By a distance, the finest Star Wars movie

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2017)

Let's not lie about this, for all the colossal and justified popularity of the Star Wars franchise, they are not cinematically the greatest movies ever. They are fun, endearing, charming, captivating, but the acting could be better, the effects (for those who have seen the originals) are pretty weak and for his iconic imagery, Darth Vader is not the scariest or most intimidating movie villain ever.
So there was definitely some room for a genuinely high quality story to join the Star Wars world, and while Force Awakens made a good fist of it, there is undeniable irony that a 'stand alone' adventure with character cameos is by some distance the strongest in the whole saga.
Rogue One is the story of the team who managed, by hook or crook, to get the secret weakness plans for the Death Star back to the Alliance so Rogue Two and crew could destroy it. What exactly happened to that team I will not spoil by describing, because that is the story here in a nutshell.
Felicity Jones, in her first headline act (unless you count the bizarre mess that was Inferno) is Jyn, daughter of the chief scientist behind the Death Star, separated from him at a young age and forced to live her life raised by an outsider before ending up alone. She finds her way into the Alliance and a plot to kill her father, and her attempts to save him lead to a domino effect which will eventually lead to the end of the Death Star.
To say more would spoil the meat and guts; but it is safe to say this is an impeccably filmed, directed, produced and conceived stand alone adventure which gives avid fans some excellent and worthy back story while winning a few new ones thanks to the lack of need to have seen any of the other movies in the series.
This is the first Star Wars to actually make you care about the characters - in that what happens to them truly matters - all the rest while enjoyable, simply didn't connect emotionally with the audience in the way this one does. Not in the opinion of yours truly anyway - and it's that control it exerts over its audience which makes it so strong - it respects its viewers, both seasoned fans and brand newbies, and produces a fine result for both.
There is some character development, subtle though it may be in places, more obvious in others, aided by direction which gets the pacing dead on, and the cinematography is as good as any you'll see in any movie.
The visual effects too are up to scratch, even certain cameos, and it really does neatly tie in with the rest of the franchise, with some fine humorous moments as well which don't feel as cheesy as the gags from the earlier efforts.
Overall it's a rip roaring ride and hard to really fault on any level. Some characters ARE a bit wasted, which is a shame, but that's about the only thing wrong with it.
Highly recommended.