Movie Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Rogue One A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards. The film features Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, and Forrest Whitaker. The movie tells the story of how this group of rebels attempts to steal the death star plans before the episode of A New Hope. Going into this movie I was pumped of adrenaline and so curious as to what they would do with the first stand alone Star Wars film. The first act or so of this movie (aside from the opening scene) was really only a 2.5 star movie. It's very slow and the characters aren't all always super interesting. Granted Donnie Yen's character was awesome, but the majority of these people don't feel all that interesting and that leads me to care less about them. After we get to planet Eadu, the film picks up and becomes really..fun. The best way I can describe this film is to say that it's a fun movie. It doesn't have all that much emotional depth and the characters (who are rapidly introduced in the beginning) are far less interesting then the traditional SW universe characters. However, the acting in this film is really great. Felicity Jones gives a great performance and so does her father played by Mikkelsen. Whitaker also plays a great Star Wars character, but we don't really see him that much. We also don't get a lot of Darth Vader. That was dissapointing because he's one of my favorite parts of this film. Darth Vader's role in this movie is so brief, but in the few scenes where he appears....he shines. This is a fantastically written character and he's far better then the front villian- Krennic. Who by the way was good, but at no point in the movie was I ever intimidated by him. As this movie progresses it became clear to me that this is mainly an action movie. It doesn't have all that much deepness when it comes down to story and it is sort of more an enjoyable time than a really thought provoking narrative. I had fun, but the bigger aspects of the movie could have been improved. There is also a great score which I appreciate as a fan of Star Wars music and just as a Star Wars fanatic. This movie delivered on an acceptable level, but it really could have improved to be more like it's predecessor The Force Awakens (which is a four star film). Overall, Rogue One was entertaining, fun, and a really good time. Three stars