A worthy addition to the canon

Rating: 9/10 (24 December 2016)

I caught myself, as the final battle of ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY was enfolding, smiling to myself. I had a warm feeling in my heart and realized that THIS is the Universe I wanted to spend more time with.
You can have your MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE or your DC UNIVERSE or even your HARRY POTTER UNIVERSE, for me the best universe is the STAR WARS UNIVERSE.
And, following the bright return to this universe of THE FORCE AWAKENS, ROGUE ONE is a welcome addition and really gives me A NEW HOPE for this expanded world (see what I did there?).
Telling the story of how the rebels stole Death Star plans just prior to the original Star Wars movie (now called STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE), Rogue One follows plucky heroine Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) who leads a rag-tag group of misfits (is there any other kind) who plan a daring raid to steal the plans to the Empire's newest weapon THE DEATH STAR.
Jones is fine (if a bit bland) as Erso (but I think it is the way the character is written), HOWEVER, it is the band of misfits around her that really shine. Diego Luna is solid and stalwart as gung-ho Rebel Leader Cassian Andor, Riz Ahmed is sensitive and caring as Bodhi Rook, an Empire pilot who defects to the Rebellion and Baze Malbus and (espcially) Donnie Yen as friends and compatriots Baze Malbus and would-be Jedi Chirrut Imwe. These 5 are fun to watch together and I, for one, would like to see more of their adventures.
But, stealing this movie from all of them, is the 6th member of the gang - Alan Tudyk's marvelous motion-capture droid, K-2SO - an Imperial droid that has been reprogrammed to work with the rebellion.
But these heroes wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't for the villains they are up against. Ben Mendelsohn is at his Ben Mendelsohn-y best as opportunistic, ambitious Imperial Director Orson Krennic, the mastermind behind the Death Star. Also, the filmmakers found out a way to bring back long dead Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. I've heard some negative things about this CGI attempt to bring Cushing back, but it worked for me. And, of course, there is a certain heavy-breathing, dark-cloaked Super Villain that shows up to bring menace, fear and some kick-buttery.
And that is another thing that works for me in this film, the way the filmmakers brought in other elements of the the original Star Wars film and melded it very well into this film. It was fun the recognize these Easter Eggs when they occurred (though, on 2 occasions, they were jarring and took me out of the film).
Is it a perfect film? Well...no. The middle sags a bit and I felt that both Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen were wasted in their roles (the filmmakers could have easily found an interesting "no name" to play these roles), but these are nits as director Garth Edwards brings the action at a fast and furious pace, throwing in bits for the fanboys here and there and delivering a story with real stakes that dovetails nicely into Episode IV. As a matter of fact, we went right home and popped in our well used DVD copy of Episode IV and my 16 year old daughter stated that this film made much more sense to her now.
Which, I think, is what the filmmakers want. Skip Episodes I, II and III but see Rogue One "the prequel that always should have been" - a well made addition to the Star Wars canon.
9 (out of 10) Star (wars) and you can take that to the Bank (of Marquis)