Disclaimer: Below is a review of the new Star Wars movie, Rogue One. This article may contain spoilers.
The talented directors and producers at Disney and LucasFilm give the public another great Star Wars story.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away a ragtag team of rebels hunt down the plans to destroy the Death Star. An “anthology movie” set between Star Wars Episode III and Episode IV, Rogue One follows this band of misfits as well as how they contribute to the eventual downfall of the Empire in Episode VI.
While Rogue One had many classic Star Wars elements to it, in some ways the movie was quite different. For example, since Rogue One isn’t technically a part of the Star Wars Episode linage, the classic rolling title/prologue since isn’t in it. I was shocked at first when it jumped straight into the screenplay, but to me it made sense why it wasn’t a part of the movie. It is also the first movie to not put significant stock in the Skywalker story/lineage.
Most movies today start off pretty good, but begin to worsen as the film continues; Rogue One, however, is the exact opposite. The first 30-45 minutes of the movie are somewhat vague. Characters are quickly mentioned, scenes quickly jump from one end of the galaxy to the other, and the beginning makes you feel like you should already know who the characters are. Once everyone is introduced and the connections are made clear, the film rockets towards cinematic perfection.
The film was also a lot funnier than I expected it to be. The comedic timing for extremely sarcastic characters — like the new droid K2-SO — was absolutely perfect and the number of quick punchlines never took away from the action and suspense.
Now you may be asking yourself, “since it takes place before Episode IV, are any of the original Star Wars characters in it?” Well, yes, some of them are. C-3PO and R2-D2 make a cameo — one so quick that if you blink you may miss it — towards the final battle of the film. A young Leia is also in Rogue One towards the end. The most notable — and coolest — was the cameo of Darth Vader. Even though he has few lines, his presence looms over the movie inits entirety.
While the film did fall flat in some parts, these pieces were so minute they never truly subtracted from the movie’s quality. Overall, Rogue One is a fantastic segue from the new trilogy to the original one so it is perfect for new or younger fans who want to become immersed in the Star Wars galaxy . Rogue One is the first in the saga to have all of its main characters be extremely memorable, but not be related to the Jedi. Rogue One made me laugh, cry and hang on the edge of my seat, all in a two-and-a-half-hour time-frame.
It has become one of my favorite Star Wars films, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
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