My name is Will and I am not a Star Wars lifer. I’m not even a Star Wars quarter-lifer. I didn’t see my first Star Wars film until I reviewed in on my other blog, Dr. Awesome Film Reviews, back in 2013. It was a sweet experience, one that was filled with references that made me exclaim, “Yep, that was from Star Wars the whoooooole time.”

Since then, we’ve been blessed with two brand new additions to the canon, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, and now Rogue One. With TFA being stellar, Rogue One had big shoes to fill, since most other Star Wars prequels had been, well….terrible. So, with all of that out in the open, it’s safe to say that Rogue One was not only great, but it made people go out of their way to completely forget how to spell! What chaos!

The story of Rogue One is centered around a rogue one, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), who is the daughter of formerly-Imperial-scientist-turned-farmer-turned-saboteur-Imperial-scientist, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelson). As a young girl, her father is taken from her by the Empire, more specifically by power-hungry Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn), as Galen has the scientific book-smarts to help the Empire build a super-weapon capable of destroying planets. Wait for it…the Death Star. Flash forward approximately fifteen years and Jyn finds herself amidst Rebellion-led attempts to desperately seek intelligence about this new weapon. She falls in with an Alliance officer, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), as they scour various planets and moons seeking information that would lead them to Jyn’s father and/or the building of the Death Star.

When on the moon Jedha, they are taken captive by the extreme militant, Saw Gerrara (Forest Whitaker), aka Mr. “I CAN’T ESCAPE MY FALLOUT POWER ARMOR COSPLAY,” who not only has information about the whereabouts of Galen, but also a defected Imperial pilot who aids in their quest and a hologram message from Galen himself. Within this message, we are exposed to the secret plot conducted by Galen all along: he specifically sabotaged the construction of the Death Star, the single easily-overlooked weakness that we’ve all come to know and understand from the original Star Wars film. Cassian and Jyn work together, alongside the Alliance’s rebellion, to seek out the plans for the construction of the Death Star so the Alliance can work to destroy it (in future films).

Note: beyond this mark, there be spoilers. AHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, so, there’s some great stuff going on here. Like every film, the movie has incredible strengths and somewhat devastating weaknesses. To really flesh these ideas out, I’m going to directly and indirectly spoil some key sequences. You’ve been warned.

Strengths

1. The supporting cast is easily the best thing about this movie.

Without the supporting actors, this script flops. Key members of the ensemble like Whitaker, Mendelsohn, and Donnie-Facking-Yen really make this movie great. While Whitaker’s character is merely a stepping stone that gets rolled in the destruction of Jedha, Whitaker gives this character life. He’s described as an “extremist,” yet he’s awfully soft-spoken. That’s what makes him terrifying. There’s a really unsettling scene of Saw using a miniature Godzilla villain to nearly lobotomize the Imperial pilot. No thank you.

Krennic’s capture of Galen in the opening scene inevitably led him to seize more power within the Empire’s hierarchy. Mendelsohn’s performance is what dreams are made of; he’s great as a slimy, conniving, corrupt, and fear-inducing villain that’ll do anything to please Vader and the Emperor. Naturally being Australian, Mendelsohn’s rage slips in and out of accent, but y’know, I don’t care. It makes the anger more believable.

Donnie Yen, probably best known for the Ip Man franchise, plays a pivotal role in the supporting cast. He is one-part Legolas, one-part Ip Man, and one-part blind comedic relief. In the scene where Gerrara’s men capture him alongside Jyn and Cassian, he is hooded and dragged away. In doing so, he yells, “Are you kidding me? I’m blind!” Not a single person in the theater wasn’t dying of laughter.

2. Darth Vader is still too cool for Jedi school.

Holy shit. Man. Vader has two scenes in the movie, but it’s not like the Joker in Suicide Squad. MOTHERFUCKERS EVEN GOT JAMES EARL JONES IN ON THIS. Phew. Okay. I’m ready.

Vader’s presence is often alluded to early on, specifically by Krennic. Once we see him, both in burnt-skin-sitting-in-my-spa form and the classic heavy-breathing version, it evokes nothing but the classic sense of terror, suspense, and fanboy nostalgia that every 40-something felt seeing the original iteration in theaters back in the late 1970s. As for a real spoiler, Vader’s last scene, in the final five/seven minutes of the film, is nothing short of breathtaking. You watch it, you see the Alliance officers skittering like rats into a sewer grate, and you just have to say, “Those dudes are fuuuuuuuucked.”

3. The Star Wars realm continues to be vast and awesome.

Much like my first time viewing the original trilogy, this film continuously had me blown away by the creative worlds, characters, and creatures that inhabit each one. Whether its the former Jedi Temple’s home of Jedha, the Imperial base on the tropical planet, Scarif, or Eadu, the mining planet that has more lightning strikes than Florida, these places are immense and can be easily recollected because of their unique characteristics.

Weaknesses

1. Jyn Erso fits the mold as an unlikable protagonist.

The more I thought about this idea, the more it made sense. Jyn Erso is not that interesting, but rather a more plastic and less versatile Rey. The writers and new-age Star Wars-think-tankers, I’m sure, are gunning to revitalize the narrative of “female protagonists in male-dominated genres are what we need!” Yes, that is technically accurate. However, Jyn’s narrative is one that is fraught with skepticism. Do they trust her? No. Can she command the audience in an Alliance town-hall meeting? You bet your sweet bippy. But how did they establish that trust? It’s kind of loose justification, especially if you’re leaning on her biggest critic, Cassian. I guess having him feel guilty about maybe sniping Galen without her knowledge is enough. Maybe it isn’t.

Just as characters are dying left and right on screen, we feel more connected to them and their struggles than hers. “Rebellions are built on hope” she says in the trailer. Apparently Cassian’s lines aren’t the only thing she steals from this movie. Lord of the Rings fans (at least many of them) will tell you similar struggles with how whiny and childish Frodo is, and even some Star Wars fans will tell you how much they find Luke Skywalker to be equally insufferable. Jyn just doesn’t cut it. She’s got the personality of a clipboard, yet we are compelled to follow her to the end of her journey.

2. Game of Thrones character arcs are a tough pill to swallow.

Are you familiar with the story of the 300 Spartans? A rogue group of soldiers are sent on their way  like some kinda “suicide squad” to defeat an insurmountable empire? Ring any bells? It should, because Rogue One is a glorified, albeit more interesting, version of that story.

In the same vein, Game of Thrones appears. On the ride home from the movies, my fiancee was particularly upset with the fact that almost every single new character from Rogue One dies. Jyn, Cassian, Donnie Yen, Krennic, Donnie Yen’s bodyguard who probably has a name, Galen, Saw Gerrara. All of ’em. Whether it’s in battle with the Empire on Scarif, getting planet’d to death on Jedha, or totally eating your words and getting Death-Starred (I’m looking at you, Krennic), they’re just super dead. In fitting the mold of the 300 Spartans mythos, they have to die. They don’t exist in A New Hope. They are the soldiers sent, or in this case volunteered, to be slaughtered for the rebellion. My fiancee is not wrong. It doesn’t feel great to watch the characters that you establish a connection with die on-screen. The difference here is that it doesn’t feel gratuitous like Game of Thrones, where killing characters is the sport of choice for George R.R. Martin. They serve a purpose; they’re not red shirts. We care for these characters, but we also know what’s coming: a new hope.

Conclusion

Rogue One is a bonafide hit. It hits all the right notes, pulls your heart strings, and generates a lot of empathy and laughs alike. While the inevitable heat death of most of the characters isn’t awesome, the fact that easily-recognized characters emerge pre-Episode IV, including a CGI Moff Tarkin, is a nice throwback for fanboys and movie-goers everywhere. It should also be said that this is easily the most ethnically diverse cast ever assembled for a Star Wars flick. Sure we got John Boyega and Daisy Ridley for Episode VII, but this is different. This feels bigger. I can see great things coming on the horizon for this franchise.

Score: 4.5 Rouges out of 5