78 Days: Rogue One Is Going To Rock

A new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story premiered during the Olympics last night. I missed it, but just watched it on YouTube, and OH MY GOD!

One of the things that struck me about The Force Awakens was the way in which it took old war movie visuals and repackaged them in the Star Wars universe while managing to keep them somehow authentic. The troop ships that drop the stormtroopers to attack the village in the opening scenes are very much like WWII landing craft. The flamethrower segment was one of the most intensely war-like in any Star Wars film to date, because it was our time and place's tech being used. The tie fighters coming out of the sunset was straight out of Apocalypse Now, and in a good way, in a tribute but not a copy way. The dog fights scene between the ties and x-wings over the lake was totally reminiscent of Tora! Tora! Tora!. It all served to make the fantastic world of Jedi and the Force and spaceships and laser rifles seem much more believable, more relatable and more real.

The Force Awakens

Apocalypse Now

It looks like Rogue One is doubling down on this concept. The city fight scene involves what appears to be stormtrooper riot police, and I think that because they look and act like real riot police we see on the news. The thing in this movie's trailers that captures my interest most, and has since them very first one, is the tropical beach setting. Seeing AT-AT walkers on a tropical beach complete with palm trees is blowing me away. And in the foreground we now see a good bit of the infantry battle going on in the water and on the beach. This too strikes me as very Apocalypse Now-ish. The whole thing looks like a traditional war movie translated into the Star Wars setting.

Is it December yet?