Star Wars: Rogue One

What has made Star Wars into the internationally recognized genre that it is today? Two things in particular - original material and a touch of humor/wit. Rogue One is a plethora of both. In addition, even in an area where previous Star Wars may have lacked (perhaps even overlooked, understandably), the acting is superb, top of the line. Forest Whitaker may be the most recognizable name in the entire cast, and he kills it every moment as his brilliant, rebellious character, Saw Gerrera. But he is merely the tip of the iceberg in what becomes an epic, near-perfectly written plot that connects episodes III and IV. It is haunting, it is funny, devastating, cheesy, and it is wonderful. It IS Star Wars.

Without exaggeration, this is easily the best offering in the franchise since 'Return of the Jedi'. Yes, it is a spin-off of a simple set-up line from the original film, but it manages to really craft it's own story around the demands of where the plot has to go by the end. While it's definitely not a character driven movie, I was surprised with the amount of time given to our key protagonists and the effort to at least make them intriguing.

The idea of another prequel movie was a hard sell; but unlike the prequel (and for that matter, the sequel) trilogy, this manages to tell it's own story within the structure of a lead-up to an event to which we already know the outcome. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are especially effective along with secondary characters like those played by Riz Ahmed and Donnie Yen becoming easy fan favorites. Ben Mendelsohn is great as always as Krennic despite not being given much dimension as a main villain.

The character of Saw Guerrera (Forest Whitaker) seems a little cut-up and while I understand the character is better informed by one of the animated series, what we have in the film seems like it may have been a little more beefed up in earlier edits of the movie.

One thing I hear from people who don't care for this movie is the amount of fan-service moments. Random appearances of old characters or species, call-backs to famous lines and some easter-egg visuals can be a little distracting and if you don't care for that self-indulgent stuff, you'll definitely notice it here. Personally, it never really bothered me apart from one instance that lasts 5 seconds.

On a final note, while the decision to include Darth Vader was inevitable for this movie, I was so glad to see they did a little more than give him a short cameo appearance and actually give him a moment or two without leaning on him too much as a crutch to distract the audience.

If you love old Star Wars and couldn't care less about the two superfluous trilogies that followed, consider giving this a try.

I am watching this movie for the first time after watching Andor's finale.

For me there is a new great trilogy, Andor S1, Andor S2 and Rogue One, which has rivalled the brilliance of the Original Trilogy.

The ending was devastating for me but definitely cemented Cassian Andor as one of the most memorable characters. K2SO was perfect in every way possible and Jyn Erso was also fairly a good character, along with the other supporting casts. The movie kept me hooked start to finish and I love that we start exactly where we left off in Andor's finale.

I would for sure suggest anyone else yet to watch; to watch these 3 chronologically, because the emotional investment I had in Cassian was what made this film great for me.

Rogue One is the movie we didn't asked for - but what we got was beyond any expectation. Excellent pacing of the movie. As the movie progresses it gets better and better. Culminates in one of the best finales seen in any of the Star Wars movies.

CGI on the past main character seemed odd. But worked well on pilots and scoundrels. Many Easter eggs trough the whole movie are appreciated. Humor from Alan Tudyk's K-2SO was spot on.

Empire Strikes Back is still king of the hill as the best SW movie till date. But Rogue One comes damn close near it.

Rogue One feels like a serious and grounded movie, with a plot that weighs a ton, that feels important on every scale from the very beginning and as the movie progresses it shows that it's on another level, much higher.

The plot is very well written. It's simple, but direct, without fillers or unnecessary diversions. The levels of politics are reduced to the minimum so that it remains a factor to consider, but from the farthest box possible. It has impressive action sequences supported by flawless visual effects, such as the battle of Scarif, the battles of the ships and the devastating power of the Death Star. As if that were not enough, the film has cameos that have a very important presence.

On the technical side, the soundtrack is very good as usual, but the sound editing also stands out tremendously. Photography is beautiful! Even from the first introductory scene of that ringed planet. The editing is also very efficient and its highest point is in the last third of the film, where there is a very fast pace as we get into the battles.

The few negative points are found in specific decisions regarding the performances and the non-existent development of some secondary characters.

This is a work that makes even those who most resist the fury of this old saga (like me) turn their eyes to this great action and science fiction show.