Rogue1

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2020)

Hands down the best in this new generation of Star Wars movies. Rogue One steps back in time, slipping right in between episode III and IV, to witness the daring adventures and perilous gambit of the brave souls that captured the Death Star plans for the Rebellion.
Our ragtag group of rebels is a mixed bag. The lead two, I actually feel pretty ambivalent on. They're not bad or anything but they don't exactly wore me either. Then you look at Alan Tudyk's hilarious, movie stealing, battle droid or Donnie Yen's remarkably universe expanding blind monk and I can't help but think they're some of the best Star Wars characters we've had in a long while (don't worry Kylo, you're in that list too).
The film is fun, adventurous and fits quite nicely into the Star Wars universe, expanding on the lore without detracting a thing.
The problem here is that it's still a Star Wars movie. As such, they just have to add a bunch of nods and callbacks to the other movies in really obvious and forced ways. Among these is a downright disturbing glimpse of a CGI rendered fan favorite that straight up creeps me out. If they could have dialed the fan service back a bit, this would have been an exceptional journey.
Still, the ending is so amazing it makes up for a lot and we left with a movie that's a lot of fun, feels relevant and builds the universe. Definitely worth a watch.