Awesome / Rogue One

Hammerhead Corvette versus Imperial Star Destroyer; Hammerhead wins.

Rogue One might be a Lower-Deck Episode of the Star Wars saga, but it offers some of the most epic battles you'll see in it.

---

Previews

• In the D23 teaser, the camera pans over a forest/jungle world, whilst Alec Guiness' words from A New Hope are heard echoing over a Dark(er) Reprise of "The Imperial March". Then the camera lifts upward slightly, and the forest parts to reveal THE DEATH STAR peeking over the horizon in all its 120-km-diameter glory.
• The first full teaser includes: the classic stormtrooper armor, the Imperial I Star Destroyer, the superlaser dish being installed...
• The reel video is full of moments both for the movie and the production team that demonstrates the film's potential, it must be seen to be believed.
• The second trailer is full of many, many moments, but the one that tops it all is the very end, where Darth Vader makes his grand reappearance, confirming that, for the first time in decades, Vader's back in action. And like in Rebels and Lords of the Sith, this is Vader in his prime. This is what he does.

Film

• The crew going up against AT-ACTs on foot.
  • The AT-ACTs themselves deserve some credit. They're lesser armored than their siege counterparts and meant for hauling materials more than combat. They still prove absolute combat juggernauts until the starfighters show up, sending Rogue One into full retreat just from being there.
  • The last time we saw Rebel pilots take on Imperial walkers the weapons on their airspeeders couldn't even scratch the paint. Watching Blue Squadron's X-wings utterly tear them apart while providing close air support is immensely satisfying, showing that while the Empire covered for the AT-AT's weakness with their cargo carrier variant, that opened up a whole new weakness.
  • Watching a door gunner in a U-Wing blast the joint of another AT-ACT. After seeing the troops fleeing in terror before, it's vindicating.
  • When that same U-Wing later gets shot down, it explosively crashes right on a bunch of Imperial troops. Seems the pilot wanted to take as many of the Imperials with her as she could, and managed to completely avoid any of her fellow Rebels.
• Galen Erso's explanation for why he helped build the Death Star is not only an example of great delivery from Mads Mikkelsen, but also shows that sometimes the path to doing the right thing can lead you to some pretty dark places. Galen reveals that he soon realised if he took his life or got himself killed that it would only delay the project, not stop it. So instead he endeavoured not only to complete the Death Star but make himself seem invaluable to its creation. This allowed him to be in the perfect position to create a seemingly insignificant design flaw within the Death Star, one that if exploited would annihilate the entire space station. He gave the galaxy a fighting chance.
  Jyn Erso: My father's revenge. He put a flaw in the Death Star. He put a fuse in the middle of your machine and I've just told the entire galaxy how to light it.
• Chirrut Îmwe takes down several stormtroopers with a staff, and he's also a crack shot with his own BFG, up to the point of shooting a TIE fighter with it. Oh, and, he's blind.
  • In fact, he planned to take the TIE down in such a way that it crashed into a gun turret.
    • He was yawning right before he shot. That's right, an impossible feat of marksmanship is boring to him.
  • During the fight on Jedha, he uses one of the stormtroopers as a Human Shield, making him take the other stormtroopers' blaster shots, perfectly hearing where the shots come from and turning the soldier in the right direction to "receive" the shots, including including a hit in a very uncomfortable place. Baze Malbus then mows down the remaining Imperials with his BFG.
  • When the Rebels are pinned down and need to access the master switch, Chirrut simply walks out into the line of fire armed with nothing but his trust in the Force. Not a single blaster bolt touches him. The man may not be a Jedi, but the Force wouldn't dare forsake a man with that kind of conviction.
    "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me. I am one with the Force, the Force is with me..."
    • "A man who has nothing, can still have faith."
• Saw may have been half gone mentally and farther gone physically, but he faces down the blast of Jedha's main city's destruction without flinching and practically embracing the shockwave. Jedha itself became a Battle Cry by the events of the battle of Scarif, similar to the Alamo for Texans.
• K-2SO proves that even a security droid can have some great moments (since fighting droids were previously shown simply as more or less squishy, disposable soldiers ready for the Mook Horror Show). His Empire era type (KX series) is durable enough to withstand a lot of blaster shots.
  • Beginning with his introduction.
  K-2SO: Congratulations, you are being rescued. Please do not resist.
  • He tosses a grenade over his shoulder without looking, killing several stormtroopers. Then he snarks that he should have stayed behind on the ship. Similarly, at the Scarif archives, he hears a blast door opening and shoots the Stormtrooper behind it without breaking his concentration on the control console he's studying.
  • His Last Stand/Heroic Sacrifice, defending the entrance to the archives room while Jyn and Cassian are busy searching for the plans manually. He mows down several waves of stormtroopers, taking wound after wound, before he's finally overwhelmed. His last act is to smash the console controlling the door to the archives, delaying the Imperials just a little longer.
  • The Title Drop.
  Rebel clearance officer: There is no 'Rogue One'!
  K-2SO: There is now.
• Darth Vader, period. He completely owns the few scenes he appears in.
  • He has his own black citadel on friggin' Mustafar with gorgeous Scenery Porn (who has the "high ground" now, Obi-Wan?). Krennic (the Death Star's chief engineer) comes to that citadel to report Tarkin's betrayal and gets a (non-lethal) Force choke as a result. And Vader appears to him in a white halo.
  • His ship's Dynamic Entry into the Final Battle, jumping out of hyperspace directly in front of the retreating Rebel fleet and causing several of them to smash themselves like bugs on a windshield against the hull to showcase how much of a Mighty Glacier a Star Destroyer can be. This is followed by the ship single-handedly wiping out every remaining Rebel ship except the flagship, and that was because Vader wanted to board it. Maybe there's a reason Vader's personal ship at this point is the Devastator...
  • During the Final Battle, he leads a Boarding Party on the Alliance's flagship, and tears through Rebel soldiers with his red lightsaber like a hot knife through butter, blocking blaster shots and Force-choking Red Shirts aplenty. Then he witnesses the Tantive IV escaping with the Death Star's plans right under his nose, standing over the Rebel admiral ship's ventral takeoff bay. A pure villainous moment of awesome that directly leads to the start of A New Hope.
    • Perhaps the most amazing moment of that above scene? Vader uses the Force to send a Rebel flying up into the ceiling. Vader then walks under the guy while nonchalantly slicing him in half with his lightsaber. He then keeps marching, not even bothering to watch the man's bisected corpse flop to the ground.
    • It was impressive in The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren stopped a blaster bolt with just the Force. So how does Vader top that? By Force pushing a blaster bolt back at the shooter. Instantly, with no pause; one split-second the bolt is heading for his hand, the next split-second it's shot a Rebel. He then Force pulls the guns from anyone still standing.
    • Made even better by his Dynamic Entry. He doesn't just walk into the corridor, oh no. The scene with the lights going out, the Vader Breath starting up, the ominous red light, and the Mass "Oh, Crap!" is a combined moment of awesome for him and for the directors.
    • The fact that this was once Anakin Skywalker speaks volumes on how devastating it was for the Jedi to lose the Chosen One to the Dark Side of the Force. As it shows just how much of an unstoppable killing machine Vader is without showing any restraint.
    • All this is only reinforced by what we see of Vader earlier in the film: a quadruple amputee who, thanks to all of the damage he's endured in the past, can't even live outside of his suit unless he's in a bacta tank. And yet despite his injuries, he's an unstoppable killing machine.
    • In fairness to the rebels in that scene, despite the obvious fear on their faces when Vader ignites his lightsaber, they still open fire and try to hold the line so that they can transfer the Death Star plans to the Tantive IV before Vader can retrieve them.
    • The trooper holding the data card begins the scene begging for people on the other side of the door to help them. After he sees how quickly his comrades fall, he abandons that, and opts instead to pass the drive off to someone else before he dies. Then we see Vader cutting open the door through his body.
    • That trooper gets one more awesome moment in the novel, as rather than stabbing him, Vader grabs him by the throat and demands to know where the plans are being taken. The trooper's response is a defiant "Away from here. Away from you".
    • One of the troopers who gets disarmed of his blaster by Vader falls back to obtain another before he is killed.
    • As the rebels escape with the Death Star plans the camera focuses on Vader. While we can’t see his face, the sheer rage and frustration that comes off him is a wonder to behold. It’s probably the first major setback he’s experienced in quite some time and it wasn’t a Jedi Master who undermined him — it was a bunch of working class grunts who stuck it to him. A bit of fridge brilliance is this also explains why Vader is so uncharacteristically angry at the start of ANH.
    • Even more fridge brilliance and awesome here: these poor, poor Red Shirts just barely survived Vader's maelstrom of death, all without the benefit of plot armor, yet even as a pissed-off Vader is coming for them in ANH, they're ready to sacrifice themselves for the Rebellion all over again!
    • Some of the audience think that while Vader is holding back it is highly implied that he held the door with the Force when it was "jammed".
  • And all this adds to Luke's awesome in The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, we know Vader was holding back. Yes, we know he was toying with Luke, trying to turn him to the Dark Side instead of killing him. Yes, we know Vader's dueling technique is a little rusty, since he hasn't fought another lightsaber-wielding opponent in a decade or so. But even with all that, the fact that Luke lasts more than thirty seconds against Vader, after witnessing him go all-out here, is a true moment of awesome for our favorite farm boy.
  • The Reveal of the Tantive IV itself. We see the Rebels get the plans away from Vader, and hastily order a launch. Then the camera cuts to a Corellian Corvette release from the docking clamps of a darkened hangar bay, igniting its engines as it emerges into the light and rockets away to make its escape.
• Once it becomes clear to the Rebels that Rogue One has left for Scarif, Mon Mothma asks to to speak to Admiral Raddus, and learns that he's already out there and taking the Rebel fleet with him to fight, disregarding the Council's ruling. He had already supported Jyn before, and his defiant actions force the rest of the Rebellion to take action and this wins the battle. It's telling that the cautious Mothma almost looks proud when she hears the news. Then moments later, as the rest of the Alliance's starfighter wing on Yavin begin to deploy and head to Scarif, the dark and dramatic Rogue One them shifts into a triumphant version of the Force Theme JUST as the Flight Controller^note An off-screen cameo by Denis Lawson, to maintain the continuity of Wedge Antilles not having seen the Death Star prior to the Battle of Yavin sends them off with "May the Force Be With You." They might not have Luke Skywalker or Han Solo on their side yet, but these men and women are Rebels to the end.
  • Raddus's actions are all but recognized in The Last Jedi as we see the last Alliance Cruiser, the Raddus attempt to flee The First Order. And like his plans in this movie, that ship also uses its last action to strike a blow against the villains of the movie, except this time, it is against several Star Destroyers and a Dreadnought.
• The entirety of the Final Battle counts as one, really.
  • The Rebels don't have the firepower to get past the planetary shield, so they need to hit it with something really big. To that end, an X-Wing destroys a Star Destroyer's shield generator, the Y-Wing squadron disables it using ion bombs, and then, as a plan devised by Raddus, a Hammerhead corvette — the Lightmaker — rams into the disabled ship, pushes it into the Star Destroyer next to it and shears the command deck and turrets clean off. Then, the debris from both ships crash down into the shield control station orbiting Scarif, knocking out the shield and allowing Rogue One to transmit the plans out to the Rebel flagship. That one corvette saved the Rebel Alliance!
  • Sadly, the novelization of the movie makes it clear that the Lightmaker, along with all its crew, was destroyed in the collision of the Star Destroyers. Not only did those men, women and droids pull off one of the most daring feats in the battle and saved the Galaxy, but they knew that it would cost them their lives. We raise our glasses to you, Lightmaker... Just to clarify, it is easy to assume it made it out, as a keen-eyed observer can spot two other Hammerhead corvettes warping in with the fleet, and one blink-and-you'll-miss-it of one warping out before Vader shows up. What makes the Lightmaker even more badass? That corvette had already been heavily damaged and had actually pulled back from the battle, after being shot up by both of those very same Star Destroyers. They volunteered to be the ship to do it just to make sure the Rebellion didn't have to sacrifice one of the other corvettes that was still in good shape. Also, the Lightmaker actually survived the Star Destroyers colliding, that tough little ship still pushing the Destroyer it had rammed. The last thing the crew got to see was confirmation they'd just driven that Destroyer right into the Shield Gate. In their last seconds, they knew they'd given Rogue One, the Rebellion, and the galaxy a chance.
  • Also, the sheer symbolism. For millennia (and in-real-life decades) hammerhead-style ships had beeen the prototypical Republic starship, while the Imperator-class Star Destroyer became one of the symbols of the Empire that destroyed the Republic, to the point of being renamed as Imperial Star Destroyer. And the symbol of the Republic's naval power now shatters the symbol of the Empire's naval power.
  • Also, blink and you'll miss it, but the pilot who took out the Star Destroyer's shields was one of the handful of Blue Squadron pilots who didn't make it through the Shield Gate before it closed. The battle may have gone very differently if he had made it through. As it was, he had several TIE Fighters hot on his tail as he pressed his attack, so even then it was a very close thing.
    • The expanded material reveals that the pilot's name is Barion Raner, the man who literally wrote the book on how to fly an X-Wing.
• Red and Gold squadrons participating in the battle over Scarif, with the original Red and Gold Leaders reprising their roles! Gold Leader's actor even returned to provide voiceover work for his character; When they cut away from the archived footage from A New Hope to exterior shots of his Y-wing, those are some new lines he is speaking. (Unfortunately, Red Leader's actor had passed away years before).
• Blue Squadron coming in for a last second save as they destroy all of the AT-ACT walkers attacking the Rebels.
• Even though Jyn and Cassian are killed by the Death Star, they die having ensured its destruction.
• With their mission completed and the Death Star bearing upon Scarif, the Rebel fleet immediately retreats. Although they are immediately cornered by the arrival of Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, half a dozen warships and several starfighter pilots make the jump to hyperspace just nanoseconds before the massive warship plows through the fleet.
• Jyn gives Cassian a What the Hell, Hero? moment when she finds out that Cassian planned to kill Galen without even telling her. Not only is she legitimately horrified but she reminds him that with such a treacherous action planned, he's no different than a member of the Empire. Even better, he actually realizes she's right.
  Jyn: You may as well be a Stormtrooper.
  • Though to be said, they didn't trust each other that much, anyways. One could argue that based on the info they had, killing one man was nothing when compared to the deaths that Death Star would cause.
  • If this was any other movie, Jyn might have the last word; but Cassian angrily throws it back at her, saying that he has been fighting the Empire his whole life and she has no right to judge him for the actions he takes in a fight she only got involved in against her will. He also points out he refused to shoot Galen, just so that Jyn could have the chance to save him, or at least share a final moment with him. Much like Jyn, he lost everything to Empire when he was young. Unlike Jyn, he actually decided to do something about it. The beauty of the scene is that they're both right, and consequently each is inspired by the other to act. Jyn decides to stop hiding and make a decisive move against the Empire, and Cassian realises he's been morally compromised and so sees his chance at redemption by throwing in his lot with Jyn. It's no coincidence that Jyn repeats Cassian's words ("rebellions are built on hope") as from that point on they're a united front.
• Krennic's ultimate fate is hilariously perfect: not only is he killed by the same superweapon he forced other people to build, but he gets the best view imaginable of its laser pointing right at him. The novelization makes it better. Knowing he's about to die, Krennic tells himself at least he'll know his creation lives on. He imagines it, going through every detail of it all in his mind... including that exhaust port Galen kept insisting on putting in. In the final second, Krennic realizes what's happened and spends his last breath cursing Galen. At the same time, Tarkin vaporizing Krennic seals the former's doom as at the Battle of Yavin, nobody is aware of the "fuse" that Galen left for Luke to light on the Death Star and Tarkin ends up being annihilated too.
• Tarkin gives us a glimpse of how he got where he was. First, he comes and mocks around Krennic like he's nothing but a mook (to be honest, that's probably what he is compared to Tarkin), then shows him who's boss by changing the demonstration he planned, and after said demonstration is successful turns the table by telling Krennic about a breach in his security Krennic knew nothing about and taking his position, and after that leaves him to confront Vader's displeasure with both the choice made for the demonstration and his failure, effectively turning Krennic's moment of glory to nothing and getting the most powerful and advanced space station of the empire as a bonus. Oh, and Krennic's ultimate fate mentioned above? That was Tarkin taking advantage of the situation, he most likely is well aware of the irony, and maybe enjoying it.
• The leadup to the climactic space battle. We see a cockpit view from one of the starfighters traveling in hyperspace, and as it drops out, several other Rebel ships have already arrived, with several more arriving after. It's just a fantastic way to establish the scene as it unfolds. And the fleet doesn't blip out of hyperspace all at once, but in a constant stream of ships which take most of half a minute to finish arriving, while the Imperial officers realize what is happening and begin scrambling over themselves to react.
  • On that note, credit where it is due to the Imperial defenders at Scarif, who respond with impressive speed to the surprise Rebel assault both on the surface of the planet and in space. Within minutes of the first explosions, swarms of fighters are launching en masse to meet the Rebel ships, implying either a very fast reaction time for Imperial crews, or a level of launch readiness bordering on being Properly Paranoid.
    • It was an example of Properly Paranoid; the visual guide notes that most officers on Scarif considered the planetary shield and the destroyers to be sufficient protection, and that the other countermeasures were redundant. Undaunted by this, the rank-and-file troopers and pilots took their own initiative to train, drill, and remain diligently alert for an attack their commanders never expected. If the imperial brass had taken their jobs as seriously as the men under their command, the battle would have ended very differently.
• The Death Star firing sequence. We see it in full, from the Navy Trooper on the overbridge inputting commands to the gunners in Superlaser Control flipping levers to an officer sending hand signals to the two guys in the firing conduit.
  • The aftermath of destruction it leaves are also impressive. Even when it restrains itself to only primarily blowing up a single city on Jedha, the resulting shockwave is so massive that not only do the heroes miles away have to flee the planet from it, but it can be seen all the way in space. Later portrayals in the comics show that one shot nearly shattered the moon as it was, tearing it open all the way down to the mantle at least.
• For followers of the Star Wars Rebels series, seeing the VCX-100 that Word of God confirmed was the Ghost from said series holding its own in the final battle was an awesome nod.
  • Not to mention the fact that Hera Syndulla has been promoted to the rank of GENERAL. Which, given that this takes place after the finale of that series, means she's fresh from liberating Lothal.
• The establishing shot on Kafrene which starts in the city skyscrapers - a CGI shot very reminiscent of Naboo in the prequel trilogy (though the exterior shots of Theed were, in fact, practical effects) - and pans downward to a busy street, full of practical effects and creatures, not unlike the original trilogy.
• Some credit should be given to Cassian after his fall to somehow make it up the tower to save Jyn from Krennic as that fall must had at least broke a couple of bones and a concussion yet he managed to somehow summon the strength to climb up the tower to save Jyn.
• As evil as Tarkin is, "You may fire when ready" is just as wonderful and chilling as in A New Hope. Especially because this is the first time the camera is on his face as he says it, as his back is to the camera in both instances in A New Hope.
• The scene of Tarkin watching as the dish assembly is guided into the nearly-finished Death Star. A fleet of star destroyers (one of which had just prior received a shot establishing its enormous size) looks like guppies next to the gigantic superweapon. Even more awe-inspiring when the viewer considers that, horrific as the whole thing is, it represents a civilization grabbing the rung to pull itself up to Type II on the Kardashev Scale.
• Bodhi Rook, a cargo shuttle pilot, spends most of the movie barely holding onto what's left of his sanity, and terrified. But, when push comes to shove, he comes through, doing what needs to be done, including improvising transmissions on Scarif to draw forces away from the main battle.
  • His skills as a cargo pilot come into play, as he's able to bluff his way onto the surface of Scarif by saying that they were rerouted from Eadu, which the Rebellion had just destroyed. Almighty Janitor, at your service.
  • Bodhi also holds his own in his first meeting with Saw Gerrera surprisingly well. While faced with a screaming, deranged terrorist accusing him of being a spy, he continues to angrily insist that he defected, he wasn't captured, and even points out how it would have been incredibly stupid for him to show up to Gerrera's base with fake information that would just get him killed.
• "Admiral, receiving transmission from Scarif!" With those words, Rogue One has succeeded.

---