what looks like an AT-AT so the Star Wars action we’ve come to know and love is still there.
The story for ‘Rogue One‘ is also departure for their usual narrative. This is nearly a suicide mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. The original films told us that many people died to get these plans to the Rebel Alliance. So does that mean most of this cast won’t be making it out alive? This sense of dread going in instantly changes the mood of the film. Now I feel like we are just waiting to see these characters get killed in order to save the universe. Will our lead Jyn share this fate?
Also factor in the rumored return of the darkest villain in franchise history: Darth Vader and we have a recipe for a Star Wars like we’ve never seen before.
Will you be seeing ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ this December?