Rogue One’s trailer sends a message: this is a new kind of Star Wars movie. For the first time in years, anything can happen. We’re a long way from the Mos Eisley cantina...there’s nary an alien or monster to be seen in the teaser trailer. There’s not a sign of Jedi, Sith, lightsabers, space battles, dogfights, or any of the other staples I’ve come to expect from Star Wars. Except for Mon Mothma, not a single familiar face appears, though I’ll be shocked if we don’t see at least a glimpse of Vader in the final product. ...it’s time for something completely different. These changes make story sense given the time frame and setting... the xenophobic Galactic Empire isn’t likely to let non-humans anywhere near their big, shiny, secret superweapon, and there shouldn’t be Jedi running around the Rebel Base before Skywalker gets there. But these differences are also part of a signal that cuts through this trailer like a lightsaber through Luke’s arm: it's time for something completely different.
What we do glimpse from the familiar is presented in intriguing new context: The Rebel Base on Yavin with a cuffed protagonist being escorted through the hangar bay, the Death Star still under construction, Imperial Walkers engaging not armies, but a tiny squad of soldiers on a beach. Settings and icons we thought we completely understood are cast in fascinating, unfamiliar tones. Star Wars has never given us a true one-shot film before. Because Rogue One’s characters all are new, the writers and director are free to make us truly afraid for them. We know the plans end up in Rebel hands, but absolutely everything else is on the table. Anybody can die, turn traitor, fail, or be redeemed. That’s a tremendous freedom of storytelling that the series really needs. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was criticized for sticking too close to A New Hope. I recognize Episode 7 leaned heavily on the original trilogy, but I think that was actually a good thing...after the botched prequels, we needed a solid foundation to build new stories on.
A similar principle worked well on TV as Rebels used Clone Wars to draw a bridge between familiar material and new characters. Disney is wisely choosing to go forward with a new idea at the absolute perfect time. Too often, big franchises wait until they’re already stale to get experimental. I really appreciate that Lucasfilm had the guts to take this step now. As presented in the trailer, Rogue One seems to have as much in common with Where Eagles Dare or Inglorious Basterds as it does with A New Hope. The grungy tone, dirty windows and dark lighting...they're all a deliberate step beyond Star Wars’ typical lived-in galaxy look. The small cadre of heroes look as weathered as the dilapidated towns and crumbling temples which surround them. There’s a desperation conveyed on the faces of the characters. They’re a few tired-looking, dirty people contrasted against the scale of a vast, evil Empire, dwarfed by the AT-ATs towering over them and the colossal superweapon overshadowing their mission.
It’s a superb premise that harnesses of the Star Wars mythos in a brand new way, subverting familiar settings with a new kind of story. If it works, Rogue One will open the door for other kinds of tales to be told in the Star Wars galaxy: scary stories, exploration epics, true romances, maybe even more comedic and deeper dramatic experiments. I liked the trailer. Will the movie be good? Some pretty smart people are attached to it, and some pretty good actors are cast in it. But whether it succeeds or fails, props to the creators for taking a big risk in an age when so many popular film franchises are mired by just trying to set up the next movie. I’ll see you in the theater. From all of us at IGN, may the Force be with you. Jared Petty is a Senior Editor at IGN. He really likes Star Wars. Chat with him on Twitter. Despite the copious servings of tragic threats and good feelings, the production sinks under the weight of its emotional calculation. January 4, 2016 | The new movie, as an act of pure storytelling, streams by with fluency and zip.
December 21, 2015 | That's what's so impressive about the tricky balancing act Abrams has pulled off with The Force Awakens: He's made a movie that's simultaneously gripping and a huge release. We are in good hands, at last. December 20, 2015 | With The Force Awakens, Abrams has begun one of the most important reclamation projects of our time: the complete erasure from cultural memory of The Phantom Menace and its sequels. December 19, 2015 | I bet you'll have fun - I did, mostly. But it's the fun of seeing something fairly successfully redone, with the promise of more of the same to come. December 17, 2015 | It's everything the kid in us goes to the movies for -- marvelous adventure that leaves us surprised, scared and euphoric. Our community, 817 want it Our community, 684 want it Our community, 1633 want it Our community, 2315 want it Our community, 1665 want it Our community, 2298 want it Our community, 2361 want it
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