Review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) by Sean E — 28 Mar 2017

Rogue One is the first standalone Star Wars movie to be made in what will soon become a long line of spin-offs. Taking place after Revenge of the Sith yet before Star Wars (A New Hope), Rogue one tells the story of how the Death Star plans were stolen from the Empire and Brought to the Rebellion, kicking off the events of the first Star Wars movie.

The movie includes various twists and surprises throughout its run time that add some spice to a movie that most people will already be able to guess the end to. This movie's biggest achievement is its stellar action sequences that are almost all handled very well.

The larger set pieces are suitably grand with excellent CGI and fresh takes on combat we've seen before in the series while the smaller action sequences, while brief, are surprisingly well shot. The direction by Gareth Edwards as well as the cinematography in particular help highlight the magnitude of some of the scenes.

With this and Godzilla, it is clear that Edward knows how to direct size very well. The acting is well done for the most part with a triumphant return from James Earl Jones who once again owns the role of Darth Vader.

Where the film begins to falter however is when it tries to rely on its characters. While interesting, the writing of these people doesn't allow for any depth and because of this the movie fails to carry much emotion when it has to.

The audience wants to know more about the characters of this movie, they are inherently interesting, but the movie fails to dive beneath the surface with any of the characters so they mostly remain static through the movie's running time.

It is telling that the most memorable character is the robot. Because of this poor character development the first two acts feel like a slog and on repeat viewings the audience will be waiting for the big action scenes because the film doesn't allow them to care about anything else.

Overall Rogue One gets a bit more credit than it deserves for having a sloppy first two acts and only really being good for a third of its running time and most likely will not be remembered as the best in the franchise.

Besides this however, Rogue One is a fun popcorn movie that manages to entertain and leaves you liking the movie in the end despite its flaws.