Great stand-alone sci-fi in the original "Star Wars" tradition.

Rating: 8/10 (9 February 2020)

For some reason, there appears to be a bit of snobbery about the standard of the recent Disney productions, but I thoroughly enjoyed this tangent to the "Star Wars" brand. Felicity Jones tries to help the rebels obtain the plans for the planet-blasting "Death Star" that was designed by her father (Mads Mikkelsen). It's end-to-end action, with great special effects and a whole slew of new characters to get to know/like/loathe, without having to have seen any of the other films. Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn don't quite cut the mustard for me; and indeed the cast could all gel a bit better as actors; but the story is exciting and much closer to the action-packed style of the first trilogy. What's not to like...?