I finally saw Rogue One! And did I think it was better than The Force Awakens? YES. Was it better than The Empire Strikes Back? NOPE.
Any longtime fan of Star Wars knows what the story is about. A small band of rebel spies infiltrate the Empire's deadly battle station "The Death Star" on a mission to steal the Death Star schematics and deliver it back to the Rebellion so they can find out how to destroy it, leading up to the events of A New Hope. That's pretty much the gist of it.
Let's count off what I did enjoy about this movie-
1. The action scenes are fantastic and like in the teasers and trailers, there is a war movie-like tone. Think of it as Saving Private Ryan meets Star Wars but without the blood and gore because, come on... kids are watching.
2. The Rebellion itself and not just the main characters. You get the feel that the Rebel Alliance is not so squeaky clean as the original movies imply and in some ways, they're hardly much different from the Empire other than they hate everything the Empire stands for.
3. Characters like Jyn Urso, K-2SO, Orson Krennic, whoever Donnie Yen is... They're all great.
4. The visuals are astounding to watch, especially in the movie's massive third act. I recommend watching it in 3D so you can be completely immersed in the huge scale action scenes on land as well as in space.
5. Darth Vader! WHOO!
Of course I have flaws. But to be honest, they're really more like nitpicks. I do think the first act moved kinda slow and it doesn't really pick up until halfway through, and this is mainly due to all these characters that needed to be introduced. Speaking of the new characters, I don't even remember the names of half of them. I know Jyn, K-2SO, Krennic, Cassian, Saw... That's about it. Lastly, the CGI double of the late Peter Cushing "Grand Moff Wilhuf Tarkin" is very noticeable. I know it's not easy to apply CGI to human beings but this could've been solved by simply pulling back on Tarkin's screentime and maybe just keep him hidden in the shadows since he's such a threat to the Rebellion.
Overall, I really loved this movie. It's by no means perfect, but this is certainly the best prequel out there so far in terms of a fairly strong script and amazing visuals. Rogue One gets a 9/10. Thumbs up to Gareth Edwards!
Any longtime fan of Star Wars knows what the story is about. A small band of rebel spies infiltrate the Empire's deadly battle station "The Death Star" on a mission to steal the Death Star schematics and deliver it back to the Rebellion so they can find out how to destroy it, leading up to the events of A New Hope. That's pretty much the gist of it.
Let's count off what I did enjoy about this movie-
1. The action scenes are fantastic and like in the teasers and trailers, there is a war movie-like tone. Think of it as Saving Private Ryan meets Star Wars but without the blood and gore because, come on... kids are watching.
2. The Rebellion itself and not just the main characters. You get the feel that the Rebel Alliance is not so squeaky clean as the original movies imply and in some ways, they're hardly much different from the Empire other than they hate everything the Empire stands for.
3. Characters like Jyn Urso, K-2SO, Orson Krennic, whoever Donnie Yen is... They're all great.
4. The visuals are astounding to watch, especially in the movie's massive third act. I recommend watching it in 3D so you can be completely immersed in the huge scale action scenes on land as well as in space.
5. Darth Vader! WHOO!
Of course I have flaws. But to be honest, they're really more like nitpicks. I do think the first act moved kinda slow and it doesn't really pick up until halfway through, and this is mainly due to all these characters that needed to be introduced. Speaking of the new characters, I don't even remember the names of half of them. I know Jyn, K-2SO, Krennic, Cassian, Saw... That's about it. Lastly, the CGI double of the late Peter Cushing "Grand Moff Wilhuf Tarkin" is very noticeable. I know it's not easy to apply CGI to human beings but this could've been solved by simply pulling back on Tarkin's screentime and maybe just keep him hidden in the shadows since he's such a threat to the Rebellion.
Overall, I really loved this movie. It's by no means perfect, but this is certainly the best prequel out there so far in terms of a fairly strong script and amazing visuals. Rogue One gets a 9/10. Thumbs up to Gareth Edwards!