download the new for ios Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Is Darth Vader’s role more than just a glorified cameo? There are promising hints that the peerless Alan Tudyk was given permission to ad-lib furiously throughout the Rogue One shoot as moody new droid K-2SO, which should help lighten the mood. Without the Kurosawan comic relief of R2-D2 and C-3PO, the original trilogy would have felt very different – though the trick did not work quite so well when George Lucas introduced bumbling Gungan clown Jar Jar Binks for the prequels.

Star Wars movies will always be judged on their ability to intelligently balance dark and light motifs, as the saga works best as pulpy, knockabout space adventure rather than brooding sci-fi. And given Disney has spent so much time and energy retooling the film, it would be a shock if the studio had not lightened the tone of the “dark war movie” still being pitched by Edwards. This makes perfect sense, as – hokey religions and ancient weapons aside – these elements are precisely what helped the original 1977 Star Wars movie find so much success.

Download the new for ios Rogue One: A Star Wars Story