Review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) by Trevon C — 22 May 2017

This film exceeded all of my expectations considering that I pretty much knew the plot and outcome before it started. I liked it better than all of the previous star wars films. The reason is that it preserves and enhances that gritty realism of episodes 4-6 while taking out much of the force mythology which is not a strong suit of the series in my opinion.

I am also a sucker for well done and realistic war movies and this more than makes the grade as such. The empire is finally portrayed as an effective and imposing military force as in the first act of Episode V rather than the usual Keystone Kops who can't hit the side of a barn with a blaster.

The scene with Darth Vader at the end is particularly powerful and shocking due to the fact that force powers are not overused as they are in many of the other films. Killing off main characters also adds a refreshing sense of realism to these movies.

Director Krennic is well developed/ acted and is believable as a result .There is just enough character development to draw you towards the protagonists, yet the action moves swiftly as a thriller should in the last act.

While controversial, the use of CGI characters was seemless from my perspective. That said, the close-up of the princess didn't quite work right. The sci-fi set eye candy and superb acting help make up for the slower character development scenes in the early part of the film.

K-2SO is delightful as sardonic comic relief throughout. There are also plenty of easter eggs to keep genre fans happy. If you like a realistic and well done war movie, immersion into a sci-fi universe, solid acting and character development, well placed sardonic humor, an escalating fast pace to thriller status, and a nice neat ending then I recommend you watch this film.

I have watched it 4x so far.