Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

'This page is dedicated to our Princess, Carrie Fisher. October 21 1956 - December 27 2016'

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (also known as Star Wars: Rogue One) is a 2016 American epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards. It was based on George Lucas' Star Wars franchise, and is the first film in the Stories spin-off series. The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2016, and was released in the United States on December 16, 2016.

Plot
Shortly before the events of A New Hope, former scientist Galen Erso lives on a farm with his wife and young daughter, Jyn. His peaceful existence comes crashing down when the evil Orson Krennic takes him away from his beloved family. Many years later, Galen becomes the Empire's lead engineer for the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, the Death Star. Knowing that her father holds the key to its destruction, Jyn joins forces with a spy and other resistance fighters to steal the space station's plans for the Rebel Alliance.

Why It's A Good Spin-Off Star Wars Movie

 * 1) Good acting, especially from Felicity Jones and Diego Luna, with several actors from both the Prequel and Original Trilogies reprising their roles.
 * 2) The movie's tone is darker than most other installments in the series, as it's basically a war movie set in the Star Wars universe.
 * 3) Clever use of unused footage from A New Hope for Red Leader and Gold Leader, even getting the latter's actor, Angus MacInnes, to dub over new lines for the character.
 * 4) Great visual effects.
 * 5) While the rest of the characters are weak, K-2SO stands out as a very cool and funny character.
 * 6) Good humor here and there, especially Vader's iconic line "Be careful not to choke on your aspirations".
 * 7) Excellent score from Michael Giacchino.
 * 8) The scenes where all the characters die is pretty saddening especially Chirrut Îmwe's death.
 * 9) The action is just as exciting as the main saga.
 * 10) The ending of the movie manages to segue seamlessly into A New Hope. As it ends right when A New Hope would start.
 * 11) Darth Vader. Not only is he awesome as always, but his scene towards the end (where he single-handedly slaughters an entire platoon of Rebel soldiers) will send chills down your spine, and shows how powerful he is.
 * 12) "Save the Rebellion! Save the dream."

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The CGI for both Tarkin and Leia falls deep into the uncanny valley.
 * 2) While the characters have unique designs, they're very underdeveloped making them forgettable.
 * 3) Some good scenes were sadly cut from the original release due to reshoots by Tony Gilroy (which were done due to Disney being dissatisfied with Edwards' "gritty war-story" version).
 * 4) The unnecessary faster pacing can make the movie hard to follow sometimes.
 * 5) A few small continuity errors here and there, most noticeably Mon Mothma already being depicted as leader of the Rebel Alliance despite everything else in the franchise suggesting it was Bail Organa who held that position before he died in the destruction of Alderaan.

Reception
Rouge One: A Star Wars Story received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, with praise for its acting, story, visuals, musical score and dark tone, but criticism for its pacing, underdeveloped characters and digital recreations of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher. It has an 84% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the website's critical consensus reads, "Rogue One draws deep on Star Wars mythology while breaking new narrative and aesthetic ground and suggesting a bright blockbuster future for the franchise.", while Metacritic scores a film a 65/100 "generally favorable reviews" and a 7.8/10 on IMDb.

Trivia

 * This is the first live-action Star Wars movie to not have the Wilhelm Scream.
 * This is the third time that Michael Giacchino composed the score of sci-fi space opera film; the first was the Star Trek reboot series and the second was mh:awfulmovies:Jupiter Ascending.
 * George Lucas liked this film more than The Force Awakens.