I can’t believe they used this prequel to reboot the Star Wars timeline!

Just kidding.

I do not envy the storytellers who have to appease longtime fans of the Star Wars saga.  (The same can be said of any saga that continues on long after its first run of stories.)  The need to be fresh while also paying homage to key characters and tropes must way heavily on some of those who put pen to paper in order to bring the images to the big screen.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story works best when it gets to be its own movie.  The ensemble cast works well together.  There is a comfortability about them that lets the story move forward without the need for constant explanation or digression.  The settings are amazing.  The action, while much more down-to-earth than other entries in the saga, is packed and pops.  The emotional stakes of the story are high without trying to overshadow all that happens next (meaning, after the credits roll and “episode four” begins).  The humor is good (not as forced as in The Force Awakens).

It’s when Rogue One has to connect to the bigger saga that things get awkward.  Granted, the guys behind me in the theater were totally blown away when those connections were made (“look! there’s so-and-so!”).  For me, though, the moments of character recognition really took me out of the movie.  Maybe it’s because I thought I knew James Earl Jones’s voice, so when it modulates in a different way I end up thrown off-guard.  There are a few other characters of varied significance that make appearances throughout that were probably necessary but whose appearances could’ve been handled differently.  But that’s me, and like I said, many in the audience were blown away by those big-picture connections.

Rogue One is a heist movie nestled in a war movie.  It throws a lot at you, particularly in the first third where you meet lots of characters and visit lots of new or previously-only-name-dropped locations.  The ships are amazing.  It feels and looks more like a Star Wars movie  than all of the prequels and even TFA.  Seeing new ships is always exciting, even as you find yourself wondering why they didn’t show up in any of the later (earlier) movies.  The ending, though, happens much more quickly than I anticipated, particularly after the drawn-out scene in TFA between Rey and (is that really) Luke.  The scene leading up to the last moment in Rogue One is brilliant in its use of one main character.  But that last moment was a perfect example, for me at least, of how easily I could be taken out of the movie.  Maybe it will flow better on second viewing.

I must admit that I sat through the credits wondering about the fate of the franchises that shaped and still shape my imagination.  It’s the same with Harry Potter and Newt Scamander, with Rey and Poe, and even a bit with Bilbo and the dwarves.  How do you maneuver the essential with the extra?  The cake and the icing?  It’s like a recent BuzzFeed article asked: how many times can you say goodbye to Harry Potter before you feel the need to say bye for good?  I by no means am giving up on this saga (or any saga that I love).  I can’t help but wonder, though, what it will feel like five or ten years from now when we are living in a weird version of the Never-Ending Story.  I do think, for me, it’s not just about seeing well-loved characters again at any cost. At best, it’s about moving the story forward in good, life-giving ways.  For all of its faults, that’s something TFA does quite well.

Rogue One is worth seeing, probably more than once.  Expectations are high.  For the most part, the movie totally meets those expectations.  I’ll be curious to see what other think and listen to how they feel about the movie.  The stakes are high with Star Wars fans, and that can cut both ways.  It will be particularly interesting to see how the story is (0r isn’t) appropriated for political purposes over the next few weeks.

Regardless, I now look forward to the Return of the Jedi prequel that tells the story of the many Bothans who died to help the Rebellion.

(image from slashfilm.com)