A Succulent thrill ride of Cinematic Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (4 January 2017)

Rogue One: 9/10
Rogue One consisted of basically the highest cinematography the industry has to offer. With Arguably some of the best visual effects I've ever seen, and breathtaking action sequences, Rogue One: A Star Wars story was pretty dang solid in my opinion.
I thought it had a compelling story that managed to keep me engaged the entire time, regardless of the fact that everyone knew the ending since 1977.
I also appreciated that it was darker tale in the star wars universe, making this movie a fresh telling of a story in the beloved familiar world. Thanks to George Lucas and his design crew; Star Wars is arguably one of the best, and largest universes of design. From its droids, technology, ships, etc, Star Wars is a brilliant and unique constructed reality. I thought Rogue one showcased that beautifully and dove deep into the brilliance of its unique world, without relying on it to carry the story.
The variety in the character assemble was strong, with a enjoyable amount of comedy and chemistry overall. With my biggest praise going to the driod character 2-KSO as well. WHAT A GOOD CHARACTER. That being said, main protagonist Jyn could have been a little stronger in my opinion, as to develop more intrigue for her as a character. She was still a good, strong independent character, justperhaps not as dynamic as I was hoping.
Not every story can be about the mighty power of Jedi and siths. Sometimes it takes a story about the smaller, more personal group of characters to make an intriguing story, and that is how Rogue One succeeded. Without being about to rely on the classic lightsaber duels and force using action sequences, I thought Rogue One created intrigue through its stylistic warfare sequences and immersion into the scenic design of the Star Wars universe.
Something unique Rogue One executed was bringing back to life 1977 Carrie Fischer, and Moff Tarkin, completely with CGI. Instead of skipping over Admiral Tarkin's storyline, because of Peter Cushing's death, they decided to harness of the power of 2016's technology. Personally I thought this was wonderful. It makes sense that they would spend time on Tarkin's character considering the timeline of this movie's story, and they went for it, regardless of no longer having Peter Cushing. My opinion on the CGI is pretty high. For the most part I was blown away by how good it looks. Princess Leia on the other hand.didn't look right to me. The CGI on her struck me as a little bit off. Ironically though, as I was discussing the CGI with the friends I went to the movie with, they had literal opposite impressions. As both me and my brother thought Tarkin looks great and Leia looks mediocre, my two friends thought Tarkin looked Mediocre, and *Leia* looked great. So I suppose that proves something. Wither way, I think CGI has reached a pretty high point in Cinema history, to where I am glad they could harness those tools effectively to tell a good story by including these characters.
Let's talk about Darth Vader for a moment; possibly everyone's favorite moments in the movie. He was great. Its funny, because in the first main scene featuring Darth Vader, he engages in a semi- lengthy conversation with Orson Kendrick, and as this scene progressed I realized, this is the most we've ever heard Darth Vader talk! Most of his dialogue before consisted of brief sentences and one liners. So to hear Vader speak for an extended period of time actually expanded our viewpoint of him as a character. In that scene we see him being a little sassy, even using sarcasm, and ending he conversation with a pun! WOW. And of course the most epic scene with Darth Vader taking on Rebel troops like a badass; now that was something. In the original movies, we were used to him being a lot slower in his fighting, due to pace of the scenes & likely some of the technical limitations of that time. But in Rogue One, we finally get to see Vader show off the fierce, Sith lord bad ass he really is.
Overall I loved this movie. Gareth Edwards did a phenomenal job, and I can't wait to go see this movie many more times.