First "Star Wars Story" A Rousing Success

Rating: 8/10 (27 February 2017)

When the Star Wars franchise was turned over to Disney from George Lucas, many worried that it would be "commodified" too much, to the point that their would be an over-saturation and dilution of the material. "Rogue One", the first "Star Wars Story" (not featuring the canon roman numerals or opening scrawl), would be the initial test to see how the material would be handled. By almost all accounts, it was a tremendous success!
For a basic plot summary (only minor spoilers), "Rogue One" tells the story of how the Rebel Alliance steals the plans for the Imperial Death Star weapon, which sets up the events of Episode IV: A New Hope. The film focuses on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), daughter of the Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) forced to work for the Empire on the Death Star itself. When of age to join the Rebel cause, Jyn meets the mysterious Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and then is sent on a dangerous mission with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). On the "Dark Side" of things, Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) is tasked with making sure the Death Star is fully operational, overseen by Governor Tarkin (Guy Henry/CGI) and even Lord Vader himself.
When coming into this movie experience, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Suffice it to say, it pretty much blew away even those ambiguous expectations. It doesn't try to do too much, yet at the same time it isn't too sparse and thus is filled with call-backs or "easter eggs" to "A New Hope". It really does find that perfect balance. One thing to be prepared for is a lot of material to be throw at you in the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the film. It jumps around to many different planets and puts a lot of balls in the air. To be honest, halfway through the film I was a bit worried that it was going to be "just okay". The final half or two-thirds, however, sees everything come together in a way that is just as impressive (both dramatically and visually) as any piece in the rest of the Star Wars canon.
It's amazing to me how a single scene from "A New Hope" (evaluating the stolen Death Star plans) could inspire an entire film, and I'm even more impressed that a really solid movie could be produced as a result! It would be very, very easy for Disney to start cranking these movies out (they are guaranteed money-makers right now) irregardless of quality, but fortunately the Mouse House seems (at least so far) to be taking the utmost care of the franchise. My brothers and I will be arguing for months over where to watch this movie in the grand scheme of things, and I consider perhaps the best compliment I can give a Star Wars film.