Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or simply Rogue One, is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards and written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta. It is the first Star Wars Anthology film, a standalone story set shortly before the events of the original Star Wars. Rogue One stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker, and follows a group of Rebel spies on a mission to steal design schematics for the Galactic Empire's new superweapon, the Death Star.
The film was produced by Lucasfilm and will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Principal photography began at Elstree Studios near London during early August 2015 and wrapped in February 2016, with reshoots and additional filming taking place in mid-June 2016. Rogue One premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2016 and will be released in the United States on December 16, 2016.
Cast
- Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso - Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, a Rebel Alliance Intelligence officer. - Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic, the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial Military. - Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe, a warrior. - Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, Jyn's distant father who the Rebels intercepted a transmission about the testing of the Death Star. - Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, a Rebel-owned Imperial enforcer droid whose memory is wiped by Andor. - Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus, a freelance assassin. - Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, a veteran of the Clone Wars. The character previously appeared in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and was mentioned in the Star Wars Rebels episode "The Honorable Ones" and the novel Star Wars: Bloodline.
Additionally, Riz Ahmed plays Bodhi Rook, a former Imperial pilot with strong piloting and technical skills now working with Rebel squad, and Jonathan Aris plays Senator Jebel. Genevieve O'Reilly and Jimmy Smits reprise their roles from previous films as Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, respectively. James Earl Jones also reprises his role as the voice of Darth Vader, while Vader is reportedly physically played by a "variety of large framed performers", including Spencer Wilding. Valene Kane will play the role of Jyn Erso's mother, Lyra Erso. Nick Kellington appears as Bistan, an alien creature and member of the Rebel Alliance, nicknamed "Space Monkey", while Alistair Petrie was cast as General Draven. Eunice Olumide, and Warwick Davis have been cast in unspecified roles. Several Scandinavian newspapers are reporting that Swedish actor Fares Fares has been cast in an unnamed role. Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman, director and producer of Star Wars: Episode VIII, respectively, cameo as two Death Star technicians.
Star Wars: Rebellion, The Road to Rogue One. - Spacedock Special.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
ROGUE ONE : A Star Wars Story - ALL TRAILERS
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
'Rogue One' dazzles as it expands 'Star Wars' universe
(CNN)"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" answers the question of whether that galaxy far, far away is big enough to sustain multiple offshoots with an emphatic yes, delivering an extremely muscular and satisfying expansion of what had been, under George Lucas, a rather underdeveloped universe.
Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm came with a pragmatic mandate to churn out "Star Wars" fare, including stand-alone stories separate and distinct from the primary trilogies.
And "Rogue One" does feel different from the main movies, darker, grittier -- much closer in tone to an old war movie. Indeed, the production notes draw appropriate comparisons to the 1961 World War II classic "The Guns of Navarone," another film about a team of strong-willed individuals thrown together to undertake a secret mission against a malevolent empire.
Still, this is essentially the real long-lost prequel to "Star Wars," just 39 years later, and director Gareth Edwards has the advantage of being able to incorporate plenty of crowd-pleasing callbacks to the original.
The ways in which the filmmakers managed to forge and realize some of those connections -- even with modern technological conveniences, which include the ability to seamlessly replicate settings from the first film -- will surely leave many audience members agog, and occasionally elicit whoops and hollers. And while some flourishes, like Darth Vader's sinister presence, have been revealed in advance, there are enough small touches thrown in to keep fans happily consuming the movie to collect them all.
The story, admittedly, requires a bit of time before taking shape as it fleshes out a central facet of the "Star Wars" chapter subsequently christened "A New Hope" -- namely, that Princess Leia had to get those stolen Death Star plans from somewhere.
The backstory can be traced to a prologue, involving a scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), and his young daughter, Jyn, played once she's grown up by Felicity Jones.
Galen designed the Death Star, and he's yanked from retirement by Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), a ruthless Imperial officer. Like a lot of cinematic orphans, meanwhile, Jyn has experienced a hard-knock life, before the daring rebel spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) recruits her, as the rebellion hopes to use Jyn to help uncover means of neutralizing the planet-destroying weapon.
It all feels pretty haphazard for a spell, until Cassian and Jyn get some skilled help, including a pilot ("The Night Of's" Riz Ahmed) and blind monk (Hong Kong martial-arts star Donnie Yen), whose faith in the Force is matched only by how well he wields a staff.
As noted, a lot of this is relatively grim -- down even to the movie's initial color palette -- and not especially suited to younger kids. The only consistent source of comic relief is a hulking, reprogrammed Imperial droid, K-2S0 (voiced and performed by Alan Tudyk), who delivers wry, cleverly written commentary and, like C-3PO, has a bad habit of detailing what long odds they face.
Despite talk about reshoots that preceded "Rogue One's" release, once the action gets going, the pacing moves briskly and doesn't let up. The second half of the movie builds in intensity, showcasing not only some dazzling visuals but a few sequences that prove genuinely thrilling.
"Rebellions are built on hope," Jyn states, seeking to rally the alliance.
On screen, the fringes of this galaxy have largely been explored, quite well, via TV animation. Given Disney's grandiose movie plans for the fcranchise, faith in its "Star Wars" stewardship will be built on delivering projects worthy of those familiar strains of John Williams' music.
Watching this maiden launch from that perspective, "Rogue One" is, indeed, cause for considerable hope.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Behind The Scenes
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Plot
Research scientist Galen Erso is in hiding on the planet Lah'mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives and enlists him to work on the unfinished Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet. His wife Lyra is killed in the ensuing confrontation, but their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken to safety by Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera.
Fifteen years later, pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, smuggling a holographic message from Galen to Gerrera on the desert moon of Jedha. After learning about Rook's defection, Rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor frees Jyn from Imperial captivity before bringing her to the Rebels, who plan to use her to extract Galen and learn more about the Death Star. Unknown to Jyn, however, General Draven orders Cassian to kill Galen rather than extract him.
Jyn, Andor, and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, where the Empire is mining kyber crystals to power the Death Star while Gerrera and his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against them. With the aid of spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe and mercenary Baze Malbus, Jyn makes contact with Gerrera, who has been holding Rook captive. Gerrera proceeds to show her the message, in which Galen explains that he has secretly compromised the Death Star's reactor design, directing them to find the plans at an Imperial high-security data bank on the tropical planet Scarif.
On the Death Star, Krennic demonstrates the Death Star's superlaser to Grand Moff Tarkin, using a low-powered shot from the superlaser to destroy Jedha's capital. The ensuing destruction forces Jyn and her group to flee the planet while Gerrera elects to remain behind to die. An impressed Tarkin congratulates Krennic before using Rook's defection and subsequent security leak as a pretext to take control of the project, infuriating Krennic.
The Rebels track Galen to an Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu, where Cassian chooses not to kill Galen. Confronted by Krennic, Galen admits responsibility for his actions only to watch as Krennic executes his colleagues. Jyn then makes her presence known as Rebel bombers arrive at the facility, resulting in Galen being mortally wounded. Jyn reunites with her father and allows him to die in her arms before escaping with her group onboard an Imperial cargo shuttle. Krennic meets with Darth Vader in an attempt to seek both his and Emperor Palpatine's support, but Vader dismisses his appeals.
Jyn proposes a plan to steal the Death Star's schematics but fails to get approval from the Alliance Cabinet. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn's group and several other Rebels decide to raid the data bank themselves. While leaving, Rook makes up the call sign "Rogue One". Krennic, now on Scarif, decides to review all of Galen's transmissions to find anything that would implicate a structural flaw in the Death Star.
Upon arriving at Scarif, a disguised Jyn and Cassian, along with K-2SO, search for the schematics while the others attack the resident Imperial garrison. At the Rebel Alliance base, intercepted Imperial communications alert Rebel Command to the raid on the data facility, and a rebel fleet is scrambled to support Jyn and her team. Rook contacts the Rebel Alliance fleet to inform them that they are extracting the plans before being killed by a grenade. K-2SO locks the entrance to the data vault, allowing Jyn and Cassian to retrieve the schematics, and is destroyed fending off stormtroopers.
As Îmwe, Malbus and most of the Rebel ground troops are killed, the Rebel fleet manages to deactivate the shield surrounding the planet. Jyn is confronted by Krennic, who declares the Empire's victory only to be shot by Cassian. Jyn transmits the schematics to the Rebel command ship, unaware that the Death Star has entered the planet's orbit. Tarkin uses the superlaser to destroy the compromised base, immediately killing Krennic while Jyn and Cassian die in the ensuing shock wave.
The Rebel fleet prepares to jump to hyperspace only to be attacked by Darth Vader's flagship. Vader boards the Rebel command ship and ruthlessly pursues the plans only to watch as a small starship escapes with them. Aboard the fleeing ship, Princess Leia declares that the schematics will provide hope for the Rebellion.
