Chat corner 129: Rogue One

[annathecrow]

Welcome to the Monday chat corner!

This week it’s time for the movies again, specifically for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It came out in 2016 and was the first non-Skywalker Star Wars movie.

A bit of Wookieepedia-sourced trivia, it’s listed as the first movie in the so-called Star Wars Anthology Series, which predates the Disney acquisitions and currently contains only two movies, Rogue One and Solo and it’s unclear whether any of the future SW movies would belong to it as well.

Anyway, Rogue One! Do you have thoughts? Fanfic recs? New perspectives caused by Andor or Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Comments

[rose_griffes]

The film: flawed but compelling. Incredible cast - I'm still boggled that they got such an amazing group of actors. I was unaware that it was in the works before the Disney acquisition, but it doesn't surprise me.

(I absolutely adore Andor and will therefore refrain from screeching about how much I love it, because I've already done so on my own DW a fair amount.)

[havendale]

Rogue One is a tricky one for me. It isn’t perfect, but there’s lots of good stuff in there, including the infighting between Tarkin and Krennic and the general grimness and hopelessness of the Alliance pre-ANH. And the final battle, IMO, is absolutely fantastic: thrilling space dogfights, desperate climbs through improbable architecture, Vader being Vader.

But I’m incapable of not whining about sexism in Star Wars, and Rogue One gives me a surprising amount to whine about. Jyn is initially important to the Alliance not in her own right, but because of her relationships with Saw and Galen; she does come into her own later on, but it’s still as much a story about Galen’s legacy as it is a story about Jyn. Added to this, her mother barely exists in the narrative, and her most prominent teammates are all male, which would be unremarkable in early Star Wars but is frankly bewildering for a film made in 2016. On the bright side, at least we get to see Mon Mothma again?

[yourlibrarian]

I'd have to second this. I've enjoyed a lot of Rogue One fic, though a good bit of it crosses over with the Skywalker trilogy (in an everybody lives scenario). And I think there's a lot of good elements to the story -- the final part of the film is great with a wonderful message.

But Jyn is a weak point because, as you note, everything about her from motivation to value is tied into her father figures. And I think the problem, when you compare her to Leia, for example, is that Jyn doesn't have external beliefs and ambitions.

[jaded_of_mara]

i honestly think the film has pacing issues, where it takes great pains to establish some things, but then blasts through basically everything once the empire starts destroying jedha

i will say that it's really funny that rogue one tends to dominate "best star wars movie" polls on tumblr, not because of its quality, but because its fans are one unified block, while fans of the pt, ot and st have three movies to choose from. (for some reason, nobody ever pulls for solo)