Number 2 out of 8

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2016)

I'm just going to throw this out there right now. Here is my list of the Star Wars movies how I would rate them from worst to best: I, II, IV, III, VI, VII, Rogue One, V Yeah, I said it. One of the prequels is better than the original movie. Get over it. It is better. Now, Allow me to review this extremely well made Star Wars movie in Rogue One.
The thing I instantly noticed, and loved, about this movie was that the music had a slight change to it and there was no rolling scroll at the start. Right there, I thought to myself that I hope there are no light sabers in the movie. And surprise, surprise there aren't. At least until two minutes left in the movie. I won't spoil any of that for you though. Just don't be looking for any.
So, right off the bat, they establish that this is a stand-alone movie. As it should be. It's not about the force, so therefor it shouldn't really be connected with any of the other movies in the sense of the aforementioned cuts.
Acting wise, I personally loved everyone. Alan Tudyk as the wise- cracking K-2 is just hilarious. If you don't watch this movie for any other reason at all watch it for K-2. Working as the comic relief was a freshness this movie needed. I had my reservations about Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, mostly because of their previous work. I'm glad I underestimated them. I think it just made their performances better. Ip Man, I mean Donnie Yen, was just that. He was just a blind Ip Man throughout the movie. Ben Mendelsohn is a great, allow me to emphasize, A GREAT villain in this movie. If you've read the books, think of Darth Bane. Yeah, you get someone that good in the vein of evilness.
The story is more of a complex one than one is use to in the Star Wars-verse. We get to see some things about the Rebels and Empire we probably would have never seen if this movie wasn't made. The intelligence division for the Rebels is something that had been hinted at before, but never really seen. The science division of the Empire reminded of (and it should be for everyone) of the SS division of the Nazi's. Don't take that out of context. Lucas has said on numerous occasions that the Empire is just the Nazi's.
One of the best aspects of the movie is the cameos. The mouse bot, the two aliens that want to fight Luke in IV, Grand Moff Tarken, Leia, and I could have sworn I saw Jabba's servant Bib in there at Saw's bunker. Having the cameo's, or easter eggs, whatever you want to call them, didn't take away from the movie. They were spaced out enough to the point of making sense.
Gareth Edwards is a good director. Truth is, I had my reservations about him as well after watching Godzilla. Put them to rest if you haven't seen Rogue One yet.
A good movie and is strongly recommended. For the love whoever you believe in, stop what you're doing and go watch this movie. Now.