The Hutt Recommends: Rogue One

This is good, oh so good.

   A few days ago I decided it was time to take the bull by its horns and watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Despite it being hyped to oblivion and me already knowing the whole movie through what people on the internet have told me I planned to sit through it. Mostly, I wanted to see it just so that I could go watch Rogue One with all the other movies in the series seen and dealt with.

   To be frank with you; I was entirely underwhelmed and a little disappointed. None of the new characters engaged me and none of the old ones held the same power they once did (except possibly Chewbacca). It's a mystery to me how Kylo Ren was expected to be (and then actually became!) such a popular character since all I see is a belligerent 5-year-old brat who's acting out because he's just been told off by his parents. The golden glow of the movie came from Finn and if they had expanded on his story just a liiiiiittle bit more I'd have fallen for it. But they didn't. It was nice to revisit the Star Wars universe again but nostalgia can only take you so far. This is simply A New Hope in brand new (but slightly crooked) wrapping paper and if I can choose which movie I'd rather spend two hours watching I'd go for A New Hope.

   So, slightly discouraged, I headed for the cinema to sit down, crisps and soda in hand, to experience what I thought would be two more hours of mediocre nostalgia-riding scifi. Luckily, I was wrong.
   Something I noticed pretty early on was that I might be a bit bigger a nerd for the Star Wars universe than I initially thought myself to be, because as soon as I saw an AT-ST stalking the streets of Jedha City on screen I squealed like the excited child I had been reduced to. I love Star Wars tech and lore. Mostly lore. I'm a known lore hunter. And there is plenty to be found in Rogue One, because this is a prequel to sequel the previous prequels and lead us towards A New Hope. Still with  me? Good.

   I loved everything about this movie; all the characters, the plot, the locations, the dialogue, the actors, the costumes, the fighting... everything. As uncharming as it must sound, I'm usually not a fan of the whole group of main characters (or their actors) but in this case I was. They are all precious little gems to be protected. Obviously, I spent a whole lot of this cinema experience crying. Rogue One is darker than its Star Wars siblings and all the better for it.

   I guess I can expect it to be a bit of an unpopular opinion but I was relieved to find that Rogue One doesn't focus any particular energy on anyone from the Skywalker family even though some of them (Vader and Leia) make short appearances. In fact, there are a few more recognisable faces popping up here and there: Grand Moff Tarkin, Bail Organa and Admiral Raddus to mention three I remember from the original trilogy, but they are still the side characters they always were. I am rather fed up with watching Skywalkers mess up the galaxy, it was about time to let other characters' stories shine and be heard. 
   I loved this movie much more than I thought I would.