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I tried really hard not to include spoilers. I don’t think I have. But if you read it, be forewarned…….scroll down…

 

 

Much like The Force Awakens, people are hitting social media giving high praise to Rogue One. However, if you recall, those same high praises wained after a time when people started to realize The Force Awakens was more or less a retelling of A New Hope in many aspects.

Rogue One was good. Really good. I went in with low expectations and came away liking it more than I expected I would. The graphics were top notch. The comedy was well placed when needed. And the acting was as good as to be expected. Still not sure how everyone in the Star Wars Universe is British now, but whatever. You really couldn’t have asked for a better experience from the Star Wars franchise than with Rogue One. There were a few things that did disappoint me with the film, but they were all-in-all minor. I didn’t like how they broke away from the iconic opening crawl (yes, I know what you’re thinking….and I’ll address that in a moment). Also, I felt the beginning was a bit disjointed and bounced around too much. Some of the graphical aspect ratios seemed a bit off in the being too. But really none of these issues are huge. I’m probably just being a snob about them….

That being said, I didn’t find Rogue One any better or worse than any of the original trilogy. It was much better than I-III and VII though.

I did find the audience interaction to be a bit lackluster, however.  Many, many times when watching The Force Awakens I remember hearing gasps, awes, oohs, and cheers. Being in a theater full of Star Wars fans I was surprised to hear very few of these during Rogue One.

Now to address my “opening crawl” statement. I don’t buy the “stand alone” marketing they are trying to push with this film. Yes, you could have never seen a Star Wars film, watch Rogue One, and still know what’s going on. But no one is going to watch Rogue One, and have never seen A New Hope and say, “That was great, but I’m so not going to go see A New Hope.”


No one is going to have a Star Wars marathon of I-VII, stop at III and skip putting in Rogue One, just to put in IV. Why? Because it’s all part of the same story arch.

This film should have been called, Star Wars: Rogue One. Not Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Granted, calling it Star Wars 3.75: Rogue One would have been weird. I get that. However, this film was literally, and I’m not over-exaggerating here, the prequel to A New Hope. So much so you could call the two films one continuous film. I even caught myself thinking about where Luke, Han and Chewie, and Obi-Wan would have been during parts of this film.

I think the rating I gave Rogue One is fair. I highly recommend seeing it in the theater, but the experience will be no less if you wait till Blue-ray and watch it at home on your big screen.

UGeek Rating: 8/10