The 'Force' may be strong, but it hurts.

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2016)

'Rogue One' is the prequel to 'A New Hope' and the sequel to 'Revenge of the Sith'. Confused yet?......I know. I don't consider myself to be a huge 'Star Wars' fanboy, but I do have respect for this property and have seen all the films up to this point. So I will try to be as fair as possible in this review.
1. Coming off his failed attempt at revamping 'Godzilla', director Gareth Edwards does an exceptional job with handling this movie. It was hard to believe, but Edwards does in fact prove himself to be the breakout director of 2016. Some of the shots in this film are beautiful, especially when it pans over the vast landscapes. The set-pieces are amazing for the planets that they travel to, and the production design is incredibly creative. ILM just gets better and better with developing CGI, which leads to amazing generated imagines, especially with the Starships and the infamous 'Death- Star' during the climactic battle scene.
2. My first complaint comes in the form of the characters and their acting. I am in no way a fan of Daisy Ridley's performance in 'The Force Awakens', but she overshadows Felicity Jones (Jyn) as yet another lanky British female lead with family abandonment. I know Jones has proved herself as being an exceptional actress, but there's nothing that special about her here. The same goes for Diego Luna (Cassian), but the performances in general are not that outstanding except for a few supporting characters. However, the humor displayed by the droid K-2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk), makes him a sheer scene-stealer throughout.
3. I must say, this film is probably the darkest of the saga thus far, which in turn plays to it's advantage. It's not as heavy-handed on the action until the last third, and I appreciate the fact that they saved the best surprises for last. Although, I personally felt that the film took a little too long to build the momentum in the beginning, but gladly it picks up. I must warn audiences though, with a dark tone comes sad and depressing moments. Not saying it's a bad thing, but many characters face tragic deaths throughout. With the stakes being so tense and the tone so dark, the film lacks the element of fun excitement, which can be a problem for some.
4. The true show-stopper of this entire movie is indeed Darth Vadar himself, voiced by the returning and legendary James Earl Jones. He is by far the greatest villain in cinematic history, and he is scarier than he has ever been every time he graces the screen. Ben Mendelsohn (Krennic) is the actual antagonist of the film, since Vadar's role is technically supposed to be a cameo/guest role. Mendelsohn does a great job, but not as a hands-on bad guy. The chances that this movie takes and it's badass moments, pushes it past 'The Force Awakens' for me, cause it is actually better. Once you can look pass the tone, it's truly enjoyable.
'The Empire Strikes Back' still holds the mantle, but 'Rogue One' comes in as a solid third just behind 'A New Hope'. Prequels usually don't feel as natural as they should most of the time, but this flawlessly transitions it's was into 'A New Hope' by the very end.