The Only Time In History Where Stormtroopers Actually Fired In A Straight Line

Rating: 6/10 (16 July 2019)

Heavily praised as an excellent prequel to the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Rogue One does have a lot going for it. The exposition provided turns a quick text blurb in the opening crawl of IV into a full-scale adventure, with great effects and some surprising twists. However, this is prequel-we-never-knew-we-needed is far from perfect. For one thing, the main cast is shockingly bland and lifeless as a whole. Felicity Jones' character, Jyn Erso, is incredibly boring, pre-programmed with a tragic backstory for sympathy, but lacking any real substance or character. It's hard to tell whether the actress or the writing are to blame, but it's probably a bit of both. Diego Luna's Cassian Andor is kind of a creep, and it's hard to sympathize with him after his actions early on in the film. With the exception of Donnie Yen and Alan Tudyk, who both bring some humor and personality to their roles, the rest of the ensemble is serviceable, but not stellar. This weak cast of characters makes what is intended to be a gut-wrenching finale, where they all bite the dust, to be less effective than it could be otherwise. Also, can we just appreciate that this may be the only time the Imperials are able to kill the main characters? Why did their aim get so much worse after this? Additionally, Darth Vader's Evil Villain Castle, complete with lava, is hysterically cliched, and the CGI-faces for Tarkin and Leia aren't quite believable yet, giving off a rather bizarre effect.
Finally, amidst all this style, substance, and occasional cleverness, did this movie really need to exist, or is it just an attempt to milk the franchise dry? The number of "Star Wars Stories" we get in the future will probably answer that question for us. Let's just hope Disney is smart enough to leave well enough alone, although I seriously doubt they will.