Not your father's Star Wars

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2016)

Some good friends of mine went Thursday evening, and only said, "Dark, we won't be taking our children to see this."
I add the word "Brilliant".
If you need fluffy fantasy space opera, you're not going to enjoy this. If you need Jedi masters and Sith lords doing the impossible, there's not much here for you.
If everything absolutely, positively has to be all right at the end credits, you probably should stay away.
If you're prepared to face the reality that evil sometimes becomes strong and the only way to fight it is to fight to the death, literally to the death, you may find this as good a movie as I did.
Right from the first, there is no blaring fanfare, no yellow letters running diagonally back, back, back into infinity. My first reaction was, "Hmm, that doesn't sound like John Williams music." And it wasn't. Michael Giacchino, who gave us the fine music for the latest Star Trek movies, scored this. There are the necessary referrals to John Williams' music, but no more than is necessary.
Then there is egregious murder and ruthless Imperial bullying. There is the gritty life of the underbelly of those who either resist, or at least don't cooperate with the great Empire.
So much has been made of the blind monk Chirrut Imwe, played by Donnie Yen. He's a great character. He's no Yoda, but he doesn't need to be. In fact, for this story he needs NOT to be.
The great revelation to me was K-2SO, a reprogrammed Imperial droid, whose voice is provided by Alan Tudyk. I wish that had been C-3PO's character! I can show his character in one line, spoken with that flat, almost-depressed tone: "I'll be there for you." (Jyn looks surprised) "The captain said I had to."
Most blessed of all, there is no one who has never had any training but who, suddenly, miraculously, is a master of the force, and no one is more surprised than she/he. There are none of the rabbit- out-of-a- hat surprises that Star Wars has done better than any other franchise. For instance, when suddenly the grim, grizzled veterans look to pretty young Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) for leadership, it makes perfect sense.
Lastly, in order to defeat an almost-omnipotent Galactic Empire, somebody's going to have to die. And it may be somebody you love.
Be prepared.
This may be the best chapter in the Star Wars saga, because, beyond all hope, it is the most real.