Star Wars as A Bridge Too Far

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2017)

I was a bit wary of the star wars spin off stories when I first heard they were coming, and I'm still a bit apprehensive about the young Han Solo movie and I've never had any interest in a Boba Fett film, but if they're all to the quality of this then we've nothing to worry about. In fact if they live up to this then run to the cinema on the first day. I love the way this expands the universe but feels thoroughly grounded in and bonded to the originals. Its far darker in tone than much of the rest of the Star Wars universe and much of the humour of a Leia, Han or even a Po Dameron or a Finn is missing. But this is a war film after all and the stunning final act brings this home with the best and most realistic battle sequences ever in Star Wars. Some have marked this film down as they had no empathy or feel for the new set of characters but I had none of these problems and re-watches only made me feel more for the sacrifices they were making in the hope for a better future. Another so called problem was the CG re-creations of original characters but for me this helped bond this to A New Hope, for sure they were not perfect, but many people who did not know they were re-creations did not even notice. And to top it off we get probably the most bad ass Darth Vader scene we'll ever see. Superb.