A fantastic stand-alone Star Wars adventure.

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2016)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Released: 15 Dec 16 Rated: M Runtime: 133 mins From George Lucas' prequels to J.J. Abrams' eighth episode and now the first of the "standalone" tales, the Star Wars franchise has long been attempting the tricky balance of delivering what fans want whilst also breaking new narrative ground. It's not an easy equilibrium to find, however director Gareth Edwards and screenwriters Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy have successfully carved out a ripping intergalactic yarn that is free from the Skywalker-Vader-Kenobi-Solo story yet very much apart of the familiar Star Wars universe. Existing between episodes three and four, Rogue One follows a ragtag bunch of rebels — led by Felicity Jones' plucky anti-hero Jyn Erso — as they undertake the potentially war-changing mission of stealing the blueprint of the Death Star. Even more so than The Force Awakens, this movie hinges on its new stars to propel the adventure forward. The always-outstanding Jones is a marvellous choice to head up the titular crew of misfits; her mixture of arrogance, heart and biting intelligence makes Jyn a compelling central character. The international cast surrounding Jones offers indelible support too, the standouts being Ben Mendelsohn as the growling Imperialist Director Krennic and the one-two punch of Wen Jiang and Donnie Yen as a pair of squabbling old-timers who can still kick arse. A special mention also goes to Alan Tudyk's motion-captured droid K-2SO, whose insult slinging is perfectly timed to inject moments of levity in some of the otherwise darker scenes. From an action perspective there's as much laser shooting, aerial dogfighting and planet destruction as you would expect — all executed with the requisite level of technical mastery — although the smaller hand-to-hand melees with martial arts legend Donnie Yen are special to watch. For the all-out finale Edwards clearly plunged his hand deep into Disney's money chest too, the large-scale battle augmented with top-notch computer effects and amazing production design. (Which makes the subpar execution of a digitally de-aged familiar character all the more frustrating.) A clunky multiple-intros start and the inorganic cameos are quickly forgotten thanks to a host of exciting set pieces, an on-point cast and a ballsy bittersweet ending.