, Columnist
'Rogue One' Is Vintage Star Wars: Freudian, Faith-Based and Unplanned
Freedom of choice. Complicated parental relationships. A shot at redemption. It’s all here.
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Well, no one saw that coming. “Rogue One,” the new stand-alone Star Wars movie, is the best since the beloved original trilogy. With a new tale, it’s much better, and far fresher, than last year’s fun but nostalgic “The Force Awakens.”
The surprise is fitting, for here’s a little secret about Star Wars: Its narrative arc wasn’t fully planned out in advance. Some of the most important plot points came to George Lucas, author of the first six episodes, awfully late. At the early stages, he had no clue that Darth Vader would turn out to be Luke Skywalker’s father. And Luke and Leia as twins? That was a late inspiration -- an ingenious (if also creepy) way of resolving the romantic triangle involving Luke, Leia and Han.