Rogue One: a Star Wars Story is the first spin-off movie from the Disney side of Star Wars. It connects to the main story but doesn’t center around the Skywalker story. Instead, it’s about a former criminal who is roped in to help the Rebel Alliance in retrieving the plans for the Death Star.
It’s directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso. It also features Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Riz Ahmed, Jian Wen, and Forest Whitaker.
The Good
Rogue One has the most beautiful cinematography of any Star Wars movie. It helps the story is solid but its finished look is also incredible.
It shows the design flaw of the Death Star isn’t a design flaw. Instead, it’s a clever weakness installed by the architect who was forced to design it. This answers a question many fans have had since A New Hope premiered.
Alan Tudyk is always fun but his performance as KS20 is fantastic. He has many memorable one-liners and his timing is impeccable. Another great addition is Felicity Jones as Jyn. She begins as a thief out for herself but by the end, it’s her giving the impassioned speeches to rally the Rebellion. “Rebellions are built on hope.”
Rogue One brings back Jimmy Smitts as Bail Organa. While he isn’t in it much, it’s nice to see actors from the Prequel Trilogy returning. Speaking of Organa returns, fans are given an amazing finish with a Young Leia receiving the Death Star plans and connects to A New Hope.
Darth Vader is included in Rogue One and they use him sparingly until the end. It’s there where Vader unleashes hell on the Rebel soldiers and finally shows us the destructive force the Original Trilogy told us he is.
The Bad
The use of CGI to recreate Peter Cushing is a good idea but the end result is creepy. The CGI on the face gives off a plastic look and is distracting when Tarkin is on screen.
The main characters of Rogue One are great but they all meet their ends. While Cassian Andor is returning with a prequel series, there’s no scope for the characters to return in a post-Empire world. It would have been interesting to see how Jyn and Cassian would involve within the Rebellion, and maybe even in the Resistance.
There’s a large ensemble so it’s difficult to give every character necessary development. Personally I feel Forest Whittaker is underused but storywise I see why they made that decision. Killing off Director Krennic takes away any future of seeing him again within the Empire.
