By now, you've probably studied the just-released trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story so many times, you're almost qualified to pilot your very own U-Wing. But before we Hyperdrive into the weekend, let's take one last look at what made this latest peek into the *Star Wars *galaxy so Forcefully fortifying:
We don't know much about Luna's character, except that he's an accomplished Rebel officer named Cassian Ando, and that he and Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) have been teamed together to steal plans for the original Death Star. But we're pretty sure Ando also has a line of credit at Ord MANtell, the finest men's casual-wear store in the galaxy, because his work-duds make for some excellent additions to the already amazing *Star Wars *jacket-canon. Can someone steal us the plans for that fall-winter number that's pictured here, at the top? So lightweight-looking! So resplendently blue-hued! It's perfect for a chilly weekend-getaway to the Hoth system, or for a balmy awards ceremony on Yavin.
Not to H8 on BB-8, but some of the coolest droids in the *Star Wars *universe are the awkward, slightly stilted ones---not just C-3PO, but also the medical droid 2-1B, and even that asshole EV-9D9. These are the droids that get stuff done, and their clipped voices and snooty tones lend them an irritability that makes them all the more human-like. From the looks (and sounds) of the new *Rogue One *trailer, Alan Tudyk's K-2SO---a bad robot who's been programmed to help the Rebellion---falls into the delightful tradition of kinda-uppity, logic-bound, distinctly English-sounding *Star Wars '*bots. "The captain says you are a friend," K-2SO tells Jyn Ero. "I will not kill you." This is *exactly *the sort of droid we're looking for.
Ben Mendelsohn. We don't need to say anything more, except: Ben Mendelsohn.
For much of the *Star Wars *saga, the Empire's fleet of vehicles were relegated to the deep reaches of space---an ominous setting, of course, but one that made it hard to fully take in all of the ships' intricate detailing and sleek menace. Last year's *The Force Awakens *gave us some daylight dog-fighting between a bunch of TIE Fighters and the Millennium Falcon, yet it moved so quickly, you could barely take it all in. The *Rogue One *trailer allows for some splendid shots of a TIE and a Star Destroyer hovering in low-atmosphere, high-visibility sunlight, making those ships seem both of-our-world and out-of-this-world at the same time.
We already knew *Rogue One *would go heavy on combat, but the new trailer's fighting scenes take it to new extremes---including a shot where killer-for-hire Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) attempts to take out an All Terrain Armored Transport with a massive cannon. Let's just hope Baze goes easy with all that stress-inducing fighting; as the old song goes, working too hard can give you a heart-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT.*
We've all been in a situation like this, right?
"I fear nothing," declares the blind warrior, played by Donnie Yen. "All is as the Force wills it." With that, he smacks down a squad of Stormtroopers, ostensibly while listening to "Cakes" on a loop.
The biggest challenge for the *Rogue One *filmmakers will be ensuring a satisfying return of one of the best-known, most widely feared villains in modern pop-culture history---a guy whose life story we've already seen spread across a half-dozen films. Will we get a better sense of Darth Vader's tense relationship with the Imperial brass? Will we watch him practicing some never-seen Force powers? Will he continue his War on Sand? We'll nooooooooooooooo more when *Rogue One *opens December 16.
*And yes, we pronounce "AT-AT" like "@ @," as the Sith Lord intended. You oughtta know by now.
