ROGUE ONE : A STAR WARS STORY ???

People who know me personally know that I have all of the George Lucas Star Wars films at home but that I am not a fan of J.J. Abrams' The Force Awakens. So when I had the chance to go see ROGUE ONE, the new Star Wars film that does not continue the Force Awakens story-line, I figured I had better be super-critical again and see if the stuff improves. I will try not to spoil it for those who have not seen it yet but in the end, if you know all the other films, you already know what happens in this one, without even having seen it. So forget about that no spoiler promise.

Let me first say that I do not want to rehash the story of the film itself here or how it came to be. I want to be blunt here in presenting my opinion. I appreciate what they did here to try and fit it into place so that EPISODE IV can follow immediately and that it adds to the earlier films. It builds on the already existing world that was created by George Lucas in the original trilogy. What is a shame however, is that a number of characters are created here for the sole purpose of being led to their deaths – this so-called great sacrifice that was made to get the Death Star plans to the people who could then proceed to blow it up in Episode IV. Unfortunately this does not allow for a well-rounded approach with the characters in this film. (Did Jyn Erso even have a love in her life, other than her parents which she lost during this film? She comes across as a very monotonous character, but I suppose it would have taken a new trilogy to have smoothed out these kind of wrinkles and make it more believable.)

Jyn: "This guy here? Don't make me laugh, please !"

The overall tone of the film is not like a Star Wars film as the violence is much harsher and more realistic, not so glossed over as in the other films. It treats the film as a general war movie, which is also why this film is a good deal darker than what we are used to from a Star Wars film.

It was however very good fun to see the familiar faces, even if very briefly, C3PO and R2D2 for a cameo appearance, the adopted father of Leia played by Jimmy Smits in the second Lucas-directed trilogy, Leia at the very end of the film and for more than expected, PETER CUSHING (digitally resurrected) as Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader (voiced again by James Earl Jones).  The digitally resurrected PETER CUSHING looked interesting but I had the idea I was looking at a computer game character and not a photo-realistic character. But it looked so compelling that it did NOT get you out of the story which is quite a feat. 

The acting is okay in this film, everybody takes this stuff very seriously. However, as said before, knowing that everyone in this group of characters dies ( the so-called big sacrifice of the Rebellion mentioned in Episode IV) makes this a very one-sided film and not one I aim to go see again with my grandchildren.ROGUE ONE treats the conflict as a realistic war picture and that makes it way too realistic for children below 12 to watch this. I do not rate this a great film and Michael Giacchino’s hackwork of copying the original masterpieces of John Williams does not help (me) much either. But maybe, watching it again later will mellow my mood a little over it. For now, however, I am disappointed. First we had The Force Awakens which was not up to par, now this one. I am beginning to think George Lucas should never have sold off his Star Wars franchise! Here's hoping that next year's installment will be a better one.

Last Note: I have just read that George Lucas has said he liked this film.  I may have to give this one another shot within a couple of months, when I may be in a more forgiving mood. If that happens to be the case and I can give this film more appreciation than I could now, I will promise herewith that I will amend this article. Hey, it's only my opinion.

May the Force Be With You !!!

WESTWORLD : A World of the Future???

In 1973 Michael Crichton wrote and directed a neat little science fiction thriller about mankind going on a holiday in a robot park. The film, WESTWORLD, presented the main characters (James Brolin and Richard Benjamin) with a futuristic holiday park in which they could do anything they wanted.

James Brolin and Richard Benjamin

The holiday park had a Western World, a Roman World and a Medieval World. While our main characters stayed only in the Western World, trouble with the robots arose all over all of the parks and the robots ran amok and killed the guests. Richard Benjamin was the only human to be able to be both lucky and smart enough to outsmart his opponent, the Gunslinger (played by Yul Brynner).

Yul Brynner as the Gunslinger

The film was fairly successful ( mind you, in the 1970s, films weren't as expensive as they are now, nor were there so many computer-generated special effects (as a matter of fact, the first film to make use of computer generated special effects was THE ABYSS from 1989) but box office success was also not measured in the billions ) and spawned a sequel called FUTUREWORLD but this film was not a hit.
In the 1990s, writer-director Michael Crichton used the futuristic park going theme again in a novel that would make him a worldwide celebrity and an instant millionaire, when he wrote JURASSIC PARK, which was promptly made by Steven Spielberg. The similarity to the earlier film WESTWORLD ends there.

Time passes and in 2015 plans arise for a television series based on the film WESTWORLD. Michael Crichton has passed away in the meantime and is not personally involved but Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy set up an ambitious storyline for a new, modern take on the concept, aimed for the HBO Market. HBO, by this time a hugely successful network (thanks largely to the incredible success of GAME OF THRONES) takes on the project and funds this undertaking, which is to have a large cast of fairly well known actors, as well as superstar Anthony Hopkins.

Anthony Hopkins as Robert Ford, founder and creator of Westworld

The idea in this show is to present a holiday resort only based in a western setting ( no mention so far has been made for a Roman or Medieval setting but it is speculated so far that these might be shown in future seasons ) where humans may enjoy a totally realistic experience as life had been in the old west. Nothing can happen to the humans but the humans can do an awful lot to the robots. The interesting question is here who are the humans and who are the robots. You may think this should be obvious but in this aspect the show may surprise in many different ways.

Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores

In the first season of 10 episodes we follow a number of visitors in the world created by Robert Ford and his associates. Ford is a mysterious character, played by Anthony Hopkins with great sense of drama. Ford had an associate, Arnold Weber, who cooperated with him on the creation of the park many, many years ago. But details are scarce and only come forward with great difficulty.

Ed Harris as the Man in Black

Mr. Ford is also the creator of the story lines that are playing out in the field when the human visitors come into the scene. But slowly and gradually, it becomes clear that strange things are happening in these story lines. Or are there?

Shannon Woodward as Elsie Hughes and Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe,  programmers in  Westworld who are discussing strange things happening.

In the meantime it seems that story lines also become convoluted by strange mnemonic recurrences in the digital memories of the robots. And so, the robots need maintenance by the specialists who make sure that the robots remain in their roles and do not deviate from their original templates.

Luke Hemsworth and Evan Rachel Wood,

the head of security interrogating Dolores

Westworld is a modern television series and it presents modern, mature themes, just as GAME OF THRONES does. And the robots also surprise the guests with these very mature and modern sensibilities.

Thandie Newton as Maeve: "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

The story line that makes Westworld so interesting is not just that the robots can go amok, but more than that, sometimes they start learning and find out exactly what they are. Maeve, who is a prostitute in the bar, is one of these and finds she wants more than just the normal role playing she does in the bar. Her plans reach out very far, indeed.

Maeve convincing a programmer to let her learn more and more

The upcoming finale to the first season will be no doubt mindboggling in terms of what we will get in development for the characters we have seen so far. My expectation is that we will see things go very, very wrong but we will probably also open many more doors, perhaps to parks in other themes like Roman World, Medieval World or which ever other world one would like to imagine.

Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe

In ratings, the series so far has even surpassed GAME OF THRONES. And because we have still as many unanswered questions, just as answered questions,  I gather we will be privy to a myriad of other possibilities, if the series will be given a green light for next seasons. The likelihood for this is quite high, as we speak.

Dolores: "So, what do you think? Will we be back next season?"

Considering the complex and ambitious nature of the show, this first season of WESTWORLD had a budget of a good 100 million dollars but it shows and once you get into the show, you only want to see more. And just as with GAME OF THRONES, the series is supported by an appropriate musical score of the well-known television composer Ramin Djawadi.

Man in Black: "What do you prefer? Me killing you now or next year?"

With a little luck, WESTWORLD will be here to stay some time yet. At the moment of this writing, I have a feeling it might do well, but in this world, you can never really know for sure. I look forward to more, but even if this was the one and only season of WESTWORLD, I sure enjoyed it.

Why don't you try it. You may like it.