Movie Review: Rogue One: A STAR WARS Story (2016)

Greetings, my fellow movie watchers!!

Today is a very special day! It is:

May the Fourth Be With You!

Also known as STAR WARS day!! As an avid fan I, of course, have to do something to celebrate (besides blasting the soundtrack, looking at all my merch, watching a movie, and drinking chocolate milk. [The last one is a tradition]), so I have decided to review one of the movies!

Here are links to all of my previous reviews:
IV: A New Hope (1977), V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), VI: The Return of the Jedi (1982), I: The Phantom Menace (1999), II: Attack of the Clones (2002), III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), VII: The Force Awakens (2015), VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), & IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Now, I've already reviewed all of the main ones, so it is time for the side stories. And you've guessed it, I'll be reviewing the greatly loved Rogue One (2016)!

If you haven't seen this and are wondering when in the series to watch it, it comes between III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) and IV: A New Hope (1977) (But don't watch them in the order the numbers are! Watch them in the order I have above) but it can be watched really anytime because it doesn't have spoilers for the others.


My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


Rogue One: A STAR WARS Story (2016):

Jyn Erso hasn't seen her father since he was taken away by the Empire fifteen years ago. One day the rebel alliance contacts her. They have reason to believe that her father has been working on a huge weapon called The Death Star and they need to get the plans to find a way to prevent it. She teams up with Cassian Andor, and droid K-2SO, together they find a pilot who defected from the Empire who might have a clue to lead them to her father. Will they be able to gain the upper hand against the Empire when all hope seems lost?

Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure.
Length: approx. 134 minutes.
Costumes: 8, pretty standard.
Script: 9, I don't recall any bad words.
Crew:
Directed by: Gareth Edwards.
Written by: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy, John Knoll, Gary Whitta, & George Lucas.
Starring:
Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso.

Diego Luna as Cassian Andor.

Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe.

Wen Jiang as Baze Malbus.
Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook.

Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic.
Alan Tudyk as K-2SO.
Guy Henry as Governor Tarkin.
Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera.
Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso.
Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa.
Alistair Petrie as General Draven.
Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma.
Ben Daniels as General Merrick.
Ian McElhinney as General Dodonna.
Fares Fares as Senator Vaspar.
Jonathan Aris as Senator Jebel.
Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Senator Pamlo.
Spencer Wilding & Daniel Naprous as Darth Vader.

James Earl Jones as Darth Vader (voice).
Ingvild Deila as Princess Leia.
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO.
Valene Kane as Lyra Erso.
Michael Smiley as Dr. Evazan.
Warwick Davis as Weeteef Cyubee.
Cinematography: 6, this takes a nose dive because of the CGI. I originally didn't want to watch this movie when I learned that they used the character of Grand Moff Tarkin but because Peter Cushing is no longer with us they decided use a bunch of CGI. Now, I know that there actually is a guy there, and they projected everything onto him later, but it bothers me. Did they have to use that character? No. They could've used someone else. Other than that, it was okay.
Cinematography by: Greig Fraser.

Music: 8, when I saw this I was annoyed at how close it was to the original, but yet how far off! I just wanted it to be the same! Thinking about it now, I like that they didn't use the same, but adjusted it. After all, it isn't part of the episodes, but just a side story. The original STAR WARS score is my favorite of all time so I can be a little picky about it.
Music by: Michael Giacchino & John Williams.
Quotes: I'm going to say N/A because I really can't remember any of them.
Content: 8, there is a lot of violence with shooting, killing, and a few scary scenes.
Originality: 9, it is actually pretty original, and I am impressed that they could come up with a decent story connected to the originals, but yet be its own thing.
Good For: STAR WARS fans.
Age Range: It's rated PG-13, and I agree with that just because there is a lot of war action. Otherwise, it's totally clean so it depends on the person.

Overall Score: 8.
Bonus thoughts:

It's been a while since I saw this, but I still wanted to talk about it today. I watched this sure that I wasn't going to like it. Several things about the production bothered me: the already mentioned CGI, and the fact that they were supposed to be working on episode VIII! I also knew the whole storyline. Usually I'm really good about avoiding spoilers but I didn't on this one. It was because I was talking to a friend one time and we realized that we each love STAR WARS so I asked her, "Which one is your favorite?"
She replied, "Oh, definitely Rogue One. I couldn't believe that ------------!"
There went the ending of the movie. She had just supposed that I, like the rest of the STAR WARS fans, had seen it (but I hadn't yet, because of my small issues with it). A couple months later I was talking to some other friends about STAR WARS and they mentioned that they didn't like Rogue One. Since I already knew the ending without knowing anything else about it I asked them to tell me everything without worrying about spoilers.
A couple more months and my mom said that we should watch it. I was a bit defensive about it because people always say (I've this said to me more times than I can count),
"Rogue One is so great! It is so much better than The Last Jedi which was really disappointing."
Now, everyone has their personal preferences and favorites and least favorites (and that's awesome because otherwise it would be really boring) and if you love this movie I think that is great! But, The Last Jedi happens to be my second favorite STAR WARS. And, currently my third favorite movie of all time. So yeah. When anyone talked about how bad it was and how great Rogue One was I didn't feel like it deserved all that hype. You get tired of people hating on your favorites!
Anyway, we watched it. My mom loved it because she knew nothing about it, but I was indifferent the whole time. I didn't love it. I had heard everyone talking about how great Jyn and Cassian were, and I didn't like Cassian that much (Note, I thought that Diego Luna did a great job, just his character wasn't my favorite).

Even though I thought I knew everything, there were some surprises that were truly great, and there names are: Chirrut Îmwe, Baze Malbus, and Bodhi Rook.
Seriously, these guys are the best! If you haven't seen this movie, watch it just for them.


Okay, that's enough from me. Your turn! Tell me how you celebrated STAR WARS day and your thoughts on Rogue One!

Thanks for reading! May the Fourth Be With You!

MovieCritic