Well i'll be damned

Rating: 7/10 (17 March 2017)

Not going to be much of a review, just some quick thoughts, right after i just saw the film.
To be honest, i didn't think Gareth Edwards could pull it off. After i saw the god awful Godzilla, which i consider to be the worst movie of all time if you count in production cost, i saw no hope in this movie, what so ever. Also i didn't like "The Force Awakens" which i gave a 4, and it's top 3 most rated review for that movie here on IMDb.
So the way i saw it, failing director meets failing franchise, what can go wrong?. Well apparently, it went surprisingly well. This is in fact one of the best Star wars movies to this date, probably the third best only beaten by "Empire Strikes back" and "A New Hope". And wow, that was not what i expected at all.
Where "The Force Awakens" leans too much on nostalgia and has very little fantasy and originality, this movie stands much better on it's own feet. And i criticized "The Force Awakens" for having yet another Death star in it, they do have that here as well. But in this movie it's different, as this is the direct prequel to the original Trilogy.
This movie has surprisingly well made battle scenes, i just had to get that off my chest, it's made the right way. I feel i get to see what i need to see most of the time. The camera angles, the view of the battles and the pacing, is all well done. It feels like the director really knew what he was aiming for, not just throw in mindless explosions whenever they feel appropriate.
Rogue One is a breath of fresh air. Not a masterpiece my any means, the movie has to much of the usual stuff to be called that. There are few surprises in the story. Except the ending, which was quite nice, i could not predict that one. :) Everything else is just as you expect. It's classic star wars, it has good acting (for the most part anyways), it has a good plot, it has great visuals, a flamboyant soundtrack, impressive spaceships, immense action scenes, awesome villains and some nice surprises.
This movie could probably have been lifted up one more star if it dared to be a little more original. But hey, it's not a big deal, for many kids watching this movie, what they are seeing is completely original and never been done before.
7/10 - Quite Good