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Rogue One: Star Wars Strikes Back

Last week the first trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” dropped. Riding the excitement from “Force Awakens,” Disney is going strong as it introduces the fresh faces of the new, expanded universe. But does it hold a candle to the main films?

Staged between Episodes III and IV, our new protagonist Jin, a ruffian with quite the long rap sheet, is enlisted by the Rebellion to steal the plans to the Death Star. She’s the second female lead since “Force Awakens,” and honestly I’m more interested in her than I was in Rey.

Though she comes off as an edgier version of Rey, the trailer even mentions she’s been on her own since 15, much like the previous protagonist. However, she’s taken the bad girl route. Fighting storm troopers in the streets tends to get that response.

In the final shot of the trailer, Jin is in imperial regalia framed by the lines, “What will you become?” and that absolutely sold me on her story. I highly doubt she’ll sell out the Rebellion, but the chance of it happening has me interested.

This trailer is clearly all about introducing Jin, seeing as not much detail is given about the rest of the cast. We see Mon Mothma, one of the Rebellion leaders from previous films, as well as Forest Whitaker and Donnie Yen in other unnamed roles.

From this first trailer, “Rogue One” might be a more personal tale of Jin and her involvement with the Rebellions as opposed to a grand, sweeping epic like the Episodes.

Something I find admirable is when Disney hears the negative talk about Rey as a female protagonist, it doesn’t back down, but it hands us another female character. I applaud this. Star Wars doesn’t have to be a boy’s club; girls are allowed.

I’ve got nothing but faith in this film and eagerly anticipate this new chapter of the Star Wars saga, which is expected to be released December 2016.

One Comment

  1. Steve C. Steve C. April 15, 2016

    Like the Zachary said, I’m very much looking forward to R1. When the prequels I II & III were first announced, I assumed it would end at the beginning of ANH but it didn’t. I was disappointed to say the least. My hope is that R1 will fill the gap that I wanted to see most of all from the beginning. The trailer gives me Hope.

    On a side note, while Rey is an amazing character and I’m sure Jen will be also, Leia was a lot stronger than some give credit. She stands up to Vader in the opening scene of ANH. In no scene is she ever a damsel in distress. She kicked quite a bit of butt in Jedi. She may have been outnumbered buy males in the originals but she wasn’t outmatched.

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