Star Wars fans were giddy with enthusiasm when Disney announced that a spin-off movie set in the Star Wars universe titled Rogue One: A Star Wars Story back in summer 2015. But perhaps some (me included) were not that thrilled when the first theatrical trailer for the movie was released in April, showing female lead Felicity Jones, iconic Star Wars characters like Mon Mothma, Star Destroyers, the Death Star, rebel bases and everything else fans expect from a Star Wars movie.
Something was slightly off about this first trailer for director Gareth Edwards’ movie though, and this was the lack of humour, as this film appeared to have an overly serious tone judging by the trailer. Although it can be argued that Gareth Edwards was just being true to his style, and his earlier movies like Godzilla were also a bit poo-faced, taking itself rather seriously throughout…
Not so serious… The final cut of Rogue One will be a more cheerful movie it seems.
It seems though, that Disney executives were not that fond of the movie’s serious tone according to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that the film’s first cut looked more like a “war movie” than a Star Wars film. Because it must be taken into account that Rogue One is set just before the events of 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope movie, which had its share of humour and lively moments between the film’s heroes Luke, Han and Leia. This served as a counterpoint to the Empire and Darth Vader’s evil presence, helping make A New Hope the classic it is.
And now it appears that certain scenes in the upcoming Rogue One film will be reshot this summer, with the movie’s producers hoping that a new cut better matches the original Star Wars movie in tone. But will it now be too late for Gareth Edwards and his crew to shift gears and offer a movie as lively and cool as last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Will it be too late to give Rogue One the charm it needs to turn the movie into a mega-blockbuster this fall?
It is unlikely that Gareth Edwards will be able to change his approach dramatically though, and it is clear that when it comes to directing sci-fi space movies, he’s no J.J. Abrams. Also, it is likely that nobody at Disney is expecting Rogue One to top The Force Awakens’ box office success… But still, here’s hoping that this is still a good Star Wars movie that will keep fans happy for another year until director Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII hits the screens in late 2017.