This is a non-spoiler review so I will tread very lightly within this review. Rogue One focuses on a group of rebels that upon figuring about an Empirical, planet killing, space station known as the Death Star, will do whatever it takes to steal the plans to this weapon of mass destruction.
The greatest quality about this movie is how well it ties into Episode IV. Without getting into spoilers, this movie does a fantastic amount of fan service without beating you overhead. There are certain aspects of this film that are incredibly necessary given its point within the Star Wars timeline. They took some bold steps that I believe ultimately paid off. This helps contribute to a wonderful third act of the film that'll have audiences mesmerized by the attention to detail and the sheer grittiness. The films does not focus on the Jedi and is ultimately a war film that gives off a very Apocalypse Now vibe.
Since this is ultimately a war film, it's probably the one Star Wars film that is geared more towards adults. This film shows that the Rebellion is not perfect by anything stretch of the imagination. These two sides, the Rebellion and Empire, are not as black and white when it comes to their morals. I also really admired how much diversity this film exhibits. Much like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this film displays great diversity in a Hollywood blockbuster which is something more big budget films should do. All the performances in this were well executed even though this movie highly emphasizes story over characters. The stand out performances come from the sarcastic droid, K2-SO (Alan Tudyk) and many others.
There are some issues within the film though. When watching Star Wars, the score is often like its own character. The music helps to move or sweep audiences off their feet. The score for Rogue One does not do so. There are rumors that composer Michael Giacchino only had four weeks to write this score so you cannot blame him too much but it ultimately did not work within this movie.
Another issue with this film is how long it takes to get the wheels in motion. The first half hour or so is a lot of set up and jumping around. It takes a little bit before this movie finds its direction. This movie does not have an opening crawl like the episodic films and I believe it could have benefited from one instead of jumping around so much. Overall though, the pay off within the third act is very much worth it so you cannot criticize it too much.
Last year I loved the Force Awakens but I've seen Rogue One twice now and I believe it to be the better movie, solely because of its attention to story. This is a fantastic tie in with the original trilogy and I immediately wanted to re-watch A New Hope after seeing this.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10
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