Rogue One: A Human Story — Indra Frohring

While Star Wars films are known for their family drama and lightsaber duels, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story sets a more serious, darker tone with its warlike battle scenes and “good” characters who easily murder to save their own skin. Rogue One is a side film in the Star Wars saga that is set between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. The movie expands upon how the Rebellion managed to acquire a copy of the Death Star plans. Prior to the film’s creation, fans had to come up with their own theories to satisfy their curiosity. Rogue One’s explanation features more death, deception, and gray morals than many of the other Star Wars films. Jyn Erso’s and Cassian Andor’s journey to retrieve the Death Star plans, without clearance from their superiors, conveys a message of hope, determination, and cooperation that resonates with millions of people who are struggling in the current political and cultural climate.

Rogue One takes place just before the opening of A New Hope, when Darth Vader attacks Princess Leia’s ship and captures her. Before she’s apprehended, she manages to give the copy of the Death Star plans to R2-D2, who then flees the ship with C3-PO in an escape pod (Lucas). The plot of Rogue One follows the group of Rebel spies who infiltrated the Empire and stole the plans for the Death Star. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is the daughter of an Imperial scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), who is working on the Death Star. The film opens on Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) retrieving Galen from his hideaway on the remote planet Lah’mu, while a young Jyn watches in the grass. Jyn evades capture by Krennic and his deathtroopers, and eventually grows into a battle-ready young woman.

The Rebel Alliance discovers her relationship to Galen and rescues Jyn from an Imperial labor camp. She is sent to work with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel intelligence officer, and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a re-programmed Imperial droid with a dry sense of humor. The three of them fly to the Imperial occupied moon, Jedha, to meet with Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a Rebel extremist and friend of Galen’s. In Jedha’s capital, they meet Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), a blind Force-sensitive warrior, and his friend, Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen). Before meeting with Saw Gerrera, Jyn is reluctant to aide the Rebellion; she doesn’t care about the cause and only fights for herself. However, the holographic message her father sent with information on how to destroy the Death Star gives Jyn hope for the galaxy, and she decides she can’t let her father’s hard work go to waste. Soon after she views the message, Grand Moff Tarkin orders a test of the Death Star, blowing up Jedha City. Jyn, Cassian and their new colleagues narrowly escape the moon with Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), the Imperial cargo pilot defector who had delivered the hologram.

From there, Jyn and company make their way to Eadu, where Galen is working at an Imperial research facility. It is here that Cassian, a Rebel hero in the eyes of the audience, has to make a life-changing decision: obey his superior’s secret orders to kill Galen or return with Galen alive? Earlier in the film, viewers are introduced to Cassian when he shoots a Rebel contact so he can escape from a trading outpost that’s been invaded by Imperial troopers. As director Gareth Edwards said in an interview with People magazine, “The original Star Wars was binary in its good and evil… [Rogue One is] more gray: good people doing bad things, bad people doing good things” (The Jedi Masters). Cassian is an excellent example of this: he is not the nice, life-honoring Rebel soldier fans are used to from the rest of the Star Wars saga. While Cassian aims his rifle at Galen, Jyn secretly climbs up to the landing platform to reach her father. After a lot of deliberation, Cassian shoulders his rifle and scans the area, spotting Jyn on the platform. But before she can get to her father, a Rebel Alliance squadron flies in and blasts the landing platform, fatally injuring Galen. Jyn manages to exchange a few final words with her father, letting him know that she saw his message and will carry out his plan.

Upon the group’s return to the Rebel base, the Alliance Council dismisses Jyn’s proposal to infiltrate the Imperial security complex on Scarif out of hopelessness and disagreement. Undeterred and determined to not let their hard work go to waste, Jyn and company embark on the mission secretly, leaving with a group of volunteers and a stolen Imperial cargo ship, which they dub “Rogue One”. The battle that proceeds is unlike any other battle in Star Wars history. While a typical space battle starts up once the Rebel Alliance arrives, most of the scenes are down on the ground. Stormtroopers and deathtroopers march through the sand, shooting down rebels much more accurately than their previous incarnations did. The “Rogue One” crew have to fight for their lives while Jyn, Cassian, and K-2SO infiltrate the Imperial base. Once Jyn and Cassian find the Death Star plans, they need the rest of the group to open up communications down on the ground so they can send the plans to the Rebel ship parked above the planet. Soon after Jyn and Cassian successfully transmit the plans, Grand Moff Tarkin uses the Death Star to obliterate the Imperial station on Scarif. Despite this grim ending for the “Rogue One” crew, the film finishes with a final scene of hope for the galaxy, in which Princess Leia receives the plans from the Rebel Alliance and flees the space battle in her ship, all set to transition into the opening scene of A New Hope (Edwards).

Rogue One is definitely a Star Wars story, but it is one that has very little to do with the mysticism of the Force and much more to do with the messy humanity of rebellion and resistance. The film features a lot of death, gray morals, and issues with leadership, but it also shows success, cooperation, and hope. As Diego Luna said in an interview with TIME magazine, Rogue One is really “all about how people of all different backgrounds need to join together to fight for good,” which is a message everyone can take to heart (Dockterman).

Works Cited

Dockterman, Eliana. “Rogue One Rewinds-and Rewrites-the Star Wars Legacy.” Time, Time, 16 Nov. 2016, time.com/4574502/rogue-one-star-wars-legacy/.

Edwards, Gareth, director. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2016.

“The Jedi Masters.” People, Dec. 2016, p. 73.

Lucas, George, director. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. 20th Century Fox, 1977.