Count me as one of the few and the proud who wasn’t impressed with last years The Force Awakens (Episode VII). I felt like after a decade of no Star Wars movies that JJ Abrams and co. could have come up with something more original. More specifically, it felt too much like a rehash of the 1977’s A New Hope (Episode IV).
Regardless, Disney, director Gareth Edwards , and all involved from the actors to the production crew, can all take a needed bow. They’ve done it! They’ve delivered a Star Wars film that can stand toe to toe with the original trilogy.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story kicks-ass in all the right places. It only took 30 godforsaken years but better late than never.
Why did this entry hit all the right notes? On top of the actors performances (including some CGI laden ones), just the way the movie begins by jumping from mise en scene to mise en scene, with multiple planets and a variety that wasn’t present at the beginning of the last movie, truly sucks you in from the start. And when you see the younger version of Felicity Jones‘ character, Jyn Erso, getting separated from her father and mother at the hands of the Empire, it automatically makes you care about one of the film’s central characters. Off and running from that point onward…
And speaking of characters, this rag-tag group of “rebels”, that come together in order to steal the plans to the death star, come off as extremely likable without even knowing each of their backstories– not an easy thing to do in franchise movies like these, but was a credit to the gravitas of the actors involved.
However, the defining moment, where I thought it was firing on all cylinders, was when Donnie Yen’s blind character, Chirrut Imwe, waits for just the right second to shoot down a tie fighter. He wasn’t necessarily using the “force”, but it didn’t matter. It was just too fucking cool to sum up in a review– Excuse the french, but I felt like a kid again, and there were numerous moments like that that peppered throughout the flick that made me nod in approval.
And then came the final act. A lot of films seem to fall prey to losing momentum by the last act of a story. Not so here.
Rogue One manages to seal the deal and deliver arguably one of the most satisfying endings to a movie that I’ve seen in years. Even better, the epic space and land battles in this particular stretch haven’t been seen on such a scale since Return of the Jedi (Episode VI).
To top it off, it was easy to track the movement and action that was occurring at such a break beck pace– So hat’s off to the director of photography and special effects wizards at ILM for allowing the viewer to enjoy every last bit of action on screen. Now, I’m obviously avoiding spoilers here but if you’re a die-hard Star Wars kid at heart, there’s no freaking way you shouldn’t be grinning when the end credits roll.
Lastly, it should be noted that George Lucas has gone on record stating he really felt his prequel trilogy (Episodes 1-3) tried to break new ground by injecting new ships and new planets into the mythology, etc. I don’t disagree. However, that trilogy failed to capture the magical aura of his original trilogy (episodes 4-6). Well, well, well, Rogue One just happens to be the perfect hybrid in feel between his prequels and his originals. Don’t hesitate for a second, go see this film!!! Nuff said.
4 out of 4 stars
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