Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Review

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the 2016 anthology film to the Star Wars universe directed by Gareth Edwards, written by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy.

The Plot
Set before Episode IV: A New Hope, Rogue One follows the story of Jyn Erso finding her father, Galen Erso, a lead scientist in the development of the Death Star. Jyn and a Rebel officer, Cassian Andor, along with some other rogues, team up to steal the plans of Empire's super weapon.

The Positives
This was an interesting movie, since this is the first Star Wars movie to be placed in the Star Wars Anthology series. To start off, it is an enjoyable movie. I had fun watching the movie and some of the action sequences were really nice. The movie's visuals and special effects are awesome and there is a ton of fanservice here. The biggest positive for me was the fact that they tried to do something that has never really been seen before in a Star Wars movie, which is having a grounded and more realistic approach. We've never had a movie dedicated to characters who virtually have no superpowers or don't wield lightsabers. I love the fact that it shows the perspective of normal people and makes you feel small in large scale battles. That was very cool. What's also very cool was Darth Vader. He was one of the highlights of the movie of course. His scene was so good, it made me have chills.

The Negatives
One of the biggest problems I had with the movie was that there's a lack of substance in its narrative. A lot of the characters are not that interesting. even though pretty much everybody else gave solid performances except for one person that I'll get into later. The pacing drags, I think, for around half of the film, then it starts to get interesting. Thus, it makes the movie feel like a bit like 2.5 hours rather than 1.5 hours. I feel the characters' chemistry is a bit wasted in this film, which would have made the characters better because the characterization here feels pretty lazy. It feels even more lazy when some of the characters are not that much other than comic relief.  Forrest Whitaker's performance was bad in my opinion. He was the only person I felt didn't act as well. I kinda laughed while he was overacting in his scenes. The biggest letdown for me was the story and how the characters were told through the story.

Conclusion
Overall, this movie is almost at the point where I can say it's good, but it's still kinda okay. It does have enjoyable and cool moments in the movie and I do appreciate it for trying to do something different, but it didn't have the same magic as The Force Awakens or pretty the other Star Wars movies (not counting the prequels) because the characters are not as compelling nor is its story and I feel Rogue One really didn't do much to stand itself out other than the fact it's taking a more small-scale approach in its direction. The story, to me, is a bit lackluster and could have been better.

Score: B-