A Star Wars story is just what I wanted: a war in the stars.

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2016)

Set between Episodes III and IV, Rogue One is about the rebel alliance trying to steal the plans to the Death Star in order to try and win the war. Sounds like it would make for a pointless movie with such little substance and possibly boring...thankfully Gareth Edwards has done the franchise justice and has given it new life. My word, I honestly thought this was going to be bad, I am so glad to be wrong. Firstly, the cast was solid as Felicity Jones has now proved to us all not only can she act well in dramas but she is now an action heroine and can take on a film at the helm. Donnie Yen is worth mentioning, originally I thought his character would've been out of place, in fact he is vital in restoring everyone's faith in the Force and he is still doing all of his own fight choreography! Ben Mendelsohn was a great villain, always in the shadows of a higher power and his character craves control, I thought he did well. Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed and Forest Whitaker were great additions to the canon. This film needed a good story, especially after the boring and tedious Episode VII, thankfully it did. As we all know the beginning of Episode IV, we know how this film plays out...but even so the character development is done so well that it was easy to become attached to them despite their untimely fate. Whilst some might think of this as predictable, I believe this to be necessary. This instalment was good for fleshing out the saga and filling in the gaps that were left from the dreaded prequel trilogy and it worked marvellously. Gareth Edwards oozed confidence directing this, a mixture of static landscape shots to a slight camera shakiness when the action arrives, enhancing the style. Talking of style, the visual effects were breathtaking. The planets were so different from each other, the architecture of some of the buildings were absolutely creative and CGI during the battle scenes were utilised excellently. The only time where the visuals were bad, was when a certain character arrives...the problem is this character is completely computer generated and unfortunately looks bad, it took me out of the film from time to time. The script was witty, particularly the lines delivered from the droid K2SO which turn out to blunt sarcastic responses. A much needed comic relief from the dark, realistic and gritty perspective. The soundtrack was a mixture of old and new and the remixed themes of classic cues felt refreshing. I do have to mention, the last act of the film is possibly the best 40 minutes of the Star Wars saga and the last 5 minutes is ridiculously powerful, you will love it! Overall, Rogue One was a much darker instalment to the franchise with great performances, stunning visuals and gritty action. Aside from the horribly rendered CGI human character, this film was fantastic and the last act was breathtaking...I can't stop thinking about it.

Review at: http://www.themoviediorama.com