#and like a world of asexual romance blosoms within

[roblnwheeler]

TBH and Rouge One

Returning from Rouge One I had a few thoughts I wanted to write down before they fluttered away (which they’re already starting to!). These were just my perceptions and options of the movie overall. I’m not well versed in Star Wars, and I’m certain that has had an effect on my experience, for better or worse. I personally really loved this movie.

Here are some of my thoughts:

All the characters die and I think its Great

In fact, if they hadn’t died, I would’ve been disappointed. I’m not heartless, and I loved each of the characters to death (pun intended), but it made for the whole tone of the movie. (In general, I actually typically dislike character deaths but more on that later).

The movie and the franchise speaks to the symbolism idea that we as individuals are something a part of a bigger whole and that it is more important to us than ourselves. The rebels die for their cause because they believe in the greater idea of the mission and its importance. They themselves do not matter but what they chose to do with themselves does. If the main characters, particularly Jyn or Cassian had lived, it would’ve made for a much different tone. One that spoke to the idea that the characters themselves were more important than the thing they were accomplishing. 

Also, each death was so well handled and I didn’t really have any complaints (which if you know me I almost always have complaints when deaths are involved, they’re usually done so cheaply and unnecessarily). Each member of Rouge One gave their live respectfully and appropriately. Their deaths felt meaningful, not shoddy and done for dramatic effect. 

I honestly loved each and every death in it’s own right. They each fulfilled a purpose in the end. My favorite of the favorite death would perhaps be the last couple of significant deaths, Cassian, Jyn, and the random rebel.

The rebel who tries so desperately to escape the closed door but, when seeing Darth Vader mow down his fellow crewmen and knowing he’s also going to share their fate, chooses to pass off the information but it is so vital that it gets to the Alliance. There are a lot of World War references throughout Star Wars but this scene specifically reminded me of that emotional feeling, of one individual doing everything they can in their last moments to save something bigger than themselves. Doing what they can to save others they will never meet.

(Weirdly enough watching Rouge One to me felt a little like if one lived in the Star Wars universe and it was their version of watching a historical movie bringing an amazing wartime story to the big screen because we all knew coming into the movie theatre that the events in Rouge One have already happened. It was much more about the journey itself than the ending.)

Jyn and Cassian’s death.... It was incredibly well done in my opinion and I loved every cut scene of it.After sending out the message, Jyn helps Cassian to the beach to send their last moments alive somewhere pleasant. They can’t escape, there’s no way out of the situation and the ripple of the blast is swiftly coming down upon them, and they find it in themselves to accept that and to find comfort in a companion’s presence in their last moments because they’ve done what they needed to do. They knew coming into this mission they likely weren’t getting out alive and given the options, going this way is better than they could’ve hoped for.

(Also on a small note, the white coat commander [Idk his name] being on the planet and seeing his creation rise in the sky to end his life. That was some poetry right there. He never honestly thought of just what his weapon would be like if he was on the other end and you see, that now he’s about to experience the full spectrum of the Death Star and all it’s “beauty”.)

The Romance, or lack thereof

If I rant to you irl, you probably already know but to put it mildly, I just don’t have much time for romance in movies; particularly action movies. I always feel they they are forced, crammed in too tightly, and poorly written to the point that they completely miss the goal they were trying to achieve leaving no one rooting for the couple or even the characters.

Rouge One didn’t do that, and dear lordie did I love it. There were zero outright romance plots (minus Jyn’s parents and not even them really), and the undertones were subtle and perfect. All these characters are in the middle of warzones and high risk, covert operations and don’t have time for any budding romances and surprisingly; the writers accepted and worked with that.

Throughout the entire movie you see these people slowly learning to trust and appreciate each other, working together toward their mutual goal and accepting the fate they have chosen before them. But there is not one kiss or awkward sex scene throughout.

Instead, the audience receive several subtle, non-disruptive moments between characters that leave much up to interpretation because, much like the character’s, the plot doesn’t have time to concern itself with the foolishness of romance. That would’ve been something to deal with outside of this time period in their lives.

With Chirrut and Malbus, you see a long standing companionship from the start. These two have obviously known each other a long time and have many shared moments together. They fight, discuss, and jest well together. Still, their relationship remains ambiguous throughout (there is a particularly adorable scene in which Chirrut says he’ll be safe because he’ll have Malbus with him-- a giant who constantly complains about saving the guardian despite his impressive fighting skills). Malbus, never one who is seen directly believing in the Force, and often joking about Chirrut’s fate, never attempts to dissuade him and during their final moments together he prays for Chirrut’s sake out of the respect for the connection they share. He is distraught to see Chirrut die and in his own final moments, Malbus finds comfort in looking upon Chirrut one last time.

Jyn and Cassian, the two protagonists, were obvious and almost dreaded choices for a romance in the movie. Surprisingly, there isn’t really any romantic or sexual tension between the two throughout almost the entire movie. It isn’t until their last few moments that the audience receive the potential undertones, (which are never fully brought up). Instead of having them share a kiss during their final moments, they hold hands and hold each other close, facing their impending deaths together using each others strength. For me personally, I don’t think that Jyn or Cassian even ever really saw themselves as friends but they came to share a great mutual respect and admiration for one and other in the end.

Both of these relationships presented the subtle possibility for more than a friendship but also allowed the viewer to accept their relationship as only a friendship if they wished.

[Only in a little part of my head did I imagine all the characters were asexual and it was also beautiful but probably complete nonsense. Still  so Beautiful though to watch them from that perspective none the less.]

By doing things the way they did, it actually had me appreciating the potential couples in ways I never can when couples are outwardly done in these kinds of films.

Diversity and Accents

Diversity in casting today is something I’m rather passionate about. I think it’s incredibly important and needed to be telling a competent and fully fleshed out story of the human people and I think we’ve fallen short in this department more often than we’d like to think in recent years, filling the potential for good storytelling with the poor substitute of diverse casting for the sake of having it. A character of a specific gender/race/religion/orientation/etc, should not exist simply to be that one specific quality. Humans are diverse and complex in their existence and successful characters should reflect that. [I’m rambling now... Back to Rouge One points...]

Diversity in this movie... I loved it. In the beginning I had some disappointing doubts about the diversity of the film watching the opening scenes but when we got into it, the movie really ended up impressing me.

The majority of the main characters came from racially different backgrounds and their accents, their accents. Not being entirely familiar with SW universe and such I know they have their own languages (which was cool to see) but also each of the characters spoke with their own distinctive accents, suggesting a truly diverse and multicultural upbringing between all of them. Even Jyn’s accent is not distinctively American (which to me personally seemed to be many of the older SWs characters [I could be wrong here]). It’s not a bad thing to have a American accents and such, but I think it’s important to have more than just that one perspective in a movie like SW because the world created includes it because you are talking about people living on so many different worlds with different races... just think of all the differences in human culture within our own one little Earth.

Anywho, the accents really brought something to each of the characters and gave them a special kind of identity that often isn’t seen in popular franchised movies.

So yes, it was great. And I enjoyed it greatly.

Cassian should have shot Him

There were only about two things in the movie that I thought were a little cliche but with all the other amazing things in the movie (and with how small they were), I really didn’t mind.

During the scene where Cassian was looking through he sniper scope...It was here that, despite his dilemma over shooting Jyn’s father, Cassian totally should’ve shot Mr. White Coat Commander dude. 1) meta-speaking, it would’ve saved them a ton of time down the road a little bit of hurt, and 2) Cassian being a rebel member should’ve known this guy was a high ranking Empire member and should’ve taken him out on site for the sake of the alliance. it would’ve been a good hit to the Empire.

The other thing was actually a split up of two things relating to Galen Erso. 1) he’s wife’s death was a little cheesy, just having her die at the beginning and him holding her body. and 2) him dying as soon as he reunites with his daughter. Both of these things were pretty small to the overall point of his character and the movie and with everything else going on (so much amazing plot, characterization, etc.), it’s honestly easy to give these few little things a pass.

Starship battles always make me cry

Seriously though, every fantasy movie I watch with star fighters blowing up and random big battle scenes make me getting teary-eyed and I’m not a particularly big crier. It’s just, I don’t see ships blowing up, I see people with families exploding. And I see their families being contacted later on to inform them of the tragedy. [You should’ve seen me in GOTG when the Nova core all die... so many silent movie theatre tears]

Star Wars may be all about fighting got a bigger cause/idea but I also feel like there were men stationed at that Comm tower (Ik there were clones [they’re another deal] and stuff but here I especially mean the regular blokes) whose partners told them them if they were going to be joining the Empire’s Militia, they’d have to find a station somewhere out of harm’s way where they won’t get hurt.

Now imagine the pain of losing the loved one, added to the fact that you thought they had chosen a relatively safe planet to work on.

Rouge One is Basically a fantastic fanfic

What I mean here, is that we already have the setup of Star Wars in canon, and we know what’s already happened to original main characters. Rouge One is like a fanfic that creates other characters within the same world, existing at the same time, and we see the world from their perspective and from their story.

It’s so great to me that this exists and is done so well, especially with the age difference in the movies and ugh, just so good. I’ve died because of fanfics that worked like this.

In Conclusion...

Basically, in short, Rouge One is Just Brilliant.

In my opinion, it has just so much to offer people, both those who do an don’t know the franchise well.

I was rather neutral going into the film but man, it just blew all my expectations and presumptions out of the water. In the best way possible.

The biggest things I usually have problems with in modern cinema, unnecessary/cheap death scenes and romance were both handled practically flawlessly.

So much heart was put into this and it shows.

It renews and reinvigorates my standards and hopes for the future of cinematic film.

[Also, jokingly I just kept thinking how much differently this whole movie could’ve gone with Star Trek beaming tech xD]

I highly recommend seeing this, if you haven’t already. You won’t be disappointed (I don’t think)!