Rogue One - Not Just Visually Grand But Has Heart Too

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2017)

I don't think any Star Wars movies I've seen(at least those released since 1999) thrilled me the way Rogue One did - it has all the characters (humans, droids, aliens from different planets) and all those space ships, weapons or mammoth space stations like the earlier releases that fascinates one about Star Wars but also, the effects and the dark tone really captured my imagination.
And I don't mean dark tone in a negative way. To see many of the major Alliance characters fight bravely and die in their war against the Empire only made the story of Rogue One more believable and likable for me. Of course there were moments that didn't make sense or fails to convince but that didn't matter, it was an enjoyable watch from start to end. It was also good to see many popular stars among the cast like Mads Mikkelsen, Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker, Donnie Yen or Ben Mendelsohn. Mendelsohn as the ambitious, military director Krennic is my favorite performance among the lot. But my best part of the movie is when Darth Vader shows up in the climax - that entire scene of him is only a minute long but must have got the loudest whistles in the theatres. Verdict - this Star Wars is dark, funny, emotional, feel good, suspense...whatever I wanted or more from an action adventure, science fiction in space. A big thumbs up.