Rogue One

It's the beginning of a new era for Star Wars, and this is the first side story full feature to embrace the silver screen. After having seen this in 3D Dolby Cinema at the Vue in Hilversum with my brother and friends, I can easily recommend it to fans and even newcomers.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story details the origins of how the superweapon known as the Death Star was constructed by a collaborating imperial weapon scientist(Mads Mikkelsen). Of course, Revenge of the Sith showed this happening already at the end, but this goes deeper with the details.

The scientist's daugher Jyn played by the beautiful Felicia Jones is destined and determined to become a heroine for the Rebellion/Alliance, and together with a pack of rebels including Donnie Yen's blind character and Forrest Whitaker's mentor character, they fight back.

While the tone offers a minimum of comic relief, this time in the form of a droid, it does set it right with granting a serious dramatic mood, and for the first time, I felt connected towards the rebellion as a whole, not because of the characters for who I did not really care for, but more because of the cause and the means towards it.

Unlike hardened Star Wars original trilogy fans, I did see this movie bring improvement in one decisive factor, and I'm referring to the action battle scenes then, which are easily the best since Empire Strikes Back.

Like The Force Awakens before, it borrows from familiar trademarks from the space epos, and yet it also works very good as a connection bridge towards A New Hope. Maybe this movie shouldn't have been made, and some unexplained lore should had been intact, but now that the franchise is expanding, it is inevitable.

I found it refreshing to see a bleak and negative ending, as it meant that the whole cast basically sacrificed itself for the rebellion and Luke and friends to be given hope in Episode IV. Arguably, it also works as a stand alone sci-fi, whether you are a longtime fan or not.

Rogue One is in overall a very intense sci-fi space epos with flexibility, even showing us in my opinion the best rendered CGI yet in actors who either died, or are older now. Better get used to spin-offs like this, or else you won't survive the ride on this cashcow. :)

Rating: 8.0