Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!...Again...some more...

Rating: 9/10 (15 December 2016)

To be fair, it IS the same Death Star from ANH, so technically there've only been three of them out of (now) eight movies. Yes, this is a prequel (Episodes I-III being prequels *wasn't* what the problem was with those movies), but thankfully it's the GOOD kind. Though you more or less know what's going to happen, it's the journey that matters...and it's one hell of a journey. Felicity Jones, as always, is absolutely lovely in her performance here as Jyn Erso (to those haters: bite your tongues, heathens!). Her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen, making the most of his screen time and sharing some emotionally effective scenes with his daughter both young and grown-up), finally addresses the exhaust port "plot hole" in the Death Star from the previous movies that was subject of much parody.
Jones, who was done a disservice in Inferno, is given better material to work with here (though I'd hoped for a different ending with her this time around). Her ability to convey the emotional/physical sides of Jyn convincingly shows why she was cast as the hardened 'badarse'. Jyn isn't 'perfect', doesn't do 'everything'/things nobody else can; she's flawed/makes mistakes and doesn't save the day all by herself. She's supported by a diverse group of characters who each bring something to the table, starting with Diego Luna's character, Cassian Andor, who's equally the hero Jyn is. They play off each other well; they fight/argue, rescue each other, and save the day together. Both actors do a remarkable job of giving their characters complexity, depth and building a believable relationship in enough time that by the end it truly resonates on an emotional level.
The same goes for the rest of the 'Rogue One' team. The best of which is robotic K-2SO, brought to life by Alan Tudyk. His dry line deliveries provide much of the movie's humour, but his character's also useful, his different relationships with Cassian and Jyn allow for many good moments, and he's definitely a character you'll care for by the end. Donnie Yen is also excellent as Chirrut Îmwe, who is "one with the Force" (and the Force is with him). Plus, he got the biggest laugh in my theatre. Rounding out the team are Wen Jiang as Baze Malbus and Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook. Each one's important and given time to shine, their camaraderie is earned over the course of the movie so the ending has maximum impact (people in my cinema had obviously grown attached to these characters, given their reactions). The movie truly feels like an ensemble piece. Those with less screen time, such as Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera and Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma (the spitting image of the original actress), are also good in their roles. Meanwhile, Ben Mendelsohn clearly knows exactly what type of movie he's in with his portrayal of Orson Krennic.
There're numerous character cameos (from both the OT and PT), some de-aging and even resurrecting of certain actors from the OT (which is quite the feat/impressive, although over-use of the latter spoils it a bit), and shout-outs/callbacks to the previous movies. Stormtroopers still have their classic bad aim. Darth Vader's in a small scene partway through the movie (he has a castle!), not reappearing until much later, but when he DOES...it's glorious/all you've ever wanted to see from him and *then* some. Watching him go to town with his lightsaber will make many fans happy, I'm sure. It's good to see him being scary again (the incomparable voice of James Earl Jones is as awesome/menacing as ever) after the PT nearly ruined him. Thankfully, there's no one word exclamations that make him sound like a sad cow this time. The directing's exciting (Gareth Edwards uses scale well), the action's thrilling, there's some great set pieces, the scenery on the different planets looks amazing (especially Scarif) and it's so good to be in this universe again, as Star Wars does 'space opera' like nobody else can (my audience was made up of a variety of different people, all clearly Star Wars fans, who cheered at various points throughout the film and applauded when the credits rolled, commenting how great the movie was). However, I wish that not such a significant portion of scenes/lines/moments from the trailers were missing from the actual movie. The music/score was also a bit much at times.
To those with issues regarding Jyn Erso as the film's 'lead', comparing her to Daisy Ridley as Rey, and/or whining about the use of more than one British brunette female character in the new SW movies, Felicity Jones said it best: "They both have dark hair and talk funny to you Americans and they're both in Star Wars...but, yes, remarkably two young British women CAN exist in the same cinematic galaxy. I know, CRAZY!". The "Is Jyn Rey's mother?" question is also answered definitively. As for the ridiculous claims of "too many of the same 'type' of woman" in the new movies, I'm sure there being two American males as the leads spanning across six movies wasn't regarded as "repetitive", so why so here? Why are there those threatened by women playing fictitious lead roles in movies when it's so often been men previously? Does the anger stem from there being CHANGE from what you think Star Wars 'should' be? And anyone who disagrees with your assessment has the same lazy over-used terms such as "Mary Sue" (apparently used for female characters who are skilled at more than one thing or get any sort of focus) and "Social Justice Warrior/SJW" tossed at them in place of actual solid justifiable arguments. There's this thing called 'confirmation bias' where, once you've made up your mind, everything will feed into your existing beliefs/theories/interpretation and you'll ignore anything you don't wish to hear. A word of advice: get over it. In the end, this is a movie about hope, and as for the naysayers...I find your lack of faith disturbing.