Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

I tried to stay away from reviews and spoilers and for the most part I was successful. I knew the gist of the story but I really didn't know any details or even the names of any of the new characters other than the main character, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones).

The story is told in five parts. The first part which introduces Jyn when she is just a child and sees her separated from her parents. The second part is where the gang or band of rebels and rogues that accompany Jyn are brought together by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy. Most of the second part takes place on the planet Jedha. The third part focuses on an attempt by Jyn to reunite and rescue her father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), a scientist who reluctantly works for the Empire on the design of the Death Star. Most of part three is takes place on the planet Eadu. The fourth part, the climax of the movie, is all about the suicide mission Jyn, Cassian, and a gang of rebel spied undertake to infiltrate the Imperial stronghold on Scarif to steal the plans to the Death Star. The final part is an epilogue which serves to bridge the gap between the end of the fourth act and Start Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

This is a very different movie from the other seven. In many ways it is a war movie. In another way it is about a voyage of discovery for Jyn. Most of the other characters weren't as memorable. They had their moments but they didn't get fleshed out in the way she did.

I liked this movie a lot. I've always had a soft spot in heart for war films like this one. It bears some resemblance or has something in common with movies like the Seven Samurai, Sahara, Bridge on the River Kwai to name a few of my favorites.

What a ride. They crammed a lot into this movie. There are a lot of subtle callbacks to earlier Star Wars movies. There were a number of moving, emotional moments and which got me teared up. I want to see it again but I'm not sure if I will see if in the theater again or not any time soon. I almost certainly will buy it so that I can stream it at home.

---

I started by writing a much longer more in depth summary of the movie. I hate to just delete my work so here's what remains of my first draft:

The story is about Jyn and it isn't. She is the main character but ultimately the movie is also about how the rebels got the plans to the Death Star. She is key to both story lines because Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the scientist who built a defect into the Death Star, is her father. He originally worked for what became the Empire. He abandoned that life and took his wife and child and hid as a farmer. The movie opens with him being recaptured by the Empire. His wife is killed. Jyn, who can't be more than 5 or 6 years old, hides until Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), a friend of the family, comes for her.

The story then flashes forward 10-15 years. Jyn is a prisoner. She is rescued Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a rebellion spy, who believes she is the key to making contact with Gerrera. She goes along with Cassian despite not trusting him. They (Jyn and Cassian) travel with K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a droid, to Jedha in search of a Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), a missing Imperial pilot, who it turns out was sent by Galen looking for Saw Gerrera.

Before they find Bodhi they get mixed up in a fight between stormtroopers and other Rebel forces. It is there that they meet sightless Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) just before they are taken prisoner by Gerrera's troops. Despite Jyn's past with Gerrera it didn't end well as he abandoned her when she was 16. It is while they are briefly captives of Gerrera that they meet Bodhi and he joins their gang.

The Death Star is recently completed. Governor Tarkin (Guy Henry) orders Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) to test the Death Star's planet destroying capabilities on a small scale by destroying Jedha City. Gerrera's hideout is outside the city but shock waves destroy it just as Jyn, Cassian, Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and K-2SO escape. Gerrera stays behind and is presumably killed as his mountain hideout collapses.

The next part of the story involves the gang traveling to Eadu, where Galen works. They arrive just before Krennic, who is there to find the traitor who send Bodhi to the rebels. They try to rescue Galen, although it seems that Cassian had orders to kill him which he ultimately does not carry out. There is a fight. Krennic escapes. Jyn gets just enough time for a tearful farewell with her father before of he dies of his wounds.

After a brief meeting back at Rebel HQ Jyn, Cassian, the rest of the gang and a number of volunteers head to Scarif to retrieve the plans to the Death Star. They sneak in using a stolen Empire cargo ship which they acquired when they were on Eadu. Things quickly go wrong, an all out battle ensues. They get the plans but the Death Star shows up and destroys the planet before the surviving members of the strike force can escape.

I began this write up with all kinds of detail. Maybe I should trim that down, maybe I will in the future.

Luke Cage 1.13

You Know My Steez

Luke finally has it out with Diamondback. The two fight in Pops Barber Shop and then the fight continues out into the street. A crowd gathers. The fight is broadcast live on TV. Candace and Claire see it. Claire tells Candace to stay with her mother while she goes to Pops to be there for Luke.

The two half-brothers fight to a standstill until Luke is able to figure out that much of Styker's strength is coming from him. The harder Luke hits him the stronger Stryker gets. Luke goes limp and lets Stryker use up all that energy he has amassed and then he knocks him out. The cops have arrived, by that point and are ready to open fire with Judas rounds but Misty steps into prevent them from doing so. Stryker is arrested and carted away. Everything that follows the end of the fight is epilogue and laying the groundwork for next season and possibly in part for part of season 1 of Iron Fist.

Misty arrests Mariah, who stuck around on purpose, after the fight is over. She reveals Luke's original name, Carl Lucas, to a reporter as she is interviewed on live television. Luke is not arrested but is brought in for questioning. Misty and Inspector Ridley do their best to sweat a confession out of Mariah.

Shades works behind the scenes while Mariah is in custody. In the confusion at the end of the previous episode Misty dropped her phone. Shades picked it up. It wasn't clear then whose phone it was. Shades uses the phone to text Candace, pretending to be Misty. Candace goes to meet Misty and is shot and killed by Shades. Her body is found. Her confession on tape drops in value immediately. Inspector Ridley drops all charges against Mariah. Misty in incensed but can't do anything to stop Mariah from walking free.

Two US Marshals show up for Luke. Based on Mariah's reveal of Luke's former identity he is arrested for breaking out of prison and not serving his full sentence. He goes with them peacefully. Claire promises to call her lawyer friend, a clear reference to Matt Murdock although she doesn't actually name him. The episode ends with a montage of scenes of the various players in the story as (the recently deceased) Sharon Jones performs 100 Days, 100 Nights at Harlem's Paradise.

I was ready for this. I was ready for this not to be fully resolved. I appreciate the fact that they didn't wait until the last 5-10 minutes but rather used more than half of this episode, as I mentioned above, to slowly reset the board for the next season. This season should probably be viewed not as a complete story, but as act 1 of a larger story.

I didn't binge watch this season. I don't like binge watching. I especially don't think it makes sense to binge watch a season like this. It should be savored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are going to be slow moments in a 13 episode season like this. I'm amused by people who binge watch and also comment on how the show dragged in places. It didn't drag, it slowed down, which is natural. What isn't natural is binge watching.

On the whole I was very impressed with this season of Luke Cage. There were some episodes I liked more than others but I now feel confident saying that I don't think there were any major misteps in this season. Some things were handled or presented a little too directly, without enough nuance for my tastes, but overall I think the producers and directors did a marvelous job with the whole show in a way that was not done with any of the previous Marvel Netflix seasons. Whether this is what Harlem is really like or not they gave it, the neighborhood in which the story took place (for the most part) a personality which is something that I didn't get from either Daredevil or Jessica Jones.

It can be argued that both seasons of Daredevil are also about Foggy and Karen. Season 1 of Daredevil is also about Kingpin, Season 2 is also about Punisher and to a lesser degree, Elektra. Season 1 of Jessica Jones is mostly about Jessica and Killraven. None of those seasons embraced an environment in which they were set in quite the way Luke Cage did. Finally this season of Luke Cage was as much about Misty Knight (and occasionally Claire Temple) as it was about Luke.

This is by far my favorite season of Marvel Netflix series to date. There's a bit or irony in that appraisal considering that I wasn't very enthusiastic for the series until just before it was released*. My lack of enthusiasm was due to my lackluster response to Luke Cage in season 1 of Jessica Jones. He didn't intrigue me on that show. I didn't feel the need to learn more about him. I didn't realize then the extent to which the producers of Luke Cage were going to make the story about much more than just the main character.

I am eagerly looking forward to Season 2 of Luke Cage and am interested to see if and how elements from this season are carried forward into Iron Fist and the the other Marvel Netflix shows.

---

* Some credit for getting me excited about this show is due to the conversation Cheo Hodari Coker, the show runner, had with Combat Jack on the Sep 27, 2016 episode of the Combat Jack Show.
https://soundcloud.com/thecombatjackshow/the-cheo-hodari-coker-episode

Justice League Unlimited 3.05

Flash and Substance

Central City honors Flash with a museum. Some villains (Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Trickster, Captain Boomerang) decide to rain on Flash's parade. Batman and Orion show up for the celebration but end having to help Flash fight the bad guys.

On the plus side there were lots of cameo appearances by various supervillains.

Wally's nameless boss looked a lot like Barry Allen from the comic books.

The mirror dimension was probably the coolest part of the episode.

Not my favorite episode. Not much in the way of good character moments and the plot didn't amount to much.

Flash 1.08

Flash vs. Arrow

Oliver, Felicity, and Diggle come to town. They are looking for a villain who uses boomerangs. Barry suggests that he and Oliver team up. Barry's villain of this week is a metahuman whose power is glowing eyes that cause people to become homicidal. Early in the episode he uses it to help cause a distraction while he robs a bank. Ollie isn't interested in teaming up, at first.

Eventually they do team up but then Dr. Wells and Detective West try to talk Barry out of hanging with the vigilante of Starling City. Ollie tries to train Barry, who doesn't take kindly to Oliver's training methods, which include shooting him in the back with arrows. Barry decides to go it alone when he gets a tip on the location of the metahuman. He gets zapped by the glowing eyes but it doesn't seem to affect him until later when he goes from disgruntled to homicidal.

Eddie has now accepted the existence of the Flash and decided that the Flash is a menace. This happens before the Flash becomes homicidal. Eddie tries to convince Captain Singh of the need to create a task force to stop the Flash. At first that idea goes nowhere but after the Flash beats up Eddie and Arrow is spotted around town, Captain Singh decides to go ahead with Eddie's idea.

The end of this episode was disappointing to say the least. Out of nowhere Dr. Wells figures out that what they need are flashing colored lights to cure the Flash of his homicidal rage. That was kind of silly. The other disappointing aspect to the end was how they jumped from Barry and Ollie chatting about catching the metahuman to them locking him up with nothing in between. No fight, no nothing. One minute they are talking about finding this guy and the next minute they are locking him up. Very disappointing.

Felicity had things to do, like bond with Caitlin and advise Oliver that he was acting stupid. Diggle did not really, he just stood around and made inconsequential comments every now and then. Diggle is a man of action. I don't mind the quippy dialogue but if they are going to include him in the episode they should have him doing more than they did here.

On the whole not a great episode. Much of the drama seemed staged. The best part of the episode was the continuing evolution of Eddie. It was also interesting to see Iris turn on the Flash after he beat up Eddie. She was there when it happened and she tried to talk him down but he wouldn't listen and then the Arrow showed up. So Iris seems to have lost fascination with the Flash. My guess is that before it comes back Eddie will become the Reverse Flash and she will discover that Barry is actually the Flash.

The final scene of the episode reveals that Ronnie Raymond is still alive. I'm eager to see where that goes.

Rick and Morty 2.08

Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate

Jerry is taken to an alien hospital for emergency surgery after he accidentally ate one of Rick's science experiments. While in the hospital he is asked to donate his penis in order to save the life of Shrimpy Pibbles, a great alien leader who sounds just like Werner Herzog. According to the doctors his penis will be molded into a new heart for Shrimpy.

Jerry goes back and forth: at first he's okay with it, then he isn't, then asks Beth what she thinks. She is against the idea until she sees some of the prosthetic devices that they are offering to replace his penis and then she's all for it. Jerry waffles some more as to whether to donate his penis or not and then gets outraged when they decide not to take his penis and instead give Shrimpy an artificial heart.

Rick, Morty, and Summer spend most of the episode watching all sorts of weird tv shows. Some of them were funny but lots of them left me scratching my head.

Overall a very funny episode but almost entirely for Jerry's story and not for the titular interdimensional cable tv.

Halt and Catch Fire 2.09

Kali

Donna and Cameron try to pick up the pieces after West Group stole their idea. Donna tries playing hardball with Jessie, Joe's replacement at West Group, but doesn't get very far with that tactic. About the only thing she walks away with is the notion that maybe Joe didn't have anything to do with the theft.

Gordon spends most of the episode, after getting out of jail, looking for his car in a parking garage. He wanders the floors several times without any success. Things turn from bad to worse when he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot. He yells for help but no one is around. Eventually he finds someone and is taken to the hospital. As he is being driven out of the garage he spots his vehicle.

Joe is pissed at Jacob, his father-in-law and the owner of West Group, for stealing Mutiny's idea and messaging platform. He lets Jacob know how he feels, but Jacob doesn't seem to care. He even encourages Joe to come to the upcoming shareholders meeting where they will be demonstrating the new software.

Cameron, Donna, and Boz do what they can to try and sell their only real asset, Extract and Defend, Mutiny's latest game. Things aren't going well until Boz picks up on something and manages to work some magic. He a company, which might be a subsidiary of Nintendo, into buying their game for $50,000. The sale gives Mutiny some breathing room and new hope.

The whole process, not just the sale but also the experience with West Group, has a real impact on Cameron. She really seems to have changed. She isn't just happy to program. She also seems to be looking at things from the mind of a business person. Things are start to deteriorate between Cameron and Tom. It turns out he was the one that convinced the Nintendo subsidiary to meet with them but he can't deal with the changes in Cameron. He loved who she was but not who she is becoming.

Joe decides to go to the shareholders meeting. Before the meeting he gets a visit from Cameron. She is there for something but what she says she is there for and what she is actually there for are not one and the same. She distracts Joe enough by bringing up their past that he doesn't catch on to what she is really up to until it is too late. Joe does his presentation for the shareholders and press but something snaps within him and goes off script and credits Cameron for West Group's new platform before walking off stage. Minutes later, the computer demonstration crashes, apparently due Cameron's action when she saw Joe before the big meeting.

Joe's marriage falls apart, or at least looks like it does. Sarah is convinced that Joe still loves Cameron more than he loves her and storms out.

It is a bit ironic that Joe credits Cameron and she alone for West Group's new platform considering that Donna is the one who developed and championed the message board long before Cameron saw any utility in it.

The parallel of Cameron losing Tom at the same time that Joe was losing Sarah was interesting. Joe and Sarah's breakup was much more fiery and spontaneous than Cameron's and Tom's was. Similar to Sarah, Tom questions whether Cameron is truly over Joe.

Overall a great episode. Lots going on. Fascinating to watch all the interactions. It wasn't hard to foresee how somethings would wind up but the exact path to those points wasn't always apparent.

Star Trek: The Next Generation 5.26

Time's Arrow

The Enterprise is recalled to Earth. Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data are shown some artifacts that date back to the 19th century and were found beneath San Francisco including Data's severed head. Everyone except Data seems very disturbed by the discovery. He is at peace with it and explains why on more than one occasion.

After analyzing the artifacts they find traces of a micro-organism which is traced to the planet Devidia II. After arriving at the planet an away team is sent down. Picard doesn't let Data go with the team initially. Counselor Troi detects sentient life forms on the planet but they can't find them or contact them despite the fact that Troi asserts that she senses them nearby. Picard reluctantly allows Data to join the team on the planet to assist them in contacting the inhabitants of the planet.

Data attempts something that causes him to disappear from Devidia II and reappear in 19th century earth. He sets himself up as an inventor after winning some money at cards. He meets Guinan five centuries years before she joined the Enterprise. Even in this era she is nonplussed by the notion of space travel.

In the 24th century Guinan counsels Captain Picard that he needs to join the away team. She says something cryptic about their first meeting, implying that if he doesn't join the away team on the planet they may never meet.

This episode has gone to some interesting places but it is only half the story. It doesn't work well as a season ending cliffhanger in my opinion. I'm interested to see what happens next. I wasn't on the edge of my seat when the episode ended but maybe that's just me.