Jyn Erso and her band of Rebel sympathizers might face a level of violence and brutality that the Star Wars movie universe has never seen before.
While Lucasfilm has done a great job of keeping the specifics of director Gareth Edwards’s Rogue One a secret, a new Russian poster for the movie hints that fans should expect a very different, more violent Star Wars movie than they’re used to.
The poster, which made the rounds on the internet via Reddit and was given out to attendees at a Comic-Con in Russia, paints a stark and brutal portrait of the war the Rebellion is fighting against the Empire.
It shows the crystal clear blue water on the tropical planet of Scarif contrasted with the domineering figures of a platoon of stormtroopers flanked by a trio of AT-ACTs. In the foreground is a lone commando helmet emblazoned with the Rebel Alliance insignia with the same icon reflected in the surf.
While the Rogue One trailers haven’t done much to situate the movie within the bigger Star Wars timeline to viewers, the posters for the saga’s first standalone movie have at least been able to differentiate themselves from the aesthetic of the other iconic episodic films. Instead of the lavish character-based illustrated tableaux created by Drew Struzan and other artists, this Russian poster simply portrays the brutal tone that Edwards will use to have his movie stand alone.
Squint and this looks like it could be a movie about the Vietnam War.
The helmet, from a presumably murdered Rebel fighter, is enough to illustrate that Rogue One will be the war movie that we’ve heard it will be. You’ll also notice the “12+” Russian rating in the bottom corner, which should hint that the movie will at least be rated PG-13 in America.
It’s not like the Star Wars saga has been without any violence. Specifically, Luke gets his hand cut off in The Empire Strikes Back and we had PG-13 ratings because Anakin’s skin gets melted off in Revenge of the Sith and Han Solo gets run through by Kylo Ren’s lightsaber in The Force Awakens.
But that was mostly exaggerated space opera sci-fi violence. This new Rogue One poster makes it abundantly clear that we’ll get a more grounded sense of bloodshed in the standalone movie within the parameters of its rating.
These movies are titled Star Wars for a reason.
