A pleasant surprise.

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2019)

What's this? Can it be? A STAR WARS prequel that's actually -- GASP! -- great? Believe it or not, yes. Although technically not a prequel -- it's more of a spin-off "anthology" movie -- ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY could very well qualify. It's easily superior to the prequel trilogy (even REVENGE OF THE SITH, good as it was, was held back by flaws, none of which exist here, thankfully). While not necessarily a better made film than THE FORCE AWAKENS, I actually enjoyed ROGUE ONE a lot more than I thought I would. Which was not something I was expecting to say.
But ROGUE ONE works as both a movie and a bridge to the opening moments of the first STAR WARS movie (rebranded as EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE). It's also one of the few STAR WARS movies to actually show the tragedies of going into war -- something that we have not seen from entries in this galactic saga. A new cast of characters propels this tale, of which K-2SO is easily the most successful. Voiced by Alan Tudyk, this droid is very much in the vein of C-3PO, what with his deadpan, dry humor and prissy personality. He's also very badass -- can you name a scene in which C-3PO wielded a blaster to save his colleagues? No. The fact that this robot does makes him a very memorable newcomer.
The most surprising moment of the movie is the return of Death Star Governor Grand Moff Tarkin, as portrayed by Peter Cushing in A New Hope. Apparently CGI was used to make this possible, but honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to know if it were, because the onscreen results are convincingly real. Since the actor has now passed, Stephen Stanton supplies the motion capture work for him. His voice is supplied by Guy Henry, who does a dead-on job of impersonating the character's chilling mannerisms. (The same is true of a surprise cameo at the very end of the film -- you'll have to see for yourself to find out.)
The real jewel is the return of Darth Vader, complete with James Earl Jones' unmistakable baritone. Unlike the prequels, we get to see this iconic villain as his usual nasty self, berating an Empire leader one moment, and at the climax, slashing at rebels with his familiar crimson lighter. Although his appearance is brief, he is still the highlight of ROGUE ONE. In fact, the last thirty minutes are where this movie really dazzles.
Fault-wise, ROGUE ONE has very little to speak of, other than the fact that it starts off somewhat slowly and occasionally dips into lulls. However, performances across the board are very well done all around (a commendable feature of these Disney-produced STAR WARS movies), and while their characters don't register with us in the same emotional way as Luke Skywalker and company did, they are at the very least soulful and believable characters as opposed to anyone in the prequels. And of course, as usual, the visual effects are of the same standard we've come to expect from the STAR WARS trilogy. It's refreshing to have this movie refrain from overusing computer graphics except for necessary purposes.
One could easily ditch one of the STAR WARS prequels and replace ROGUE ONE with the one in question. This movie really is that good.