So the scuttlebutt is official: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first spin-off Star Wars film from the regular trilogies is gearing up for a month of re-shoots. Why? Because apparently Disney execs didn’t like the first cut of director Gareth Edward’s ‘darker’ Star Wars film.
Why this is ridiculous? Disney knew full well that Edwards wanted to make a Star Wars film that was not only a darker feel, but had the theme of war front and center. Sorry Disney, but that doesn’t make a good match for your formulaic, happy go lucky vibe that ends up in the bulk of the Marvel films that you also happen to own the rights to. At this rate, why not send in Robert Downey Jr. so he can make a cameo appearance, and let loose a few tongue and cheeky one liners to counter the mood of the original intent this film had in pre-production. Maybe he can even wear his Iron Man suit? Good grief.
To add some context to this, and why I’m dismayed Disney execs came away disappointed with the first cut of the film, I offer into the record, the well received and recent trailer for ‘Rogue One’:
Let’s get real here. Number one, did Disney execs bother to read the shooting script for this prior to production? Number two, and correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t this period in Star Wars history being depicted in Rogue One absolutely have a very edgy, and darker aura? For crying out loud, it’s showing how close the Empire was to ensuring their Death Star was to becoming impenetrable, along with the sacrifices this rag tag group of Rebels had to make to secure the original Death Star plans to avoid mass genocide. And for that reason alone, the darker tone of this film should remain in intact. This recent argument that since it leads right up to the events in Episode IV, A New Hope, that it needs to be more lighthearted is comical at best. If that was the same logic used for the making of The Empire Strikes back, meaning since it’s predecessor had a more “lighthearted” feel, then audiences never would have gotten to enjoy the obvious crowd pleasing darker vibe of TESB.
Another important thing to note with these re-shoots is the inclusion of Han Solo. That’s right, Disney is so hellbent on featuring the newly casted, and younger version of the iconic character, that at least one scene in Rogue One will feature Alden Ehrenreich taking over for Harrison Ford. Dear lord, for starters, the jury is still out on whether it’s a good idea to re-cast such a role. But given the time-frame of this film, what kind of contribution will Solo’s character have in moving this story forward? Am I to believe that the Rebels will come across him drinking at Mos Eisley Cantina? Maybe macking it with some alien babes? What is the point?
Mind you, this will be prior to him meeting Ben Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker, so aside from potentially seeing him broker a deal for his smuggling business, the continuity of the series would be best just to leave him out of the mix for now. In no way, shape, or form was Han working directly with the Rebels to stop the Empire’s Death Star plans a reality until the events depicted in Episode IV. So again I say, why does he need to be in Rogue One? Well, I’ll tell ya why: Greed. Not Greedo (no pun intended), but Disney is so obsessed with mining the Star Wars property for any future earnings, they clearly won’t hesitate to shoehorn in major characters into a story they have no business being in, even if it feels as forced as a night of Preparation H usage!
Overall, I think this is a prime example of when the classic “suits” at a major studio do too much meddling for their own good. Let the filmmakers do their jobs, and more importantly; try not to scare away uniquely talented directors– Something that Disney/Marvel’s films have managed to do the past few years.
In retrospect, the real draw of Rogue One, as compared to ‘The Force Awakens’, was that it WAS indeed going to feel incredibly different in tone to one of the primary trilogy films. What’s the point in doing spin-offs if you’re going to make them with a cookie cutter approach? Exactly, there’s no point. Nonetheless, here’s hoping that Disney doesn’t make too many wholesale, drastic changes considering the first trailer for this movie was more than well received by the general public, and certainly more than enough for Disney to not need to hit the panic button so late in the game for its December 16th release date this year. Nuff said.
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