I owe Gareth Edwards an apology. I’ve been unkind to him and, especially now with the power of hindsight, he deserved better. Who knew, when all was said and done, that he would (mostly) direct the best of the Disney Star Wars films, Rogue One?
To properly cover this, there will be here spoilers here. You have been warned.
The man has directed precisely three feature-length films: Monsters (2010), Godzilla (2014), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). I still believe he doesn’t handle humans well. His human characters generally come across as flat and, more often than not, not likeable. Now, a film’s main character doesn’t have to be likeable, but if they’re not then they have to be interesting, and his characters are, generally, not interesting.
In both Monsters and Godzilla, I was rooting for the monsters. Please, please, please crush, kill, and even eat these mouth-breathers! This was also true for most of the cast of Rogue One, with a few exceptions. Donnie Yen and Wen Jiang were fantastic, and Ben Mendelsohn did a fine job as the main villain (an example of an unlikeable character being interesting, by the way); Mads Mikkelson was as great as always. The rest ranged from “meh” to “please, just stop.”
So if I stand by all of that, why do I feel the need for an apology? Because the more I read and hear, the more I begin to wonder how much of what’s wrong with Rogue One is really attributable to Tony Gilroy. Originally given a co-writing credit for the screenplay, he’s now being heralded as the film’s ghost director, the directing force behind most, if not all, of the reshoots, and has quietly gained the reputation of having “saved” Rogue One.
To which I respond with a resounding raspberry.
It all just reeks of being an after-the-fact rewriting of history. Poor Gareth is shuffled off the Buffalo and Tony gets stood up as the hero, as though the film is suddenly the greatest thing ever. It’s not; it’s still a wreck. While it is easily better than anything in the Star Wars universe made by JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, or Ron Howard, it’s still not all that good. Enjoyable in parts? Absolutely. But not when seen as a whole.
So, final warning, SPOILERS!
. . .
Killing everyone off was an unnecessary act. Jiang’s character, especially, should have soldiered on, a man (a rogue, if you will) turned into a rebel by the sacrifice of his dear friend. Ditto for the deaths of Felicity Jones and Diego Luna. The excuse given for this massacre is that you don’t see them in subsequent Star Wars films, to which I ask, “So what?” Rogue One was the opportunity for Disney to open up the SW universe; indeed, I thought that was part of its original purpose. It’s a big rebellion, after all, and it would have been easy to have these characters off doing other adventures, ones not covered by the central films. The SW universe, an expanded universe, if you will, is more than the Skywalker Saga.
But no, die they "must." Gilroy is taking credit for inserting scenes that make you feel each death. Well, epic fail, buddy. All I felt was annoyance that you felt you had to kill them in the first place. All the inserts in the world couldn’t change that.
So maybe I should blame Gilroy for how terrible most of the characters are. That means I can give Edwards credit for what I really, truly liked. Like the entire concept. There are a lot of snarky comments out there about how Rogue One was a film that didn’t need to be made. Rubbish. Solo was a film that didn’t need to be made because it was an incompetent mess and I didn’t need a Han Solo origin story that wasn’t even a Han Solo origin story.
Rogue One had potential because it was a completely different set of characters, off doing their own thing. It didn’t try and give a backstory for an established character, it was its own adventure. I liked that there were those within the Empire itself working to defeat the Empire. I loved the internal struggle for control, for glory. I even liked that we saw some of the darker aspects of the Rebels, those terrible, questionable actions that occur during an rebellion.
As has often been pointed out, the climatic battle is a thing of joy and glory. I cannot tell you how much I smiled when Red and Gold Leaders appeared, cleaned and restored footage of the same actors from Star Wars: A New Hope. And my smile grew even larger when we meet Blue Leader, even though we know he and his plucky Blue Squadron pilots are all doomed. It was a poignant moment and all those supporting actors give them all for every second they are on screen.
When I recently re-watched Rogue One, I was taken by what it tried to be, what it tried to do, and I credit Mr. Edwards with all that I liked or loved, and Gilroy for all that was horrible. Fair? No, but given what Gilroy has been saying and claiming it seems accurate. An added layer of blame goes to Disney, for initially backing Edwards and then chickening out and hiring Gilroy to “fix” what wasn’t actually broken.
So, I’m sorry, Gareth Edwards, and I look forward to your next film.
To properly cover this, there will be here spoilers here. You have been warned.
The man has directed precisely three feature-length films: Monsters (2010), Godzilla (2014), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). I still believe he doesn’t handle humans well. His human characters generally come across as flat and, more often than not, not likeable. Now, a film’s main character doesn’t have to be likeable, but if they’re not then they have to be interesting, and his characters are, generally, not interesting.
In both Monsters and Godzilla, I was rooting for the monsters. Please, please, please crush, kill, and even eat these mouth-breathers! This was also true for most of the cast of Rogue One, with a few exceptions. Donnie Yen and Wen Jiang were fantastic, and Ben Mendelsohn did a fine job as the main villain (an example of an unlikeable character being interesting, by the way); Mads Mikkelson was as great as always. The rest ranged from “meh” to “please, just stop.”
So if I stand by all of that, why do I feel the need for an apology? Because the more I read and hear, the more I begin to wonder how much of what’s wrong with Rogue One is really attributable to Tony Gilroy. Originally given a co-writing credit for the screenplay, he’s now being heralded as the film’s ghost director, the directing force behind most, if not all, of the reshoots, and has quietly gained the reputation of having “saved” Rogue One.
To which I respond with a resounding raspberry.
It all just reeks of being an after-the-fact rewriting of history. Poor Gareth is shuffled off the Buffalo and Tony gets stood up as the hero, as though the film is suddenly the greatest thing ever. It’s not; it’s still a wreck. While it is easily better than anything in the Star Wars universe made by JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, or Ron Howard, it’s still not all that good. Enjoyable in parts? Absolutely. But not when seen as a whole.
So, final warning, SPOILERS!
. . .
Killing everyone off was an unnecessary act. Jiang’s character, especially, should have soldiered on, a man (a rogue, if you will) turned into a rebel by the sacrifice of his dear friend. Ditto for the deaths of Felicity Jones and Diego Luna. The excuse given for this massacre is that you don’t see them in subsequent Star Wars films, to which I ask, “So what?” Rogue One was the opportunity for Disney to open up the SW universe; indeed, I thought that was part of its original purpose. It’s a big rebellion, after all, and it would have been easy to have these characters off doing other adventures, ones not covered by the central films. The SW universe, an expanded universe, if you will, is more than the Skywalker Saga.
But no, die they "must." Gilroy is taking credit for inserting scenes that make you feel each death. Well, epic fail, buddy. All I felt was annoyance that you felt you had to kill them in the first place. All the inserts in the world couldn’t change that.
So maybe I should blame Gilroy for how terrible most of the characters are. That means I can give Edwards credit for what I really, truly liked. Like the entire concept. There are a lot of snarky comments out there about how Rogue One was a film that didn’t need to be made. Rubbish. Solo was a film that didn’t need to be made because it was an incompetent mess and I didn’t need a Han Solo origin story that wasn’t even a Han Solo origin story.
Rogue One had potential because it was a completely different set of characters, off doing their own thing. It didn’t try and give a backstory for an established character, it was its own adventure. I liked that there were those within the Empire itself working to defeat the Empire. I loved the internal struggle for control, for glory. I even liked that we saw some of the darker aspects of the Rebels, those terrible, questionable actions that occur during an rebellion.
As has often been pointed out, the climatic battle is a thing of joy and glory. I cannot tell you how much I smiled when Red and Gold Leaders appeared, cleaned and restored footage of the same actors from Star Wars: A New Hope. And my smile grew even larger when we meet Blue Leader, even though we know he and his plucky Blue Squadron pilots are all doomed. It was a poignant moment and all those supporting actors give them all for every second they are on screen.
When I recently re-watched Rogue One, I was taken by what it tried to be, what it tried to do, and I credit Mr. Edwards with all that I liked or loved, and Gilroy for all that was horrible. Fair? No, but given what Gilroy has been saying and claiming it seems accurate. An added layer of blame goes to Disney, for initially backing Edwards and then chickening out and hiring Gilroy to “fix” what wasn’t actually broken.
So, I’m sorry, Gareth Edwards, and I look forward to your next film.
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