Can't Wait For the Sequel..."Rogue One"

Rogue One (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen,

Directed by Gareth Edwards

The Story:

Galen Erso (Mikkelsen) is an engineer brought back by force to the Empire to continue building an elaborate weapon known as the "Death Star". His daughter, Jyn (Jones) is sent into hiding. As the years pass, she ends up tangling with members of the Rebellion. Their hope is that sending a group of mercenaries to steal plans for the weapon, they have a chance of destroying it, and defeating the Empire.

May the Force be with them.

Well, if you're going to tell a prequel to Star Wars about how the Rebel Alliance stole the plans for the Death Star, this is about the best movie you could hope for.

A great assemblage of new characters that by the time...

Spoiler Alert...

They all die...

You'll be sad and wish most of them would have been spared somehow and could come back in future, past installments.

But alas...

You know it's not possible because you've already seen Star Wars.

Standout favorites from Jyn's supporting team include Cassian Andor (Luna) as this film's scoundrel; K-2SO (Tudyk) as the reprogrammed Empirical droid with a sarcastic bent; and Chirrut Imwe (Yen) the coolest addition to the Star Wars mythos since the original series premiered.

And speaking of the original series...

Yes, I'm going to nitpick and say that I did indeed miss the opening crawl of the Star Wars saga.

It's part of what gives the whole saga an interlocked feel, and by keeping that opening, just drop the "Episode #" if nothing else, I think it would have added to the film, especially since they throw the bone of "A Long Time Ago..." at the beginning.

Also missing, John Williams score.

It's amazing how much that music influences the series, and little bits of it pop up here and there as appropriate, but it's quite unfair to hold any other composers to the John Williams standard...

But this is Star Wars we're talking about, prequel or not.

Final Grade: B