Ben Mendelsohn adds to villainous resume with ‘Rogue One’ baddie Krennic
Lucasfilm
Ben Mendelsohn understands the aesthetic benefits of having an evil entourage. More
Felicity Jones
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Review
Rating:
6.5 out of 10
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Review:
Before delving into Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the newest Star Wars offering under the Disney banner, I’m going to assume that you have seen Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. I feel safe in assuming that because Disney and the filmmakers behind Rogue One are assuming the same thing. More
Star Wars: Felicity Jones explains why Rogue One is more like The Empire Strikes Back
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.
Those were the first words to ever appear in a Star Wars movie, in the opening crawl of 1977’s A New Hope. Now, almost 40 years later, we are going to see those words finally come to life with the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will tell that story when it debuts on Dec. 16.
But while Rogue One directly leads right up to the events of Episode IV: A New Hope, it may feel closer in tone to a different Star Wars film. We found this out when we sat down with stars Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso) and Diego Luno (Captain Cassian Andor) for a SiriusXM Town Hall that will air on Entertainment Weekly Radio (Channel 105) later this month.
“The one that we always would come back to would be The Empire Strikes Back,” Jones says. “And I remember with [director Gareth Edwards], we’d keep coming back to it as kind of an inspiration and a reference…
We saw part of ‘Rogue One’: Here’s what we learned
Lucasfilm
Spoilers! Some plot points are discussed so if you want to go into Rogue One as fresh as possible, read no further.
There’s no signature opening crawl. But from the very start, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story makes a strong statement about embracing its place in the sci-fi universe while also pushing the status quo of the massively popular franchise.
Journalists got a sneak peek this week at 28 minutes from the first standalone Star Wars movie (in theaters Dec. 16), which introduces the backstory of new heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a key member of the Rebel Alliance group tasked to steal the plans for the Empire’s Death Star (famously blown up in 1977’s Star Wars). From the looks of things, the new film is taking audiences to new worlds, putting them in the trenches of war with the good guys and adding some spy-game spin rather than sticking to George Lucas’ old formula.
Here’s what we know after getting a look at a few scenes and a sizzle reel:
Drama’s going down in the galaxy. In director Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One — set just before the original movie — the audience meets Jyn as a young child when she’s given a necklace with a Kyber crystal (the Force-attuned material used to power a lightsaber) by her mother Lyra (Valene Kane). At the same time, a shuttle carrying Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and his Imperial Death Trooper squad arrives at the Erso homestead to find Jyn’s dad, scientist-turned-farmer Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen)….
SEE IT: New ‘Rogue One’ trailer introduces Death Star, K-S20 droid
In a galaxy far, far away, the Death Star is just being introduced.
The new trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” released by Disney and Lucasfilm on Friday, shows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) trying to figure out how to destroy the Empire’s new weapon.
‘Rogue One’ Debuts New Trailer: “Trust the Force”
Lucasfilm got into the holiday spirit the day after Thanksgiving with a new trailer for its standalone film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The new trailer shows off more of the charm of the droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), who begrudgingly helps Jyn (Felicity Jones) only because his captain ordered him to. And there’s even more of the Rogue One crew’s battle with the AT-ACT Walker, which doesn’t go…