Summary
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is considered the best Disney Star Wars movie and shares similarities with Oppenheimer, showcasing expert filmmaking and moral dilemmas.
- The Death Star, like Oppenheimer's atomic bombs, creates destruction on a massive scale and conveys high stakes, mirroring Oppenheimer's tests.
- Galen Erso's character in Rogue One mirrors Oppenheimer's journey as a scientist who realizes the destructive nature of his work and takes action to stop it.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is often regarded as the best Disney Star Wars movie and can also be described as the Oppenheimer of the franchise. Christopher Nolan's latest epic has enjoyed great success at the box office and has been praised as the director's most ambitious film. Oppenheimer is a remarkable technical achievement, with Nolan going so far as to create an atomic explosion to achieve the best results possible. Behind the spectacle and expert filmmaking, Oppenheimer is a gripping tale of a man who changed the world forever and ushered in the nuclear age that will continue to shape humanity for generations.
The Death Star did the same for the people of the Star Wars galaxy, highlighting the similarities between Rogue One and Oppenheimer. The characters of each story are caught in the middle of a conflict that will shape the trajectory of their society as each side races to control the fate of the ultimate weapon. Rogue One sports the same strengths as Oppenheimer, from the incredible filmmaking that enhances the action to the moral dilemmas the characters must overcome. This makes Rogue One the Oppenheimer of the Star Wars franchise, and the sci-fi elements help elevate the story to another level.
The Death Star Makes Oppenheimer's "Destroyer Of Worlds" Literal
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." With this quote from the Bhagavad Gita, Oppenheimer illustrated how he viewed himself and what his work had unleashed on humanity. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, Oppenheimer was horrified by the destruction left in their wake and became haunted by visions of nuclear weapons someday destroying the planet. He and Albert Einstein considered early on whether the atomic bomb would start a chain reaction that would destroy the world. Although the bomb did not ignite the atmosphere, Oppenheimer believed they had pushed humanity past the point of no return.
The Death Star makes Oppenheimer's line literal by destroying entire planets or, in the case of Rogue One, annihilating whole cities. Like the atomic bomb tests in Oppenheimer, the Death Star's single-reactor ignition allows the characters to see the destruction up close and personal, perfectly conveying the story's high stakes. This mirrors the team at Los Alamos observing the final atomic bombs test in Oppenheimer, with both movies showing horrifically beautiful explosions that slowly spread across the landscape and leave terrible destruction behind.
Galen Erso Was Star Wars' Oppenheimer - And He Worked For The Empire
Galen Erso's backstory in Rogue One mirrors Oppenheimer's in many ways, apart from the fact that he was forced to serve an Empire bent on conquest. Like Oppenheimer, Galen started as a gifted scientist who wanted success in his field and was willing to work with the government. Both men quickly realized what they had unleashed and that those they served were set on a path of destruction. Each took steps to stop what they had set in motion, with Oppenheimer calling for restrictions on nuclear weapons and Galen sabotaging the Death Star from within. Oppenheimer ended up losing his credibility, and Galen lost his life.
While Oppenheimer presents arguments against and in favor of using the atomic bomb to end World War 2, there's no way to conceive the creation of the Death Star as positive. Rogue One, therefore, asked what would happen if a man with a conscience wound up making a superweapon for the Empire. Galen watched his wife die, was separated from his daughter, and spent years working alongside the people who ruined his life. He sacrificed everything for the Rebellion and ended up being killed by those he was trying to help, making his and Oppenheimer's stories some of the most compelling in modern cinema.
Rogue One's Production Codename Made The Link Explicit
If the similarities between Rogue One and Oppenheimer weren't enough to connect the two movies, then the production codename confirms it. Rogue One was called "Los Alamos" during production, and the filmmakers have been open about how Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb inspired the movie. The Death Star always presented the danger of nuclear weapons taken to their inevitable conclusion, so it was logical for the team behind Rogue One to draw inspiration from Oppenheimer's work. The fantastic visuals, emotional storytelling, and high stakes make Rogue One: A Star Wars story the Oppenheimer of Star Wars, and that's why it's so great.