Review:
The first act was the best for me. It was visually different and had the most gritty parts of the movie. The character were introduced well, especially Chirrut Îmwe and
K-2SO who had some stand out scenes. The first act also posed questions that unfortunately were dropped after the first act of the movie. Watching
Cassian in the first scenes and later
Saw Gerrera really showed the Rebellion (and the splinter cell Rebellion) in different light. It is a shame that some of the acts (Cassian killing the informant, and then killing one of Saw men in the street battle) are never really touched on. Also the interrogation/torture of
Bodhi Rook is never really examined (cool monster though). The destruction of Jedha was a powerful moment though, maybe more then the ending.
I feel the movie falls off the second act in a big, but not movie breaking way. The second act just felt unnecessary. First is
Krennic meeting Vader. While it was interesting to see Vader "at home" I really did not see the point of the scenes other than to just introduce Vader to the movie. Nothing really progressed in it. Although I can forgive it in a fanboy way to see Vader in the Bacta Tank and the return to Mustafar.
Worse though were the detour to Edo (sp?). It really provided nothing. No new information was really gained (they knew from the hologram message that they needed to go to Scariff already) and the Jyn/Galen reunion was to cliche and short to really mean anything. With no evidence or proof and just talking out my sides the second act seems made up on the fly to pad the runtime after movie runtime came up short or because the reshoots changed the plot around and they needed it to clear up some loose ends (mainly Galen who all his scenes could of taken place on Scariff with no affect on the movie).
The act act things picked up greatly. The movie did fall into a little more "standard movie mode" (It seems like when there is not a Death Star to blow up the next best thing Star Wars movies fall back to is taking shields down) but made up for it with great action and cameos and (mostly) earned emotional sacrifices. Like the first act of the movie everyone had there moment, both in heroics and sacrifice. Everything moves briskly and there are no slow parts. The ending is sad but hopeful. It does make watching A New Hope a better experience and even downplays Luke a little bit which is nice. While Luke is instrumental in the Rebellion victory watching Rogue One makes me think that if not Luke, someone would of stepped up in his place. When Yoda (admitally in Empire) says there is "another" I now have the feeling the Rebellions was full of Lukes ready to make there mark.
Random thoughts;
I thought the plot was a little needlessly complicated. Rebellion needs Jyn, to find Saw, to Get Rook, to find Galen, to get to Scariff, to get plans. That seems like one to many steps.
The same complication happens in the end. I cannot even describe the steps, but the short version is: Find plans, get to dish, Rook connects a wire, another guy flips a switch, now dish needs to be aligned, ect. It gave people things to do in the end but still a little much for me.
Chirrut was one of the best parts of the movie. Loved his devotion to the Force and his friendship with Baze really shown through. Especially in the end. I could totally see both of them becoming force ghosts and hanging out together. Although I so though his walking stick in the end was going to turn out to be a lightsaber and he was going to use it to deflect the shots until he got to the switch.
I also loved how Saw Gerrera was like a proto Darth Vader. From his robotics to his breathing.
No trouble with the Cameos or CGI characters. I was surprised how big of a part Tarkin had. But it was a good surprise.
Darth Vader in the end. Both epic and a little silly. Epic in seeing him really show his brutality. But a little silly seeing how the one guy at the end of the very short hallway kept screaming for people to take the disc yet Vader takes his time getting to him. Give him a force yank away from the door real fast. I would of loved to see a longer version of this scene though with the disc being passed through multiple people sacrificing themselves to protect the dish.
While the movie focused on a Jyn and a few people in the Rebellion not enough credit goes to the unnamed people who gave there lives up for Jyn. From soldiers volunteering for the mission to the pilots in space bringing down Star Destroyers, this was a team mission through and through and I liked how it was not just one person saving the day.
Order of sacrifices in emotional weight:
Honorary Mention: Everyone in the Rebellion or on Jedha/Scariff who died
1.
K-2SO
2. Chirrut Îmwe
3.
Galen Erso
4.
Baze Malbus (
5.
Bodhi Rook (not enough time with the character for big impact but the suddenness of his death gives it the gritty edge.
6. Jyn and Cassian (to cliche with a romantic component really not needed)
Finals Thoughts:
Rogue One might not be a movie that needed to be told, but now that it has I am glad it was. It opened the world up and showed a imperfect rebellion finding hope. Some of darker themes in the movie are dropped in favor of standard storytelling by the end, and the middle of the movie is redundant and unnecessary, but the highs (and emotional lows) of the movie outweigh them to make a movie that, ending considered, still makes you (or at least me) leave the movie uplifted.
8/10 for me.
