So there I was. All Coca Cola and popcorn. A full day before the Belgians got a shot at it, I got to see Rogue One (tx Ilse Lambrechts!). Star Wars baby, but not as you used to know it. Not the kind of Star Wars you’d dream up. Not the Walt Disney smooth Princess treatment some have feared. Rogue One is solid. Dark. It radiates Rebels, War, and Tragedy.
Prequel
Timeline wise, this episode is just after Star Wars 3, just before star Wars 4. It gives some good answers to those questions you carry with you since the first trilogy. But this Rogue One is not part of the ongoing Saga. Little to no magic of the Force, no quasi invincible ‘chosen ones’. The goodies bleed when they get hit. They die. They die hard. This is about the brutal bloody tragedy of war. Of laying down lives so that others can live. Gareth Edwards made a stark dark Star Wars. Westeros in Space. It’s beautiful.
Shadows
In the light of underdogs fighting to survive in countries all around us as we speak, this movie is right in your face. War ups the ante. You cannot be a hero without dying first. Rebellions are built on reckless and romantic hope, on stolen weapons. On insane bravery, and blood colored sand. Rebellions are built on quarreling outcasts arguing among themselves and mistrusting each other, fighting the bigger evil together. This is no Alliance, these are people flocking together in a desperate attempt not to be blown away by an evil emperor who has the better weapons and controls the high ground. These are people fighting with their back to the wall. Fight or die. Statically, the odds are non-existent.
Rogue One Trailer
I will not spoil any further. Go see.
iMax 3D
I saw the movie in the new iMax in the Brussels’ Kinepolis, in HD double laser projected 3D. More than impressive.
