As long as I can remember, I have been a Star Wars nerd. I remember how excited I was leaving my first screening of Attack of the Clones (C'mon I was a kid and didn't realize till I was an adult how bad it was an adult.) One of my earliest memories of being a movie fan was shanking a kid on the playground because he wouldn't let me be Yoda while we played pretend Jedi. In short, I have a long history with the stuff. I was one of the few people who was not in love with The Force Awakens, and it's repackaging of A New Hope's story. So I went into Rogue One filled to the brim of my 6'5 head with skepticism. I entered a sold out, IMAX theater packed with the most dedicated fans in the world.
Rogue One is not in the direct episodic series that George Lucas started. It instead, explains how the Rebellion got its hands on the Death Star plans, helping bridge the gap between the prequel and original series. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) , the daughter of Imperial scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), plans to aide the Rebellion in capturing these plans, as she knows the Death Star's latest flaws. Put together with a ragged group, she goes out on her mission. What follows suits is the quickest and most fun 2 hours a Star Wars fan has ever had.
There were many early criticisms of Rogue One. First of all, it was said the plot and characters were underdeveloped. I agree with this to an extent. However, I understand how challenging it is narrative wise to fully develop characters in a stand-alone film without making the film tedious. At 2 hours and 13 minutes, Rogue One is the second longest Star Wars movie ever, only after The Force Awakens. To make the film any longer would make it blatantly long-winded an inaccessible to a story that didn't need much more of an extension. Secondly, many people have found it unethical that CGI is used to recreate characters that were played by actors that, you know, died. I personally think the CGI was utterly amazing and creepily real. Here is someone who long knows Peter Cushing has been dead, and to see him up on the screen was utterly bizarre. Another CGI classic character was recreated to utter perfection in the last scene of the film, but for the sake of spoilers, I won 't say any more. Thirdly, many said the film played out like a Star Wars fan-fiction, and that non fans would hate it. I found that the movie was good as a stand-alone film. That being said, the film had an appropriate number of Easter eggs for the true fans to really enjoy. in my screening, the audience audibly clapped when classic characters or lines appeared on the screen. Now that I've addressed the criticism, let me give the film some praise.
Rogue One is the most visually beautiful Star Wars film to date. It kept with the aesthetic visually of the original movies, while showing off new advances in visual effects. Cinematographer Greig Fraser is name we will be hearing for a long time, as he delivered some of the best shots the series has seen. This is also the first live-action Star Wars film not to be scored by the legendary John Williams. Michael Giacchino fills in, and creates an original score that almost made me think it was actually done by Williams himself. If for some reason, John Williams falls ill and is unable to complete the series, Giacchino would be my choice to finish the score. Also, the scene stealing characters such as Alan Tudyk's K-2S0 really make the movie. filled with bright and well written little quips, sometime even plays on lines from the original movies, it was well written dialogue. Incorporating Donnie Yen's martial arts skills to the movie also greatly increased the appeal. One has to wonder if Yen's presence is an unapologetic appeal to the growing Chinese market, which very soon will be the biggest film market in the world. Also, Mr. Lucas might want to take notes upon viewing this film about how to write side characters that actually don't suck (We're looking at you Jar-Jar) Remember, Lucas gave us this gem of dialogue as well....
Overall, Rogue One gave us the enjoyable and pretty well executed prequel all Star Wars fans deserved, while being entertaining to mass audiences. It is by no means a perfect film, and it absolutely appeals heavily to nostalgia. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but I can't remember the last time I had this much fun at the movies.
Grade: (9/10*)
Keep in mind, I review blockbusters very differently than I do other movies. This is a blockbuster score of 9, compared to the overall perfect cinematic scores I gave to Moonlight, Arrival, and Nocturnal Animals.
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