Rebellions Are Built on Hope

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2016)

Is it as good as The Force Awakens or really, any of the original trilogy? No, but it doesn't need to be. Rogue One benefits from its originality, even if it does tie directly into A New Hope.
There's a lot of good and plenty of not so good with Rogue One, but luckily the Star Wars universe is alive and well. And I think there's no question that the non-saga movies are here to stay. I think that's the biggest positive coming out of this film that Lucasfilm/Disney would like to hear; we fans want to see more of these movies. As great as it is to follow the Skywalkers, it's always nice to expand the galaxy with new stories.
This story, told in the opening crawl from A New Hope, is about a team of rag-tag rebels who band together to steal the plans to the infamous Death Star. The team consists of Jyn Erso, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi, and a droid, K-2SO. The majority of the cast does a nice job, particularly Felicity Jones (Erso), adding another strong female lead to Star Wars lore. The entire first act is structured around setting up the team and giving each character their own depth and reasoning for joining the rebellion.
Therein lies one of the main issues with the film, its pacing. It doesn't have the rapid pace of TFA, the plot takes its time, and there are points where that pacing starts to drag. Drag feels like a dirty word when it comes to filmmaking, but I think if the film was cut down 10 minutes or so, the film would have been more even. With that said, we know from reports that the film was restructured a bit after re-shoots and rewrites tweaked the tone. I won't say that its blatantly obvious, but there are certainly a few points in the film that don't seem to work alongside the rest of the story. For example, Forest Whitaker's character, Saw Gerrera? Completely wasted. In fact, his character was distracting and totally unnecessary to the overall plot.
Enough complaining though, let's get into the good stuff. Whether the reworked material was Gareth Edwards doing or not, I think he did a phenomenal job directing this film. You can tell he's a big Star Wars nerd by identifying all of the little cameos and nods to the original films (most of them really work). And the space battles? Wow. Some of the most impressive cinematography and direction I have seen in any sci-fi/fantasy film. The third act is truly remarkable. He makes some bold decisions, narratively. Really, really bold.
As with most Star Wars films, the droids tend to be the scene stealers, and the same can be said for K-2SO. The script itself has some questionably written dialogue, but I have no gripes with anything that came from Alan Tudyk's lovable droid. I also thought Ben Mendelsohn was great as Krennic, the Lieutenant Commander of the Empire. He gets a moment with Vader that is classic Star Wars at its best. He's also not overly cartoonish. He has his motives and his arc fits those motives. Something that was a bit cartoonish, however, is the CGI re- creation of Grand Moff Tarkin. It's not that the CGI was bad, but the amount that he was in it, and the fact that he had scenes next to real people, got more and more distracting as the film went on. However, I don't think the same can be said for the brief Leia re-creation towards the end.
Overall, Rogue One is pretty awesome. The third act is relentlessly thrilling, with satisfying scene after satisfying scene. But there are plenty of messy aspects to the film as well. With every great thing, there is a little bad. Of course I love seeing Darth Vader rip through dozens of rebels, but do I think that fit tonally with the rest of the film? Absolutely not. There's a lot to love, but I can't dismiss the film for having no flaws. But without question, it is worth seeing.
+Great team for the most part
+Bold direction
+Updated space battles, cinematography
-CGI re-creation of Tarkin & Whitaker were distracting
-Some things were tonally off
7.8/10