I will admit that while I'm a fan of Star Wars, I thought Disney was going a little too overboard in their Star Wars film announcements. Surely even hardcore Star Wars fans would eventually get tired of ALL the Star Wars films headed their way.
Of course Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the beginning of proving me wrong. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards and one of the main things that made me incredibly happy was the diversity.
Anyway, this particular story takes place between Episode 3 and Episode 4. The Empire has completed a new weapon capable of destroying entire planets. Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) has had some disagreements with the rebel alliance and is now fighting the Imperial Army with some others in a more extreme manner.
Fifteen years before, Gerrera rescued Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) after her father is captured by the Imperial Army. Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) used to work for the Army, and is needed once again to help make the Death Star. That's not a spoiler and you know it! Jyn receives a hologram message from her father telling her of a deadly flaw in the Death Star and encourages her to steal the plans so that it may be destroyed. If you've seen Episode 4, you know how the Death Star is destroyed.
The story revolves around Jyn and her fight to prove that she and her father's message can be trusted. While she is not able to convince everyone, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the reprogrammed enforcer droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), a blind warrior-monk Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), his companion Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen), and a former Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) join her in infiltrating the Imperial base and obtaining the plans.
Let me once again celebrate all the names I just listed and the fact that they are all people of color! Anyway, while the characters are cool it is a little hard to keep track of all the new characters we are introduced to since obviously we have never met them before. Jones and Luna are great as the leads and it's nice to see their relationship develop albeit a bit quickly. Tudyk, as always, steals the scenes whenever his droid is there and Yen is kick butt and funny.
We do get some glimpses into some members of the Imperial Army as well. Some we have seen in the previous films and some new ones as well and while essential to the story, I honestly can't tell them apart from one another. Watching the film I knew who was who, but visually only.
While there are some good action sequences, I felt the film jumped from moment to moment probably to keep the film within an acceptable run time. This in turn, causes some moments to be cut short while giving the film a frenetic feeling.
Overall though Rogue One is a good film. The action sequences are awesome. It is also weirdly fun getting to see in detail how the planets are destroyed. In Episode 4, a planet blows up as soon as it is hit, but here we see that it is a slower, more painful process.
I have heard said that this is the greatest of all the Star Wars films and while I would not go that far, it was enjoyable. It can't be compared to the other films easily as it is it's own stand alone story. We don't know these characters, but we root for them all the same. These are neither Sith nor Jedi, just members of the galaxy who want to make sure the Imperial Army is destroyed.
This is an action film through and through. There is no unexpected plot twist, although the ending is quite surprising. It is an extension of the Star Wars story and fans will appreciate the nods to the previous films.
It is cool as well to see that the Rebel alliance is not perfect. Jyn doesn't want to join the alliance at first. Some are extremists, others are willing to give up as soon as things get difficult. They disagree on many things. They have done horrible things in the name of the Alliance. Still this is an accurate representation of war.
Rogue One is a good Star Wars film. It isn't great, but it is cool to get a glimpse into what the Rebels had to do in order to destroy the Death Star. Some want more lightsaber battles, others are happy with the result. I say watch it and decide for yourself.
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