Rogue One: A "Star Wars" Story

Rating: 6/10 (17 December 2016)

This was my most anticipated film for 2016. I was more excited for this film than most people were, which is why this is so heartbreaking. I know I'm in the minority for this; a lot of people are enjoying this movie and I hate to rain on someone's parade, but I've got to be honest; I didn't think this was that good of a movie.
The first trailer they released back in April (the one with the chill-inducing Empire sirens), before the re shoots, include like 50% of footage that didn't even make it into the film. Where are they? I get it though, re shoots are common; most big-budget movies do them. However, re watching that trailer again and remembering how f'in excited I got from the possibility of seeing a hard-hitting, war-central Star Wars movie with a dark, ominous tone just made me even more disappointed with the film we actually got.
I loved 'The Force Awakens'. Yes, it borrowed excessively from 'A New Hope', but at least it felt like a Star Wars movie. ROGUE ONE on the other hand feels like a number of different things all thrown together; at times it was a gritty war film, other times it was a lighthearted comedy, and then we also got a space opera in there as well. This inconsistent and, honestly, incongruous mesh of tones ultimately brought the film down, which is frustrating given that when it focused entirely on one of the three aspects, it worked to a tee.
Without giving away any spoilers, there was a certain CG character that, when you first see, is really quite shocking and uncanny. But my issues with it are more than just how it was done; it's why it was done. Personally, and this is just me, I thought what Disney/Lucasfilm did was unethical and wrong.
If I were to rank the strengths of this film, Ben Mendelsohn would end up quite high on that list. He was such a different, yet remarkable Star Wars antagonist; if there was one character I wanted to learn more about, coming out of the theatre, it was without a doubt Orson Krennic. Other standouts included Donnie Yen, who has more than a few character-defining moments, and Diego Luna, who added a lot more depth to an otherwise underdeveloped character. In fact, I found most of the characters here underdeveloped and rather two-dimensional. I guess it's my fault I didn't take the time to read 'Catalyst', which is a novel in the Star Wars canon that apparently leads straight into ROGUE ONE. But then again, a movie should stand up as a movie and not rely on additional material. Do I really need to spend an extra 20 bucks and invest in hours of homework to 'get' this film and care about the characters?
Apart from a couple scenes where she's actually quite good in, Felicity Jones just didn't do it for me; she consistently felt too one-note and passive in critical moments where I wanted her to step up and just blow the roof off the place. Someone else that was disappointing was Forest Whitaker. I love the guy as an actor, but what on God's green earth was he doing with his voice? It was so cringe and off-putting that I was pulled out of the film a number of times.
Death Vader isn't featured much in the movie, but his looming presence is certainly felt. It's just; I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by his minimal involvement. But I understand why he was used as sparingly as he was.
One thing I thought ROGUE ONE did better than 'The Force Awakens', and absolutely deserves credit for, is expanding on the universe and enriching it rather than playing off it and making it feel smaller whether it be with characters that are not the obligatory Skywalkers or Solos, gorgeously imagined worlds, and novel thematic explorations.
This is a Star Wars movie I believe kids won't enjoy as much; this is definitely more tailored to adults. And while that may have originally been a good idea, now having seen the movie I realize that was the wrong move. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a different change of pace. But Disney, if you're going to put the "War" in Star Wars (I hate myself for using that phrase) then don't half- ass it. Don't get cold feet halfway through and re shoot the movie in order to lighten up the tone because then we end up with a film that doesn't know what it's trying to be.
With all that being said, I have to admit that as many faults as this movie had, the final act is pretty incredible. They made some bold choices I didn't think they'd make but that felt right for the story, and I applaud director Gareth Edwards and Lucasfilm for that. In fact, the last few minutes are some of the greatest minutes in any Star Wars movie, leading into and tying very nicely with 'A New Hope'.
Overall, this is a movie I don't feel inclined to rush back and watch on the big screen. The only reason I ended up investing (kinda) in the characters is because of the actors playing them; the writing under services everyone except for a select few like Krennic and K-2SO. I appreciated the tone they went for with the 'war' aspect, but the constant tonal clashes pulled me out and the action, while some of the best we've ever seen in a Star Wars movie, got repetitive pretty quickly. If for nothing else, the last thirty minutes of ROGUE ONE is something to cherish. Now that's a movie I'd watch over and over again.