Film Year: 2016
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Forrest Whitaker, James Earl Jones
Rifftrax Year: 2017
Riffers: Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett
The Movie
*I HAVE SURVIVED WATCHING THIS MOVIE UNRIFFED*
So Disney wants to crank out one Star Wars movie a year because the franchise wasn't whored out enough yet. Eh, sure. Whatever.
Rogue One is the first of the Star Wars Anthology films that take place outside of the main franchise storyline of unfair stuff happening to whiny guys named Skywalker. Taking place just before the original Star Wars, the main character of this story is Jyn Erso, the daughter of the man who designed the Death Star. Jyn finds herself among the rebels who coincidentally bump into her father, who informs them of the (now intentional) flaw in the Death Star. They then set off on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star and set in motion "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope."
Something about Rogue One never really set right with me. I thought it was a fine movie, but something about it always nagged at me. But it really struck me upon this rewatch of Rogue One that this very much feels like a Star Wars movie targeted at the Young Adult crowd who were more likely to watch The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner. Nothing really happens for long periods of time, then a lot of coincidences and melodramatics come into play, pushing into action characters who's defining character traits are how pouty they look. But if our pouty-faced lead is Felicity Jones then I can live with that.
Gareth Edwards is a director I root for. His visual style is beautiful, though his storytelling does tend to need work. I loved Monsters mostly, though its prologue to ending link makes the movie feel a tad sour in retrospect. The 2014 Godzilla reboot did a lot of things correctly, though using the title beast as a plot device to chase off bad monsters without really having much of a role in the story robbed the King of the Monsters of his screen presence. Rogue One on the other hand is unfortunately dull for a long period of time until it's climactic action scene, which is spectacular as hell. Edwards has a great blockbuster in him, I just don't think he has come close to delivering it yet.
I don't want to be too harsh on Rogue One, because the film is serviceable enough. I find it mostly forgettable and a bit boring. And boring is the last thing I want to think of a film with Alan Tudyk playing a smartass, homicidal droid.
The Trax
Rifftrax continues a winning streak for the relaunched Star Wars. This prequel nobody asked for opens itself up wide for a ribbing. While I don't think there were nearly as many laugh out loud moments as The Force Awakens, Rogue One proves to be a riff that constantly amuses for all two hours of its runtime.
The film itself is grimmer and grittier than the average Star Wars film, which in a way makes it a perfect target. Mike, Kevin, and Bill always seem to work best against movies that take themselves deadly seriously, and Rogue One is probably the most serious Star Wars film of the pack. Even better, because it's a serious film that takes place in the Star Wars universe it has a tendency to take it's own absurd imagery seriously. The best quips the riffers lay out against this movie point this out, as the trio tends to not suspend their disbelief enough for it to work.
"Did I just see a bullfrog plant a high explosive?"
The Force is strong with this Rogue One riff. This is a mostly dry film and if the riff failed then this one could have been excruciating. Instead laughs are easy to come by and Rogue One earns it's existence in the Star Wars canon based on the fact that it made for a pretty good riff by the masters.
Good
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