There is no question that LucasFilm’s first twoStar Warsmovies under the Disney regime, 2015’sStar Wars: The Force Awakensand last year’sRogue One: A Star Wars Storywere massive hits, with both movies taking in just over $3 billion worldwide combined. This means that Disney has already earned back three-fourths of the $4 billion it spent to acquire LucasFilm back in 2012, and while both movies are certainly critically-acclaimed, there are still many fans who feel both films are just re-hashes of the originalStar Warstrilogy. It seems that the Honest Trailers team feels this way, and with the release of theRogue One Blu-ray and DVDlast week, they decided to tear thisStar Warsspin-off a new one.
Screen Junkiesdebuted this new Honest Trailer today, which does contain plenty of SPOILERS if you still haven’t seenRogue Onequite yet. This new six-minute video kicks off by referencing this past season of Comedy Central’sSouth Parkand the “Memba Berries” that played a big part in the storyline. Throughout the season, the argument was made thatThe Force Awakenswasn’t actually a great movie, but it merely serviced fan nostalgia in such a way that made people believe it was great. NarratorJon Baileymentions right off the bat that this new slate ofStar Wars moviesseems intent on re-hashing the original trilogy, an argument which has plenty of evidence to support it in this video.
This video also points out that this is the firstStar Wars anthologymovie, with LucasFilm making it clear that they want to avoid any connection to the prequel trilogy that was much maligned by fans and critics alike, while joking that the $200 million budget is the most money ever spent to fill a plot hole. The story takes place beforeA New Hope, revealing how the Rebel spies stole the Death Star plans, which were placed inside the beloved droid R2-D2. But, as this video points out, the process of getting those plans inside R2-D2 was quite convoluted, involving a number of different data transfers and file formats. This video even jokes about Jyn Erso’s (Felicity Jones) not-so-rebellious nature, while teasing that the droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) has more personality than any of the human characters, poking fun at the rest of this Rebel team.
The Galactic Empire is not spared from this takedown, with the narrator pointing out that “various old dudes,” such as Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) all squabble for bragging rights over who created the Death Star. The narrator also comments on how two new flavors of Stormtroopers are put on display, although their change in attire does not correct their usual ineptitude, while joking that this movie sets up the Stormtroopers' “weakness to sticks”, later exploited by the Ewoks inReturn of the Jedi. While the narrator does admit thatRogue Oneis “one of the most beautifulStar Warsfilms to date,” he adds that it feels like the world’s biggest budget fan film, while pointing out a number of Easter Eggs such as the Guardians of the Whills, blue milk and the return of two guys from the Mos Eisley Cantina scene inA New Hope.
The video comes to a close with an examination of the iconicDarth Vaderscene, as the narrator points out thatJames Earl Jonessounds much older, although that epic lightsaber hallway scene is, “the most badassStar Warsmoment put to film.” Still, while that lightsaber battle was quite impressive, it doesn’t make sense from a continuity standpoint, since his next lightsaber battle in the timeline would be withAlec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi inA New Hope, a scene where Vader seemingly doesn’t have the same amount of impressive skills he did in the hallway scene. The video also points out the numerous bits of footage that were shown throughout the film’s marketing campaign, but weren’t shown in the actual movie, which some fans didn’t exactly approve of. Take a look at the Honest Trailer forRogue One: A Star Wars Storybelow.
