SNAPSHOT
“Following the foundation of the Galactic Empire, a wayward band of Rebel fighters come together to carry out a desperate mission: to steal the plans for the Death Star before it can be used to enforce the Emperor’s rule.” (synopsis via Monkeys Fighting Robots)
Pity the poor prequel, people, pity the prequel.
Decided to enlarge the story of a franchise, a particularly popular move when all the obvious ideas for a sequel have been discarded – still when that has really stop Hollywood greenlighting a sequel – prequels often end up pale imitations of the already-established sequels that follow, unloved, uncared for and downright panned.
Isn’t that right episodes 1 to 3 of Star Wars? I’m looking at you Jar Jar Binks!
So when Disney announced they would be filling in the years without Star Wars films with prequels and spinoffs (Han Solo and Boba Fett films are in the works), there was excitement but also some wariness … were we headed down the route of Anakin Skywalker’s life story all over again?
But everything about the first prequel cab off the rank, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which outlines how the rebels came to have the plans to the Death Star which they used so effectively to their advantage in Star Wars: A New Hope, seems to indicate that these are indeed the prequels you have been looking for and well and truly worth your time.
Everything from the artwork through to the trailers indicate a rich, deep narrative populated by fully-realised characters (Darth Vader returns!) on worlds that seem so real you could walk out onto them such as a tropical world called Scarif where the battle on the poster above takes place; much like the full films themselves.
One thing that will be missing most likely is the customary yellow crawl of introductory expository lettering that commences each Star Wars film but that’s designed to differentiate these one-off films from the standard entries.
All in all, it looks like another triumph for the revived and renewed franchise and you can find out more about the film via EW’s recounting of the presentation on the film at the recently-staged Star Wars Celebration in London.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens