Last week I told about how I thought Rogue One could hurt the Star Wars Mythos and I felt like maybe I was a bit of a downer. So I’m back with five reasons you should be excited about Rogue One
1) The Star Wars Universe is getting bigger
While Star Wars has had TV shows, comics and books to expand its Universe those aren’t really something most of the public gets into. The Movies are Star Wars for most of the public and that means Rogue One will be many people’s first foray into the expanded universe. That is AWESOME! Why? Because this will most likely lead some of these viewers to look for even more Star Wars stories that don’t revolve around the Skywalker clan. The more that those products sell the more money Disney is likely to put into those products to give us better and better books, TV and Comics. Everyone wins.
2) Diversity!
There are two places that SciFi/Fantasy fails time and time again, diversity. Not that there aren’t diverse casts but for the most part the Lead is a white Male. Notable exceptions being Hunger Games, TFA, Divergent and now Rogue One. The supporting cast is also very diverse with actors from multiple races set up to play key roles. If there was a failing of the OT and PT it was the lack of diversity in human cast which was counter to the diversity of the Aliens.
3) No Jedi!
This takes place right before Luke and Obi-wan meet up to leave for Alderaan and Luke set out on his journey. There are no Jedi left, or at least not many so we get to see fighters that are normal people struggling against the Empire. It appears that Darth Vader MAY show up but his interaction is supposed to be limited. I’d say we are getting the story that many hoped the Rebels cartoon was going tell. Rag tag group of over matched freedom fighters taking on an evil Galactic Empire… we don’t need no stinking Jedi! This is an awesome story.
4) Darth Vader
According to rumors we will finally see Darth Vader on the big screen in full Sith. No reserved Vader on a leash held by Tarkin ANH , no concern with trying to capture Luke in ESB and not the older worn down Vader in RotJ. Full on destroy all those in my way Vader, evil, strong, and without remorse. I’m giddy with anticipation.
5) Director, Writers, Cast, Composer
Gareth Edwards is quickly becoming a director people want on their SciFi project. His work on Godzilla was some of the best we’ve seen from that series and secured two sequels. Then you have writers John Knoll(Story), Chris Weitz, and Gary Whitta all have serious credits to their name in multiple genres. On top of that Christopher McQuarrie reportedly did a finally clean up draft to punch up the story even better. Finally an all star cast featuring Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Diego Luna, and Forest Whitaker. Seriously if just saw that cast you would see the movie if it was a flea circus much less because its Star Wars. Finally we have Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat taking over for John Williams. It’s not the first time he’s followed him in a series as he composed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Bonus: It is Star Wars.
Come on now, STAR WARS! Why oh why would you not want to go see new Star Wars on the big screen?
Follow me on twitter @mazlow01 and stay tuned to SpoiledBlueMilk for updates MWF!