Rogue One is a prequel to the original Star Wars movie. It’s the only one of the “Disney” Star Wars films that I can honestly say I enjoyed. It’s not a great film, but it is a good film. Let me explain why.
Characters that the audience likes, and root for.
The cast is an ensemble of ragtag rebels that are trying to smuggle the plans for the Death Star to the main rebel group. And the audience cares about each character, to various degrees. And as the body count grows, the audience reacts with grief.
Death happens … to beloved characters.
“I am one with the Force. The Force is one with me.”
There is a blind Jedi (or near Jedi, or grey Jedi, etc.) in the film. He’s one of my favorites in the entire Star Wars film franchise. That says something about the caliber of the actor, given the amount of time that he has on screen in this one film. He has a touching death scene. And then his longtime friend, a mercenary who claims to not believe in anything … Picks up his weapon, and that line. And his death hits just as hard.
My family grieved for the death of a droid. Rightly so.
Negatives about Rogue One
- Cliches abound.
- The central protagonist, Jyn Erso, comes from a broken home, a lost child, who had a difficult upbringing, estranged father, with parental issues. Hmm. That sounds exactly like Luke Skywalker. Or Rey, for that matter.
- Ragtag ensemble of rebels.
- Bad guy walks down a ramp surrounded by storm troopers to the sound of intimidating music. Vader did it much better, by the way.
- Characters gett rescued at the last moment by someone else shooting the bad guy.
- Big battle in outer space destroying the macguffin.
- The heroine, Jyn, is written like a male character. Had she been replaced with a male actor … nothing would have changed.
Editorial review of Rogue One courtesy of Amazon.com
Gareth Edwards directs this sci-fi adventure set in the ‘Star Wars’ universe, featuring a stand-alone story written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. After being recruited by Rebel Alliance leader Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), former criminal Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is tasked with stealing the plans for the Death Star so that the weapon can be destroyed before it causes damage to the galaxy. Teaming up with Rebel Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), master swordsman Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and a band of hardy freedom fighters, Jyn takes on the might of the Empire in a challenge tougher than anything she could have imagined. The cast also includes Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen and Alan Tudyk.