Decent first instalment to the anthology series

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2016)

This film is the first in the series of Star Wars Anthology films which are basically side-stories which don't necessarily follow the plot of the main series (good vs evil). This movie does feel different to the main series but still keeps the Star Wars essence in there which was great as that was exactly what the movie was opting for and it was achieved well. The movie lives up to the title of 'Star Wars' quite literally unlike the other films; we see lots of galactic warfare not seen in any other Star Wars film before. The film is also shot with lots of hand-held-cam which gives a 'warzone'-type feel to it which I liked. Other sides of the galaxy that aren't focused on in the main series are shown in this movie, showing other sides of the Empire and how they operate outside of destroying Rebels. It also shows how life is for regular people who aren't getting caught up in the war mess which helps to capture the feel of this being one big universe with many things going on inside it other than the story of the Skywalkers. Felicity Jones was good as the lead character Jyn Erso; her character was explored well and was good to root for. There were some members of the supporting cast that stood out, the droid K-2SO with its charisma and the force-sensitive guy too. However the others, while nice to have around, didn't really receive much development and felt quite one-dimensional at times. I also found many characters to be under-used like Forest Whitaker's character for example who I think should've played a bigger part in the story and was necessary for a lot more of it I believe. This movie blew me away visually; this has got to be one of the best-looking movies I have seen in a long time. It is absolutely outstanding to look at and I would happily have any image from this film as a screensaver or wallpaper. The CGI is also mind-blowing; there are a few characters who appeared in the original who were recreated with CGI in this film but it honestly looks amazing. You'll likely forget that the Special Edition ever existed. The thing I probably loved the most about this film was the final act and ending and how it all tied together with the rest of the trilogy. I won't go into spoilers but I just have to say it was absolutely great and there was no better way to end the film. I was quite disappointed by the lack of screen time from Darth Vader. If he hadn't been shown in the trailers and used as marketing then I probably would've been less annoyed by his short appearance but he could've easily been used in more of the story. However, he felt truly like his character in the scenes he was in and only said things his character would say and not rubbish like "NOOO!!!!". Let's just forget that line was ever spoken. The references to other Star Wars films were great and fit in very well and I couldn't stop myself from smiling multiple times. It just goes to show that this material is in the hands of people who understand how much these films mean to many. Overall, this was a pretty decent movie with amazing visuals, a good lead character and also great references to other Star Wars films. My only issues were lack of character development for some of the supporting characters and that some of the characters were under-used in my opinion like Forest Whitaker's character and Darth Vader. This film has made me intrigued to see more of the anthology films and I hope they'll expand the universe more like this movie did. 7.7/10