After seeing the film twice I felt I could more clearly headed write this review. Rogue One is a great film, another great Star Wars addition from Disney and Lucasfilm Limited. After decades of reading and absorbing the old expanded universe and spending years telling people you could do lots of things with the Star Wars universe Rogue One is the first step in that direction.
Rouge One is a gritty, war film that gives you a different perspective of folks living in our favorite galaxy far far away. Director Gareth Edwards takes us to many different alien worlds and locals and gives each of them a sense of depth and scale. The texture of Rogue One is through and through Star Wars. Continuing that lived in physical feel of The Force Awakens Rogue one makes me feel that I could go to this world, and truly live in it.
Right off the bat the film starts out different then any other Star Wars film, it shows this is not like the main Episodes that we have become accustomed to in the past 40 years. The story is really that of the Dirty Dozen, and Saving Private Ryan meets Star Wars. There is no force wielders or any larger than life heroes and villains. Which is a really interesting aspect, but also a slight negative that I will go into later.
First for the positives. The looks and the feel of this film is great. Rogue One is a film that really expands on the Star Wars universe making it feel much more vast and diverse. This film has you bopping around to many different planets and situations right off the bat and letting us see more of this wonderful galaxy. The worlds and background characters give you even more intrigue making you wonder what is around each corner.
Second the story, though quite simple, and sometimes becomes a little overly complicated for it's own good Rogue One has a fresh take compared to the other seven main series films. You have some more grey areas, and characters of unknown morality. It gives it some freshness that has never really been in the series before.
Rogue One shows that Star Wars in itself is a genre, and can be mixed with other film genres. You have this film mixing Star Wars with a gritty war genre and it works. It gives lots of hope of what can be done down the road with Star Wars. Lots figured you could not wade out of the main series but this film for sure can.
Of course the third act gives you quite an action filled portion of the film. With some amazing scenes. Edwards as always really brings it on the visual point and there is so many great visuals in the film.
As for characters, all were well acted, and I liked them all, but there was something big missing which I can do into later. But Chirrut and Baze were my favorite characters, I liked K-2SO but mainly because he was the levity in an otherwise down beat and dark film. But Chirrut and Baze really were intimate with the audience, not only were they awesome, they had a connection to one another and to the audience, sadly that connection was not as much there for other characters.
Now for the down sides of the film. I loved this film, just not as much as Empire, Hope, and Awakens. I would put it maybe a little above Jedi or around that area. Rogue One's biggest flaw is it lacks something, my brother walked out of the film and said from an emotional standpoint he felt a little empty. Though all the characters are good, and never prequel level acting or characterization, there is a lack of deeper connection and intimacy with the characters especially Jyn and Andor and even Krennic. With The Force Awakens JJ brought charm and intimacy with the characters, since it really was a character focused film. This film does not contain that outside of Chirrut and Baze some of the more emotional moments were good but more situational then that of intimate and emotionally honest. Even the prequels had this feeling of intimacy with the characters even though they were poorly written and executed there was this overall feeling of a different kind of emotional connection that only Star Wars knows how to bring . This was just the biggest flaw all around I felt, though you cared about the characters there was still a disconnect and emotional gap that was missing. Andor was hard to pin down and some of Jyn was as well.
The second thing is the score. Michael has been my number one choice to replace Williams when he retires, I still think he could do it, and I know that Rogue One's score was written and produced in 4 weeks with a massively rushed schedule. It was good music, but no where near what Williams has brought. No real outstanding themes.
Some minor things like pacing issues in the first few acts, some of the over the top nods to the original trilogy. Just like TFA there are like 4 moments where you have to kind of roll your eyes. (Blue milk). Saw was really mediocre and just kind of there. Krennic was not near as amazing as he could have been. Also there are two CGI characters people know about, the really big one is actually amazingly done, a few shots where it's noticeable but extremely well done. However the last CGI character....they really should not have put that in at all, it kind of took me out for a moment.
The last low was we had a group of friends that went with us. Two of them are not really big Star Wars fan, and honestly they were confused a lot. Some of it made me realize even though The Force Awakens borrows from A New Hope, it really stands on it's own more. For a Stand-alone film Rogue One really does not stand alone, it's so connected to A New Hope they were confused and probably should have seen the original film before viewing this. So if a non-Star Wars Fan goes into this blind, I don't think they will like the film much at all. It does require knowledge of the universe to a small degree.
But overall Rogue One is great film. It is a wonderful tale showing a different shade of the Star Wars universe and promising many more things to come. Those afraid that Disney could not try some new and unique things are 100% wrong and Rogue One shows this. Though the film lacks some of the previous Star Wars film character intimacy and emotional honesty this film is a high quality Star Wars adventure giving an injection of freshness and expansiveness and showing people the Extended Universe can work and Star Wars has endless possibilities. Those that may not be as much into character driven films like The Force Awakens may like this more action filled version a little more.
Pros:
-Fresh story and perspective
-Good characters
-Amazing visuals
-Some of the best action sequences in a Star Wars film
-Expands the galaxy greatly
-Chirrut and Baze
-Amazing new designs and art work all around
-Feels extremely lived in and Star Wars.
Cons:
-The characters for the most part lack intimacy and connection that others in main series are known for and some of the charm
-The music is good but pales in John Williams previous masterpieces
-Some pacing issues, Saw's character, the last CGI character, and some of the over the top winks and nods
-The film relies on A New Hope much more than I thought it would. Not as stand-alone as it could have been.
Bottom Line: Rogue One is another great addition to the Star Wars universe. Showing that you can expand the universe into new genres, tales, and areas for many many years to come. Though lacking in some of the heart and soul/charm of Empire, Hope, and Awakens Rogue One stands proud and tall and gives everyone another great Star Wars addition.
Score:
9.0/10
The Empire Strikes Back-10/10
A New Hope- 9.7/10
The Force Awakens 9.5/10
Rogue One 9.0/10
Return of the Jedi 8.8/10
The Phantom Menace 6.5/10
Revenge of the Sith 5.5/10
Attack of the Clones 4.5/10
