For an intergalactic space opera, Star Wars can sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic, so the amount of time Rogue One spends on gigantic space battles blowing the horn seems refreshingly like calling ROTJ all over again. This first Star Wars Story anthological film includes the ticking of time and attempts to break a shield on several fronts, and few things are as much fun on screen as two star destroyers that launch at full speed into NASCAR and hit the paint. It is also one of the few times in which the public sees some of the rebels as true fanatics, such as Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and his band of violent partisans, the pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), who deserted the imperial army, Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen) as guardian of the sorcerers after The Force with Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and the rebel Andor (Diego Luna) who doesn't skimp much sympathy for those outside politics. Jyn Erso, from Felicity Jones, does an admirable job focusing the story on hope, which serves as a bridge to the next film in the chronology, although we know that there is none for her or the rest of the team.
Since May is the month in which we celebrate all the great stories and memories that this franchise has given us, Den of Geek has surveyed both our writers and our readers to decide once and for all our official ranking of Star Wars movies, specifically the 11 live-action movie releases that form the backbone of this saga. But for the rest of us, the latest chapter of the Skywalker saga seems like a creative bust. This Redux from Return of the Jedi, full of Easter eggs, is so based on nostalgia and the recreation of 1983 that it never manages to say anything original of its own. Somehow, Palpatine returned (at a Fortnite event); Rey is now the granddaughter of the Emperor; there is no new Death Star, but there are imperial star destroyers that destroy planets (and the ruins of the old Death Star); and basically everyone says or does something at some point in the movie that amounts to little but superficial fan service.
This is a film with no identity or purpose, except to recover a past that had already been recovered in four other previous Disney movies. We're not here to bury Dexter Jettster, but to praise him. For some, the four-armed Besalisk represents a serious miscalculation, since they claim that the restaurant he runs belongs to Los Angeles in the 1950s, not to Coruscant. But that kind of thinking forgets how many beloved Star Wars elements come from Lucas' childhood obsessions, including the dog-fighting inspired X-Wing battles from movies like The Dam Busters and well-known tropes about a small-town boy with big dreams.
Dex and his restaurant give flavor to the sometimes esoteric Prequels and give us something familiar but adorably strange. More importantly, Dex advances the espionage plot that creates the most interesting moments of Attack of the Clones. While Jedi are usually reduced to swordsmen who speak with wise riddles and can do magic tricks, Episode II plunges Obi-Wan Kenobi into a conspiracy plot, forcing him to use his ingenuity instead of force. This story leads to revelations that continue to have repercussions throughout the Star Wars universe.
From the research of Kamino's clone plant comes the Clone Wars, the starting point of the beloved animated series of the same name. Jango Fett's participation in the clone saga connects bounty hunter Boba Fett and the Mandalorians to the rest of the Star Wars universe, an integral part of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Add in the innovative use of digital effects, especially with Yoda, and it's clear that Attack of the Clones plays a fundamental role in the past and future of the franchise. The cornerstone of the prequel trilogy is not the best of them.
However, its remarkable ambition distinguishes the film, since it is actually based on what happened before, shows an Old Golden Republic and introduces new and alien scenarios, such as underwater cities or the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. The lightsaber-fighting choreography of The Phantom Menace is also much more dramatic and acrobatic than the more technically limited fights of the original trilogy, and the visual design of characters such as Darth Maul was strong enough to take them on current Clone Wars adventures. In general, The Phantom Menace is still the basis of the prequels. It establishes the initial relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, the tragedy and manipulation that marked Anakin's fall to the dark side, and the way in which the man who would become Emperor Palpatine played long-term to take over the galaxy.
The connection between Anakin and Obi-Wan drives both the Prequels and the Clone Wars, making The Phantom Menace an inexhaustible resource to revisit as you see more and gain new perspectives on how those characters grow and change. When you accept that you're not the real young Harrison Ford, Alden Ehrenreich brings a lot of charm to his rogue baby-faced training rogue. And in the wrong hands, Donald Glover's version of Lando Calrissian would be a broad parody, mocking Billy Dee Williams. But Glover's performance reflects the naturalness that made Williams an icon.
Add Woody Harrelson in his prime as an unreliable leader, Phoebe Waller-Bridge as a droid like no other we've ever seen, and Paul Bettany as a terrifying crime boss, and Solo offers a good time to anyone willing to give up tradition and enjoy the adventure. It also has one of the best villains in the saga. Taken only in terms of his appearance in The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is erratic and terrifying; his physical presence, his creative abilities with the Force, and his surprising family connections create a powerful mix of ideas. Turning Han and Leia's son into the antagonist was an ingenious reversal of the original trilogy's big twist and helped turn The Force Awakens into one of the most talked about movies of its time.
Without worrying about the Jedi, Skywalkers and the Force, this is the unique story of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a thief who is reluctantly recruited by the fledgling Rebel Alliance for espionage work that increasingly resembles a suicide mission. With a large cast of characters, Rogue One has an adult touch that most Star Wars movies lack and a raw, visceral scale in which the power of the Empire never seemed more imminent. Although the film bears the marks of post-production retouching, in which director Gareth Edwards took a back seat to Tony Gilroy, who replaced Tony Gilroy, who did extensive rewrites and re-recordings, the film's emotional burden is reflected as a ringing bell, especially during the heartbreaking ending of The Battle of Scarif. It's a true war movie about sacrifice and the acceptance of an ideal and, unlike most other Disney Star Wars movies, fan service (here with one Dark Lord of the Sith in particular) is literally murderous.
Inspired by the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers series he adored as a child, as well as the samurai films by Akira Kurosawa, Lucas created, in turn, the most influential blockbuster of all time, a show whose presence is still felt today, either in the MCU or in the nostalgic dinosaur-filled extravagances of Jurassic World. Nerd culture wouldn't be the same without the story of a young Luke Skywalker who learns the ways of the Force and confronts the evil Empire with all his friends. Between the Trade Federation and the ever-questionable Jar-Jar Binks (Ahmed Best), this is still the most purely offensive Star Wars, which overheats the stereotypes of the 1950s on the eve of a new millennium. Although it is certainly linked to the original trilogy, in this case by offering the story of the “rebel spies who stole the Death Star plans”, Rogue One follows its own path to create an authentic war film, along the lines of many of the melodramas of the 40s and 50s that inspired Lucas as a child.
From the classic trilogy from a long time ago, in that galaxy far, far away, the first steps in the Star Wars galaxy are kings, since A New Hope is the most watched classic film on the Amazon platform. There isn't necessarily a complete story in and of itself, but the tangential structure is its own playful experience, which captures the eternal possibilities of the Star Wars galaxy better than most movie releases. It's really a shame, because the story of the Clone Wars, both in passing mentions and in future cartoon series, is doing much better outside of this film, which marked that era of storytelling. It's hard to find a better example of the operatic scale of Star Wars than Luke's solemn conflict with his father and the Emperor.
Even so, the bottom of the barrel is a bit horrible, considering some of the other movies included in the Star Wars canon. The adventures of a young farmer named Luke Skywalker caused a chain reaction that would become a complete franchise of movies, television series, books, comics and video games. . .
