ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

“Save the Rebellion! Save the dream!”

Last year’s The Force Awakens was not only a huge commercial and critical success, but also proved that Star Wars films can be good in the modern age, prequels aside. This year, we have the first of the Star Wars Anthology films, a series of spin-off movies set in the Star Wars universe. Rogue One, detailing the Rebellion’s efforts to steal the plans of the first Death Star, is our first taste of those films. Shocking news: It’s actually fucking awesome.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get on the Rogue One band wagon until the third trailer was released. Up until then, it looked like a fan film. A bloody good one, but not quite Star Wars as I knew and loved it. Then, thankfully, this trailer spread across the Internet:

You’d be a fool not to admit that looks great.

Anywho, back to the actual film. The plot focuses on Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, the daughter of the architect of the Death Star, as she joins forces with the Rebellion to find her father and recover the plans detailing the Space Station’s weakness. I think what works best about the plot, is that, when you boil it down to the bare essentials, it’s not a Star Wars film. It’s more of a heist-type film, filled to the brim with Original Trilogy brilliance. It’s not necessarily as fast paced as The Force Awakens was, but the pay off at the end of the film is nearly on the same level, perhaps even slightly better. Believe me, it will leave you in a very good mood. Whilst it may not be as fast paced, it does have some of the saga's greatest skirmishes to date. Every one packs a punch, and at the same time, they're all a lot of fun.

As the film is set directly before the events of Episode 4, Rogue One shares a lot of the same looks of the Original Trilogy, but with the best CGI the saga has seen to date. If the trailers don’t make you believe that, a huge cinema screen will. Whether it’s new planets, new vehicles or anything in between, Rogue One will have you in awe. I found myself, more than once, wondering if a Star Destroyer was a real model like back in the good old days, or just some pixels on a screen.

Difficult, isn't it?

And yes, much like every film these days, there is a lot of CGI in Rogue One. There kind of has to be, but at the same time, it continues what the Force Awakens did in using pratical effects where and when they’re needed, as it makes the film look so much better when you’re watching.

Earlier I mentioned that it was set, well, literally minutes before the end of Episode 4. This of course means the return of a few characters fans know and love, the most obvious of which is of course cinema’s greatest ever villain, Darth Vader. Gareth Edwards, much like he did with Godzilla back in 2014, makes Vader’s presence felt throughout the film, even when the dark lord isn’t on screen.

Prepare for the return of cinema's greatest...

Granted, Vader doesn’t have the biggest role in the film, but, honestly, I think this is for the better. It allows the new characters to shine on their own. But fear not, just you wait until the end. Vader gets his time to shine, and it’s nothing short of magnificent.

Vader aside, the film's main antagonist comes in the form of Ben Mendelsohn's Orson Krennic, the Imperial Officer in-charge of the Death Star project.

For a role in which he only gets one film to, not only build his character up from nothing, but also portray a surprisingly complex character, Mendelsohn does a great job. He's not the saga's greatest villain, but he serves his purpose in the film better than most villains have in recent years.

There are of course other characters that return from Star Wars’ past, both from the prequels and original trilogy. I won’t go into them in too much detail, because the surprise of seeing them on screen again is something you shouldn’t have ruined. And having these characters return, for however short or however long, just goes further in making the film that much better, both as a stand-alone and as a bridge between the two trilogies. Be sure to keep an eye out, there’s more than you think.

Speaking of new characters, there’s a lot to go around. While Felicity Jones does do a fantastic job in the role of Jyn Erso, I can’t say she was the best part in the film.

Don't get me wrong, she plays the part brilliantly, but there always felt like there was something missing. A part of her character that was maybe glossed over. I want to say something like she needed more wit, but I can see why she doesn't have as much as other characters do. Missing part aside, Jones does a terrific job in the role, especially considering she's following in the footsteps of Daisy Ridley's Rey.

Jones aside, the top performances were a joint effort, the first half of which goes to Alan Tudyk’s K2SO, the film’s Droid.

He serves as the film’s comic relief for the most part, but unlike a lot of films these days, nearly every joke ends with the audience laughing. Within one film, he became more likeable than C3PO has been in seven. The other best performance goes to Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe, a blind, staff wielding believer in the Force.

The mix of martial arts and genuine emotion he brings to the role is a joy to watch, especially as he is the film’s central link to the Force. He is very much the film's Jedi, which is something everyone will enjoy.

I only really have two gripes with the film, both of which are nit-picks at best. The first, which will become apparent when the movie starts, is that's there's no opening crawl. Not the biggest problem ever faced by man-kind, but, Y'know...It's Star Wars. The second is that, looking back over the trailers, there's a lot of footage in them that isn't in the film. For some films, that's a problem, not so much for Rogue One. Mysteriously missing footage aside, it's still great.

When all said and done, Rogue One, is, pardon my French, fucking brilliant. You can tell from the minute the film opens that everyone who worked on it poured their hear and soul into it. That being said, is Rogue One better than Episode 7? That’s the question everyone is trying to figure out. For certain, Rogue One has a far more original story, that much is a given. And yes, the CGI looks years ahead of any I’ve seen recently. But is it better? Honestly, I don’t know. Both of them are hugely enjoyable watches, that much I do know. It’s a shame, because I doubt this will do as well as Force Awakens did at the box office.

For the saga’s first delve into the ever-increasing extended universe, Rogue One is a bloody good attempt, especially given the strict ways it’s forced to work around what’s already been made, but it’s clear the film-makers have done their research. You think the Marvel films are well connected? This beats them by a land slide. All I know for absolute certain, above anything else, is that Rogue One just became the best Star Wars prequel ever made. Not difficult, I know, but for a film that most people disregarded when it was announced, bravo to them. The cinematography, the CGI, the plot, everything.

Rogue One is one of those films that, as you think about it afterwards, the layers build up, and it gets better and better in your head. And rightly so. For a film based off of the opening crawl for Episode 4, it's nothing short of outstanding. You'll walk out of the cinema wanting to rush home and watch Episode 4. And maybe, just maybe, a future classic has just been released.