So I Just Watched… Rogue One: A Star Wars Story // by...

So I Just Watched… Rogue One: A Star Wars Story // by Disney Studios (2016)

This is the first installment in the Star Wars: Anthology series… I say GOD DAMN!. Fast on track after getting the movie rights to the whole Star Wars Universe it’s been two years since Disney started to put out stories on film. Either with follow ups of the original story or with new canonic takes of what happened in between of the six episodes we already know. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story goes after Revenge Of The Sith (ep.3) and just before the beginning of A New Hope (ep.4). I must be sincere I had little faith on the studio to put out something good since ep.7 was just a rehash of ep.4. I didn’t expect to bet this surprised after hearing reports about the many re-shoots and changes in the script. But Disney delivered and HOW!

Our story begins when a research scientist called Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) and his family are in hiding as farmers when Imperial Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) comes to take Galen by force to work on the unfinished Death Star, a space station capable of destroying entire planets. His wife Lyra is killed and his daughter Jyn escapes, taken into safety by Saw Gerrera (Forrest Whitaker). Thirteen years later, Bodhi Rook, a defecting Imperial pilot, smuggles a holographic message from Galen for the Rebel Alliance to Gerrera on the planet Jedha. An adult Jyn (Felicity Jones) is freed from Imperial captivity by the Rebellion, who plan to use her to track down her father, then kill him to prevent the weapon being built. The plot is laid out plain as day and with a really easy structure to follow, yet it manages to be compelling and charged with emotion, tension, drama and humor. A special mention to Jyn’s partner in crime Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and android K-2SO played by Alan Tudyk. His quips alone make the movie worth watching.

As I’ve already said the movie does a very competent job of telling the story we are meant to see (the first full assault of the rebellion on the empire which brought them the plans to the original Death Star) but graphically speaking you’ll be amazed at the things Rogue One can achieve. Without getting too much into into it, we see one digital resurrection and one digital rejuvenation that will have our imaginations running wild at the possibilities of where this franchise can go as movie technology advances more and more. Darth Vader is back and doing what he does best: kick ass in the name of the empire. And the second best space battle ever done (in my book at least) in films takes place in this movie. All in all this is an awesome flick and if Disney sticks to his word, one of the best one-shots they will ever do with Star Wars. Run to your movie theater and watch it!

Posted in: Reviews & Appreciation