A worthy Star Wars film

Rating: 8/10 (19 December 2016)

When it was first announced that the first ever spin-off Star Wars film would be based around how the Rebels managed to get their hands on the plans for the Death Star, the choice seemed odd and I didn't think there was a story to tell but I remained positive as Disney had delivered with last year's The Force Awakens. I am so glad to see they have done it again because this story deserves to be told. Right off the bat, I have to admit this film is not perfect and I am going to restrain myself from "fanboying" over this film just because it has Star Wars in the title.
This film is GORGEOUS. Gareth Edwards deserves praise for his direction as this movie is a pleasure to gaze upon. One thing that he did well in Godzilla (2014) was the sense of scale, and that is mirrored here in Rogue One as the Death Star and the Imperial fleet has never felt more menacing. The Special Effects team have brought us the most beautiful looking Star Wars yet; the CGI is almost flawless. Which leads me to my first minor complaint: The motion capture. Grand Moff Tarkin was brought back in the form of mo-cap and it just doesn't quite pay off; it is painfully obvious it is CG, however, it did not bother me as much as it did other audience members as the story was enjoying enough to brush over this issue; never the less, it is there and remains a flaw which I don't think will hold up. Oh yeah and the space battles were AWESOME.
This is a much more controversial topic: Darth Vader. People have been complaining that he is not in this film enough; I have to respectfully disagree. He was only briefly shown in trailers and was never promised to be an integral part of the plot so I was not expecting to see a lot of him. That being said, the scenes we did see are some of the best in the movie, James Earl Jones nailed the dialogue and his final scene battling the rebels is probably the most winning moment of the entire film. We had 6 movies where Vader was a main character and I didn't need another.
The beginning of the film has no text scroll and this is also the first Star Wars film to include location text. Initially, I didn't know what to think but as the film went on I understood this is a spin-off not a sage film and these bold choices paid off since it is able to set itself aside from the others. The world we are thrown into is the one we all love from the original trilogy and it feels as real and lived in as our own but with an extra layer grittiness. This film puts the WAR in Star Wars and the new dark tone is fresh. Instead of our more tame interpretation of war in the saga films, when storm troopers enter a scene, you sense a real feeling of dread as our protagonists could be killed at any moment.
Speaking of characters, another complaint I have been hearing is that the character arcs felt shallow and people were not able to latch onto them and care, and I agree in part but I don't think that is fair. I am not going to go into too much detail but Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso great. I instantly believe she exists in that world and her interactions with Diego Luna's Cassian Andor are good, not fantastic but good. Mads Mikkelsen does not get a lot of time to shine as he is killed which provides some more emotional depth to Jyn and Cassian. Ben Mendelsohn's villain is quite typical but brings a lot of charisma to the screen and is entertaining. The rest of the Rogue One team is not given much back story at all. Wen Jiang and Donnie Yen's characters are friends and that is about all the information we get. Look, the whole team dies in the end so I understand the choice made to not give each character a fully fleshed out back story which would have made an over bloated mess of a story but the writing does feel slightly rushed.
In conclusion, I had a blast with this film, it does take a while for the film to pick up since it attempts to introduce the audience to these characters they have never heard of but once its is there, you're in for a treat; except for the scenes involving Forest Whitaker. I don't know what happened there but he felt misplaced and need I mention the giant squid thing. Walking out of this film I felt fulfilled and on a high, it enhances A New Hope, it is worth the watch. An adventure to be remembered and a definite buy on Blu-ray.