Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Movie Review

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 2020)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a phenomenal film in almost every aspect. If it wasn't for The Force Awakens, this would easily be my favourite Star Wars film that Disney produced.
The cast across the board is terrific, but the clear highlight is Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso. She was wonderful, and the character has such a defined arc throughout the film. I also really liked Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic, and Mads Mikkelson as Galen Erso.
The narrative was constantly compelling, and, despite the fact that we already know how the film will end, I was locked in the whole time. Gareth Edwards did such a marvellous job of directing it. The entire third act is mostly taken up by impressive action set-pieces, but the whole film up until that point was engaging and the ending with Darth Vader is one of the best film scenes in recent memory.
The screenplay was mostly well-written, although the majority of the jokes didn't land for me and K-2SO seemed to be in the film primarily for comic relief. The droid had a very nice moment towards the end, but there didn't seem to be much narrative purpose for the character up until that point.
I also really adored the musical score because it completely fit the tone of the film, and some of the visual effects were breathtaking.
Overall, apart from a couple of issues with the screenplay, Rogue One is a fantastic film with a thrilling narrative, and it was nice to finally see this story being told on the big screen after all these years.
SCORE: 90%