Rogue One can be called the most above average Star Wars prequel. Whether or not that is a strong title to hold, it’s also become one of the only projects within the sequel trilogy era of Star Wars to be held with any sense of enjoyment (outside of The Mandalorian). Most people seemed to be pretty happy to return to this specific portion of the Star Wars timeline (which would become a lot more common afterwards) and see how such a pivotal element of the original trilogy was found and delivered, resulting in a Star Wars story that managed to generally appease all who saw it (which for Star Wars, is pretty impressive nowadays). The movie follows Jyn Erso (played by Felicity Jones) a young woman whose father, Galen (played by Mads Mikkelsen) is an imperial research scientist responsible for the creation of the infamous Death Star. Despite living on the run after her father was taken away from her at a young age, she is eventually found by the rebellion and asked to help them after discovering that her father may be trying to defect and has knowledge of the Death Star that could be crucial to their side. After finding out that he left a weakness in the weapon, she along with a rogue assassin, Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) form a group that will be responsible for retrieving these plans, which included a blind warrior with force sensitivity named Chirrut (played by Donnie Yen), his gun-wielding bodyguard named Baze (played by Jiang Wen), an imperial pilot defect named Bodhi (played by Riz Ahmed)  and a snarky droid named K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk). Sneaking into enemy territory for what is by all accounts a suicide mission, this rebel group will need to give everything they have to obtain this small but crucial information which would turn the tide for the rebellion going further. The film has promising elements, impressive aesthetics and technical and captures a gritter tone that the Star Wars universe is not especially familiar with, but it feels rushed and unfocused in various places due to the multiple rewrites and re shoots that the film went through. If it wasn’t for the side characters, effects, cinematography and action, it would have been a pretty basic Star Wars flick.

The story written by John Knoll and Gary Whitta itself suffers because of the audience’s knowledge of what the outcome will be, but it cleverly kept the cast to brand new characters so whether they would survive or not would be a complete mystery. It has moments of wasted set-ups throughout and most of them don’t result in anything worthwhile, and it makes certain scenes that should be big emotional set pieces completely miss because of the film’s inability to stand still and establish set up, constantly moving from point to point with not much character motivation or emotional depth being explored within. The script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy mostly comes across as too quickly set-up and completed, or majorly underacted and ineffective. This also makes the plot feel very confused and muddled, never finding a proper standing ground to explain the ins and outs of everything and everyone, leading to forgotten character motivations and backstories. Even though overall the film is mundane and slightly underwhelming, the climax of this film makes up for it in bucket loads. It’s a full length 40 min roller coaster of amazing propositions. It never gets dull, and it varies from the fast-paced star fighter space battles, to the realistically shot ground level war zone shootouts. It keeps on building throughout and escalates the action to the next level, adding in new elements that the previous Star Wars film never had, as well as returning to the traditional way of doing the action that the previous few Star Wars films failed at. The movie is also effectively darker and harsher than the other films in a very realistic manner, but this doesn’t destroy or ruin anything surprisingly.  The film is portrayed and has an atmosphere very similar to a war environment, with a much heavier emphasis on dark and bleaker set ups and less focus on light and fantastical space travel. This personal touch and abrasive tone feel completely alien to the Star Wars films in the best way. It gives the movie its own personality and visual identity, which adds to the harsher worlds, characters, and inevitable and calamitous ending, arguably saving it from what would have been an unfeeling closing note. The action is shot more intensely and the characters all have an overall feel of dread and cynicism to them, but not too much to be upsetting. Though not having a perfect balance, its never too dark to have levity.

The biggest problem that the film has is that even though the side characters are good, the main two leads are especially dull and forgettable. Despite having the most screen time, both never establish any strong personality traits, have no interesting pasts or backstories, and are seemingly directed to be exactly average in every regard. The director, Gareth Edwards, has a habit of creating films with very bland main characters, like the 2014 Godzilla film, and this is no exception. Both Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are capable of putting in good performances and nothing about their acting is bad in this film, but they don’t bring anything new or special to make them stand out from any other lead in any Star Wars film or even any war film. The side characters however offer a lot more personality and entertainment to the film. Though they aren’t anything that special as characters go in films of this type, any sense of charm and intrigue is better than nothing in a film like this. They bring their own unique spin to their performances and feel like a new breath in this Star Wars universe. The villain played by Ben Mendelsohn is fun, being the insult sponge for his superiors which results in a lot of entertaining outbursts, but still manages to portray a decent opponent. Other side characters played by Forrest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen are acted well but are left out of large chunks of the film for too long to get any real sense of connection with them. The film also includes fully CG people to replicate the look of either elderly or deceased actors from how they looked in A New Hope. Even though at times they do look quite impressive, the uncanny valley makes them look more like plastic dolls than real people, mainly due to the overly smooth skin textures or the lip animations when talking.

From a visual standpoint, this movie might actually be the best-looking Star Wars films to date. While it doesn’t feature as many colorful locales, creative designs and fantastical elements, the presentation on this film feels much bigger and more cinematic than others before it. The film is also shot beautifully by cinematographer Greig Fraser. The composition around these shots not only captures the scope of each new planet and show them as liveable environments, but also gets the grand sweeping shots that gives them weight and magnitude. Each new location feels unique and pleasing to look at, with cool and different ambiance to Star Wars locations. They range from moody shadowy locales, to wide-open, immensely bright, and colorful settings. However, the film often jumps around a lot so there isn’t much time to enjoy a specific location.  Most of the action during the first and second act are nothing worth talking about and don’t leave too much of an impression, but all of this is made up for when it reaches the climax, which (as previously stated), gives the audience the best battle scene they’ve seen in a good long while. It captures the aggressive, close-quarters and massive scale of a war film on the ground level scenes, while also showcasing the high-flying, tightly filmed, and awe-inspiring dog fights in space that haven’t look as good since the original trilogy.  It looks great, it sounds great, it has moments of comedy and threat placed in, its conclusion is risky for a film of its type but does leave a decent impression, and it’s an amazing final battle that caps the movie off in a fantastic manner.  It also gives the audience one of the best Darth Vader moments ever in film history, being both epic and terrifying at the same time. It makes up for most of the film’s more slower moments and leaves on a high note.

Rogue One is ironically one of the least ‘controversial’ Star Wars films to date and definitely was able to please the fans that aren’t always the easiest to appease, but as a package, the movie isn’t quite as strong as it could’ve been. Despite the films shortcomings, it still captures the essence of Star Wars in a fresh way along with memorable side characters, impressive cinematography, great effects, and an incredible climax. If the film’s main characters were better, the plot a little more interesting, and if it was more fleshed out, it could have been a great film. But instead, it’s a perfectly standard Star Wars film with a lot of cool moments sprinkled throughout. Not the worse, but also not the best, it’s a solid journey that’s lets you return to a familiar galaxy far, far away.

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