ROGUE ONE : A STAR WARS STORY - Thursday 15th December 2016.

I saw 'ROGUE ONE : A STAR WARS STORY' on its opening night in Australia, and sat in a near packed theatre, which burst into applause when the end credits rolled - a sure sign of a film's approval and pending success. And so from a galaxy far far away comes the first Star Wars spin off in this highly anticipated, eagerly awaited, much hyped 'Rogue One' offering. Produced by LucasFilm, Distributed by Disney, Directed by Gareth Edwards and costing US$200M, this film stands alone in the Star Wars universe set just before the events that unfolded in the first film in this hugely successful and popular franchise 'A New Hope'. That initial film released in 1977 set in motion a behemoth that would become part of our popular culture, spawning so far seven feature films, this spin-off, numerous animated television series, books, toys and merchandise. The value of the franchise is estimated at somewhere north of US$31B, the films to date have garnered 27 Academy Award nominations and last years 'The Force Awakens' is the third highest grossing film of all time raking in US$2.1B at the global Box Office. Production of 'Star Wars : Episode VIII' is ongoing with Writer/Director Rian Johnson at the helm and due in cinemas in December 2017. It has been reported, but remains unconfirmed, that the title of the next instalment will be 'Star Wars : Forces of Destiny'.

The premise for the 'Rogue One' set up comes from the opening crawl of 'A New Hope' which states amongst other things that ' . . . Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star . . . ' From these brief introductory words, Screenwriters Tony Gilroy and Chris Weitz have moulded this story of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire. As the film opens we see a young Jyn Erso being hurriedly bundled up and packed off by her father Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) to escape from the arriving Imperial Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) and his black armour clad Deathtrooper henchmen. Krennic is demanding that Galen returns to finish the work he started on the Death Star - the Galactic Empire's new super weapon of destruction capable of destroying entire planets. But Galen is reluctant, and in a standoff his wife is killed. Meanwhile young Jyn has fled to the mountains to safety - it is the last time she will see her father for many years. Sometime later, an underground bunker in which Jyn is stowed away is opened by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and the young girl is taken away to safety.

We then fast forward fifteen years or so and Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) an Imperial fighter pilot defects across to the Rebel Alliance and is in possession of a holographic message from Galen Erso which he is to deliver only to Saw Gerrera who resides on the planet Jedha. In the meantime a now adult Jyn (Felicity Jones) is freed from captivity by the Rebellion who have an agenda to use her to track down her father, and then kill him to prevent the Death Star from being completed. Jyn teams up with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) an Intelligence Officer with the Rebel Alliance and his reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2S0 (Alan Tudyk) and the three travel to Jedha where there is an uprising against Empire forces on the ground there.

Once on Jedha, Jyn and Andor meet up with blind warrior Chirrut Imre (Donnie Yen) who believes in the power of The Force, and his sidekick Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) a Rebel warrior and mercenary. They in turn lead Jyn to Gerrera who are reunited for the first time in years, and Gerrera is by now holding Rook captive. Rook has handed over the hologram message to Gerrera who in turns shows the message to Jyn. In it Galen expresses his love for his daughter and explains that he was forced against his will to finish his work on the Death Star project. He goes on to explain that he has secretly embedded a vulnerability deep within the reactor programme which is almost undetectable, and which can be used to ultimately destroy the Death Star. The plans are held at a high security data bank deep within an Imperial stronghold on the planet Scarif.

In the meantime, back on the Death Star Krennic is held to task over the completion and readiness of the weapon by Imperial Governor Grand Moff Tarkin (Guy Henry made to look like Peter Cushing). With complete confidence Krennic orders a demonstration of the weapons might and power by targeting the capital city of Jedha, and reducing it and its surrounds to rubble and dust. In the attack the population is wiped out and with it Gerrera too who elects to stay behind. Jyn, Andor, K-2S0, Imre, Malbus and Rook manage to narrowly escape the conflagration. Tarkin congratulations Krennic on his achievements but has his own agenda to take the credit for the weapon and have Krennic discredited for various security breaches that have occurred while under his command.

Jyn, Andor and their newly formed crew track Galen to a research facility, and they head there with the intention that Jyn will rescue her father, whilst Andor has designs on killing him as per the wishes of the Rebellion. When it comes to it however, Andor cannot pull the trigger. At the same time Krennic arrives having learned that someone has leaked intelligence to the Rebels, and he intends to see to it that justice be served. He lines up Galen and his team of engineers and scientists and threatens to kill them all, if the perpetrator does not fess up, at which point Galen steps forward. Krennic orders the shooting of all the engineers and scientists anyway at which point a Rebel airstrike occurs on the facility ultimately resulting in the demise of Galen, and he dies in Jyn's arms. With the research facility destroyed, Jyn, Andor and the crew make a speedy getaway as does Krennic. Jyn now tries to persuade the Rebellion to converge on Scarif to steal the plans for the Death Star, but with no evidence to confirm her fathers story as per the now destroyed hologram message, the leadership of the Rebellion do not agree to her scheme, which they believe is too dangerous.

Frustrated by this inactivity, Andor agrees to accompany Jyn on her mission to Scarif and with her crew and various other Rebel volunteers, they set off. Using Rook as the former Imperial fighter pilot whose security clearances are still intact, their ship passes through the only portal in Scarif's defence system, and come to land in the proximity of the data bank tower. Jyn, Andor and K-2S0 make off to the tower to retrieve the plan schematics, while the others create a diversion to draw attention away from the three.

Meanwhile the non-agreeable leadership of the Rebellion have caught wind that Jyn and Andor have taken a team to Scarif and are proceeding with their plan anyway. Subsequently they agree to join the fight and mount a fleet to go to their aid. Krennic has also arrived on Scarif and orders the retrieval of every last piece of communication ever sent, written or recorded by Galen in an attempt to clear his name and reinstate his reputation with Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones). As a number of Rebel forces breach the access portal to Scarif, so a ground and air attack ensues leaving Jyn and Andor to access the data bank high up within the fortified and heavily secured tower.

Ultimately Jyn secures the necessary schematics but K-2SO is killed by Stormtroopers and Andor is shot and injured by Krennic. She needs to access the communication tower at the highest point to be able to send the schematics to the waiting Rebel Command Ship, but the access portal needs to be open for the signal to transmit the plans successfully. With an air battle raging all around the tower, Krennic appears before Jyn can transmit the plans. Krennic declares her mission a failure and the Empire victorious and as he motions to shoot her, he is in fact shot and disabled by Andor who re-emerges just in time for the plans to be transmitted as the Rebel forces destroy the planetary shield allowing access through the portal.

On the Death Star Tarkin orders the destruction of Scarif now that its defences have been breached and the base compromised. With it Krennic is killed as are all of those left remaining. An Imperial Force led by Darth Vader gain access to the Rebel Command Ship to retrieve the stolen plans. As Darth Vader wipes out everything in his path using his trusty light sabre and the powers of his mind, a Rebel foot soldier makes a quick getaway with the plans saved to a memory card and thrusts them into the hands of Princess Leia (Ingvild Deila made to look like Carrie Fisher) who states that these plans will give the Rebellion much needed hope for the future.

I was very pleasantly surprised by 'Rogue One'. The film has all the touchstones of the 'Star Wars' mythology that we have come to know and love. Director Gareth Edwards has remained true to the basic premise of the films that have been its forebearers by retaining the look and feel of a Star Wars film but it also has the strength in the story, the performances, the VFX and the continuity to stand proudly on its own two feet. Felicity Jones is particularly good in her role as Jyn Erso and gives a convincing performance that is as good as any you'll likely to see this year in a film of this kind, and the support cast are strong too and believable. Since the film Premiered in Hollywood on 10th December, there has been overwhelming support for the film and audiences have responded very positively, setting high expectations for a very strong Box Office return. So far it has returned US$291M during its opening weekend globally, with the film yet to open in China in South Korea. A second spin off film charting the early life of Hans Solo is slated for a mid-2018 release, with a third understood to surround Boba Fett scheduled for sometime in 2020. See it on the big screen while you can - you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLOOD FATHER : Wednesday 21st September 2016.

It's good to see Mel Gibson back in a leading role in the recently released 'BLOOD FATHER', and for the first time since 2012's 'Get The Gringo' which he also Co-Wrote and Co-Produced and which whilst hardly a Box Office sensation was a welcome return to form for the former Hollywood A-List Actor, Writer, Producer and Director who had fallen from grace since 'Apocalypto' in 2006. Now in 2016, Gibson is back and playing a bad-ass grindhouse rescue and revenge type in this Jean-Francois Richet Directed film based on the book of the same name by Peter Craig. Gibson has received much praise for his role in this B-Grade movie that for the Actor seeking to make his comeback might be seen as a case of art imitating life. Watch out too for Mel's return to Directing duty with WWII drama 'Hacksaw Ridge' due in November this year. 'Blood Father' had its world premier at this years Cannes Film Festival in May, and was released Stateside in early August, before its Australian release on 1st September.

Mel's character John Link is a Vietnam War Veteran, an ex-convict out on parole and a former alcoholic still sharing the love at regular AA meetings and trying to live off the grid in the outback desert so as not to draw any unnecessary attention to himself with the local authorities. He lives in a beat up caravan trailer on the edge of a hicksville community eeking out a living as a tattoo artist, whilst under the watchful eye of his sponsor and parole officer Kirby (William H. Macy) whom he seems to have a pretty solid relationship with based on mutual respect, and an understanding of their fractured lives that have brought them both to this point.

Essentially we join Link celebrating two years of being off the booze and ably supported by his friend Kirby. Link is fighting plenty of inner demons, one of which is having lost all contact with his sixteen year old daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) who has got tied up with all manner of low life nasty criminal types down Mexico way. Her boyfriend manages 'stash houses' for the local drug cartel, and discovers that some residents renting one such stash house have stolen a stash of cash hidden in the walls of a remote rental property. This boyfriend, Jonah (Diego Luna) who has designs on becoming a drug kingpin rocks up to his stash house with every intention of making the residents pay for their misdemeanours, with Lydia and his entourage in tow. Jonah orders Lydia to shoot and kill the woman of the house to prove her love for him, but Lydia can't bring herself to commit the act, despite having just snorted a nose full of cocaine. In the ensuing melee, Lydia turns the gun on Jonah and shoots him in the neck accidentally, and promptly bolts out the door, believing her boyfriend to now be dead.

As a result she goes on the run from both the local police and the drug cartel with only her estranged Dad to turn to. Out of desperation she calls her Dad, asking for a loan of $2,000 in cash so that she can make a fresh start and lie low until the heat subsides. John is surprised to hear from her after such a prolonged period of absence and the two agree to meet in Santa Monica, where John will pick up his daughter and bring her back to his trailer in the desert where he hopes they will reconnect and make up for lost time. In doing so he under estimates her drug induced and alcohol fuelled state, and the fact that her boyfriends posse will be hot on her trail seeking retribution. The two get reacquainted over a few days, before one night Jonah's posse arrives looking for Lydia and make a damn nuisance of themselves that results in John's trailer getting shot to pieces and overturned. However, Kirby and his own trailer park posse arrive to save John and Lydia from certain death, allowing the two to go on the run before the local Police arrive.

And so the two hit the road to evade the Police and those pesky drug cartel types aided by some they come up against and hindered by others. John is reasonably well connected and we learn that he served prison time to cover the misdeeds of Preacher (Michael Parks) who is a former friend. The passing of time and the fact that Preacher is now living in a near state of poverty provides a different motivation for Preacher and his wife Cherise (Dale Dickey) who know that there is a $30,000 reward on Lydia's head and they are both on the run from the law. John feels that he is owed something for remaining silent while in prison all those years. Escaping from gun point at the hands of Preacher and his wife, John and Lydia make their getaway on John's old Harley-Davidson Softail, which Preacher had been minding all this time. On the highway John and Lydia are pursued by two motorcycle riding hitmen, who are both subsequently killed.

Father and daughter then check into a local motel. John shaves off his beard and Lydia dyes her hair blond, while the news channels are full of reports of the two fugitives on the run. John visits an old contact in prison to gather information on Jonah and his family and cartel connections to check exactly what he is dealing with, while Lydia is to sit tight. However, Lydia receives a call from Kirby advising her that she is in imminent danger and make her way to a public place where she will be safe, such as a movie theatre. We subsequently learn that Kirby has been captured by Jonah's henchmen and is giving these instructions under duress. Lydia is called out of the movie theatre and confronted by Jonah - very much alive but sporting a gaping bullet wound in the neck, from her hand.

Lydia is taken captive and used as bait to entrap John with a rendezvous at some secluded spot in the desert off the highway. While John is speaking with Jonah over the phone receiving his set of meeting instructions, he hears the gunshots in the background dispensing with Kirby. Before making off for the meeting point now mightily pissed off, John returns to Preachers place to pick up some munitions that he knows are stashed away - a landmine and some hand grenades. He drives off to the agreed meeting place and parks his motor cycle in the path on the dirt track blocking the access of Jonah's SUV, and props up his bike using the landmine which becomes armed in the process. With John and Lydia is in the back of the Jonah's SUV awaiting certain death, two of the henchmen have to clear the Harley-Davidson out of the road. Needless to say, dislodging the landmine and KaBoom! two down three to go!

In the ensuing fracas inside the SUV John overpowers one of the henchmen, but Jonah escapes after an exchange of fire power having been shot. He limps off into the sunset, leaving a professional hitman to dispense with John and Lydia from an overlooking hill top. In the duel that follows, both John and the hitman shoot each other. The hitman dies instantly, and John falls besides the car to be comforted in his death throes by his daughter.

Soon afterwards, the Highway Patrol arrive en masse and pick up Jonah wandering aimlessly in the desert, although I have to say I am not sure who would have alerted the local Police, or how they would have known this shit was going down in some remote hidden away location in the desert! In the closing scenes Jonah is wearing a prison issue orange suit and is surrounded by Johns former prison mates who know that their friend died because of the new incarcerated inmate. We then fast forward a year, to find Lydia at that same AA meeting spot where her father attended stating she has been clean for a year now, and how she misses her Dad.

I enjoyed this simple yet well told story of revenge, retribution and family reconnection. Gibson is on fine form as the father figure given an unexpected second chance to make amends with his estranged daughter and prepared to go to any lengths to protect her so that she can make something of her life, and learn from his own mistakes. Featuring plenty of gun play, chase sequences, emotion and a grizzled world weary lead character dispensing his own brand of justice none of this is over the top for the sake of cheap thrills, but are shown in the context of a grounded father/daughter relationship prevailing at any cost. Catch it while you still can on limited release and give Mel Gibson a second chance - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-