Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Review – An unnecessary brilliance

Let me start with this – I have never understood why this movie had to be made in the first place. Well, I have, to fix THE “plot hole” of all, according to some fans, as how could something as powerful as THE Death Star could have such a “glaring” weakness?!

This honestly has never bothered me, as I understand, even the most convoluted, most sophisticated things can fall apart in a instance (the virus by the name of COVID-19 has entered the chat) so I’ve always took it for granted, that was the fault, and there was no apparent reason for it. Well, this movie not only made the reason, but explained everything and somehow, not only did it well, but on top of that, we’ve gotten one of the best sequences of lightsaber and force use of all time…?

The review below will contain SPOILERS!

Rogue One on my first watch seemed like a good enough movie (would rate it 4* back then) as I liked it, I thought it was the best shot Star Wars movie to date (until The Last Jedi came along) but it still seemed unnecessary. What I admired was the balls on that movie to get us to care about bunch of heroes, just so we can watch them die, one by one, where any lesser movie would’ve had them survive with some lazy explanation (“Oh, they went to this far away planet, that’s why these characters are nowhere to be seen in the original trilogy!”) This one just said “Fuck everything, they need to die.” and then made sure they’ve died. Even on my first viewing I did like that a lot.

Now I’ve seen it for the second time, almost 4 years later, and I have to say, it’s growing on me. Is it still unnecessary? Yes, it is. But is it also entertaining, funny movie, with some brilliant shots and scenes? Also yes. I feel like what I want to say would be best expressed by bullet points, so:

• Alan Tudyk is a treasure, whose K-2SO steals every scene he’s in. I’m so glad he was part of this movie.
• Donnie Yen is always a great addition to any movie, he was by far my favourite character out of this movie, my only regret with him was the fact the screenwriters should’ve just went the full Jedi route and gave him a lightsaber. He didn’t have to be Jedi “officially”, that lightsaber could’ve just been something “homemade” like Kylo’s, but I felt it was a shame to have a character who’s one with the Force, without giving him lightsaber, so he can kick ass a bit more. Not that Donnie would need it, as he’s lethal on his own.
• Diego Luna‘s character was much better on my second viewing as I understood him bit more, I could see that his character was through a lot and picked up on some nuances I’ve missed in his performance the first time. I’m definitely more on board with his character having his standalone TV show.
• I’m still really happy about Mads Mikkelsen being here and having (arguably) the biggest role in any Star Wars movie (without him, making the Death Star the way he had, the Rebellion wouldn’t have succeeded -> no original trilogy).
• Felicity Jones was alright, for some reason I felt the people around her were slightly better than her. She wasn’t bad by any means, just didn’t standout as much as I thought she should have, especially her being the main character.

There are two sequence that I’d consider highlights from this movie – the beach attack scene, that almost felt like from a war movie, and Darth Vader using the Force, powering his way through the rebels. Just for those two scenes alone is Rogue One worth seeing. And who knows? Maybe on my third viewing, it will grow on me even more.

That’s all for this one? How did you like Rogue One? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke