Director: Gareth
Edwards
Notable Cast: Felicity
Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz
Ahmed, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Jimmy Smits, James Earle Jones
Even before The Force
Awakens was released, I was already feeling more hyped for Rogue One. The talent on and off screen
for the film partnered with the concept of having a team of renegades steal the
plans for the Death Star to kick off the events of A New Hope just appealed to me in so many more ways. Now that the
first Star Wars Story is out to reign
destruction on the box office worldwide, the question has to be asked…does it
fulfill on those promises? Quite frankly, it does. After a slew of worrisome
turns concerning massive reshoots, changed tones, and new talent being brought
in to make it more Star Wars-y, Rogue One would seemingly pull off
exactly what it intended to do: expand the universe without stepping too far
out of bounds to alienate the fans. In fact, it rides the line so well that it
may end up being one of the best Star
Wars films to date falling shy of The
Empire Strikes Back, but rising above the others by limiting the fantasy
elements and adding in enough grit and darkness to make it feel like its own
film. It’s still definitely an entry into this iconic franchise with some of
its fan pandering and it could have gone darker for my tastes, but still the
film massively entertains and retains that kind of emotional punch needed
for this story to add to the layering of the original trilogy.