Overall boring and uninteresting, but great visuals

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2017)

Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla), is the first live action feature film taking place inside the Star Wars universe that isn't part of the episodes. The events take place right before the first Star Wars movie from 1977 and tells the tale of the group of rebels that acquired the plans of the Death Star, as talked about and used in the 1977 movie. The main protagonist of the movie is Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is part of the rebellion group that stole the secret plans of the Death Star.
Now, this movie wasn't necessary at all. Nobody asked or waited for this movie to happen, but it's Star Wars (!), so why on earth wouldn't you want to make another movie taking place in this universe? As long as you get a competent, enjoyable movie out of it, a lot of fans and non-fans won't complain too much about this movie being made. But that's just the problem. While the first sequence of this movie is intriguing, the remainder of the first act and the entire second act are boring, messy and utterly disappointing. You get introduced to many characters on different planets exchanging uninteresting dialogue, and although there are some funny moments and thrilling scenes, the point of it all was lost on me. The other issue, besides the uninteresting events throughout the first and second act, is the character development. And perhaps these two are related. There is no character development. Some characters do have a bad-ass scene or deliver some funny punchlines, but their characterization is so flat that it's truly impossible to care about them. You never get to know anything about them, besides from Felcity Jones' character, they're all simply 'profession characters': Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is a rebel, Bodhi Rock (Riz Ahmed, great in 'Nightcrawler) is a pilot, Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) fights in this movie. But that's all we know about them, we don't really know their motivations or emotional baggage. This flat characterization had a huge contribution in why the movie was uninteresting. At moments where a lot is at stake, when emotional events occur, you just don't care.
It is however a 2016 Star Wars movie, and the visual effects were damn perfect. This movie looked beautiful, better than any Star Wars movie before (besides some CGI persons). The third act was one giant, epic war scene, taking place in an original setting. This third act is where the movie picked up, but still suffered from the flat characters and some cheesy, cliché sequences. There was so much at stake, but again I didn't care about what happened to whom. For the hero-villain climax Gareth Edwards chose one of the oldest clichés in Hollywood. The ending of the movie was interesting, and elevated the story, it was an ending that made sense. It's however sad to realize that the ending could have been perfect and hauntingly beautiful if only Gareth Edwards took the time to make you care about the characters. It's a shame this was never done. But again, the movie looked incredibly good, and should be praised for this aspect.
Overall, this movie would have been a train wreck if the visuals weren't this perfect. The visuals, some elements of the third act, and an amazing Darth Vader scene made up a little for the first two acts of the movie, but not enough for it to be a satisfying movie. Now, where does Rogue One fit within the Star Wars movies? It's way better than the prequels, but doesn't reach the level of 'The Force Awakens' and the original trilogy. These movies had great characters and a menacing villain.