A New Hope for the Alliance

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2016)

"Rogue One" relates the events leading up to the beginning of "A New Hope," explaining how the Rebel Alliance got its hands on the plans for the Death Star. In tone, it's far more somber than any of its predecessors. The characters are all beleaguered revolutionaries, and the predominant mood of the film is gritty resolve. By definition, this means that this entry is lacking the sense of whimsy and adventure that defined the original trilogy, and its biggest flaw for me was the absence of compelling and colorful characters.
But on its own terms this is a worthy entry in the "Star Wars" canon, and I think I liked it more than "The Force Awakens." While that film certainly had fun and adventure to spare, it was thinly written; in contrast, "Rogue One" has a much richer and more sophisticated screenplay. The last quarter of the movie is incredibly exciting, taking the story right up to where "A New Hope" starts, and I dare any true "Star Wars" fan not to mist up at the very last scene.
I had a lot of trouble getting past the absence of the iconic "Star Wars" themes (John Williams did not do the music for this one). Brief strains of them occur here and there throughout the movie, and the main theme plays during the end credits, so I'm not sure why the original music couldn't have been incorporated more robustly into the entire film.
Grade: A