Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

   It was with great sadness and irony that the day my wife and I choose to see the new Star Wars film, it was the day Carrie Fisher died. Work and holiday emergencies postponed our seeing the movie earlier. It's just how it worked out.
   Even 2 weeks after the movie debuted and on a middle of the afternoon workday, our showing was still packed. Critics have called this the best Star Wars film since either Empire Strikes Back or A New Hope. So, let's dig into the specifics of the movie and find out if the critics were right or just caught up in the hype.
    Rogue One has the unique distinction of being both a prequel and a sequel. The film tells the untold story of the construction of the Death Star, which had begun at the end of Episode III, along with how the Rebellion obtained the schematics to the Empire's super weapon just prior to Episode IV. The film also answers a lot of burning questions that fans of A New Hope have been asking for years, such as:

• Why would the Empire allow for a simple design flaw of a 2 meters exhaust port to potentially destroy their super expensive mega-weapon?
• Why does the Rebellion only have a small handful of ships to go against the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin?
• and there's several other questions I could post, but that would spoil many of the surprises built into the film.

   

    Speaking of surprises, there are references, Easter eggs, and cameos galore in the film. One that I will spoil involves on of the main characters- Grand Moff Tarkin! The actor who portrayed Tarkin, Peter Cushing, died almost 30 years ago. Yet, through the magic of CGI, the veteran actor lives again in a pretty convincing yet subtly creepy fashion. Along with Cushing's character, I counted at least 3 other smaller roles done in similar fashion. But honestly, I think it helped keep a decorum of continuity between Rogue One and A New Hope which was filmed 40 years prior. 

      I enjoyed Rogue One. It was great getting to see some big budget production battles. It think they rival and surpass the prequels! I enjoyed how the film captured the magic of the original trilogy and finally, a film without any annoying characters like Jar Jar Binks! Alan Tudyk's (Firefly) voice as the droid K-2SO and Martial Arts master Donnie Yen's (Ip Man) portrayal as blind warrior  in tune with the Force Chirrut Îmwe stole many scenes. 

     

    So was Rogue One the best Star Wars film ever? Nope- because technically, it's not a Star Wars movie. It's set in the Star Wars Universe but it's really a stand alone film. You don't have to even know what's been going on prior or afterwards to enjoy Rogue One- but it helps! 

     The film pulls no punches and to many Star Wars fans, Rogue One has shown them that Disney has no intentions of turning George Lucas' universe into a version of It's a Small World with aliens. The House of Mouse is working on other 'Star Wars Story' films to release at a rate of about 1 a year. If they continue to follow the formula of Rogue One, then the fate of a galaxy far, far away is in very good hands.

    Worth Consuming

     Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

OK- fine. I'll rank them...

                1. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

                2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

                3. Episode IV: A New Hope

                4. Episode VII: The Force Awakens

                5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

                6. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

                7. Episode II: Attack of the Clones

                8: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

    There... happy?