In the first Star Wars movie, the Rebellion says they stole the Death Star plans. However, they never explain how. Rouge One highlights the extraordinary tale of how the Rogue One squadron stole these plans.
Rouge One: A Star Wars Story takes place after Episode 3, but before Episode 4. The movie follows Jyn Erso, who is the daughter of Gaelen Erso; the architect who built the Death Star. The Rebellion saves Jyn from Imperial imprisonment so they can enlist her in a mission to find her father. They soon discover that Gaelen purposefully sabotaged the Death Star. Now it’s up to them to steal the Death Star plans so the Rebellion can destroy the Empire’s ultimate weapon.
Although Star Wars is incredibly popular world round, its prequel films are infamous for being the worst of the series. Episodes one, two and three all have below average scores on Metacritic. With Rogue One technically being a prequel, I was a bit skeptical of whether it would be good or not. However, my expectations were blown out of this star system. Rogue One is definitely the best Star Wars prequel ever. I’d even say it was better than The Force Awakens.
Probably the one thing I love the most about this film is the fact they show the Rebellion in a new light. If you watch the movie, you’ll see that they make calls that are ethically questionable. An example of this when Cassian (a Rebel leader) tells Jyn that they’re going to save her father. However, in reality, he plans to kill Jyn’s father. This aspect gives the film a feel of realism. In previous Star Wars movies, it was always clear who were the good guys and bad guys. Now they’re exploring a gray area that makes you question if the Rebels are as good as you were led to believe. At one point, Jyn even points out that Cassian is like an Imperial Stormtrooper, just following orders with zero hesitation.
Another good thing about Rogue One is its lack for forces users. In literally every other Star Wars movie, we had Jedi and Sith swing their lightsabers around and fighting each other. And the force users are practically invincible. So you were never concerned for the safety of the main characters. Rogue One, on the other hand, has incredibly suspenseful battles. Throughout the entirety of the movie, I constantly had a feeling that the heroes might not win. And that’s how you should feel when watching not only a Star Wars movie; but any movie. I don’t want to spoil it, but I was at the edge of my seat the entire third act! Also, Rogue One‘s stupendous visuals make the battles even more awesome to look at.
The smartest thing about Rogue One is the fact that Gaelen Erso sabotaged the Death Star. When I originally watched the movie, I thought that it was stupid how the Empire never noticed that one tiny flaw with the exhaust port that could destroy the whole Death Star. However, by making Gaelen intentionally adding that design flaw in order to get revenge on the Empire for forcing him to make the Death Star, it makes way more sense. I would love to shake the hand of the writers for making that genius decision.
The characters in Rogue One are both a pro and a con. Jyn Erso was an amazingly strong female character, K-2SO was incredibly hilarious and was almost as human as the other characters, and like I said before, Cassian showed us a darker side of the rebellion. However, the other characters were pretty forgettable. The blind staff user in the movie who constantly said, “I’m one with the force and the force is with me,” didn’t have a memorable name. I literally had to search up the names of the other characters. I don’t even remember how the guy who used the bazooka join the Rogue One squadron. In fact, most of the people who were in the squadron were just there. They weren’t properly introduced.
Despite the characters not being too memorable, the movie makes up for it with clever writing, stunning visuals, and amazing battles. As online movie reviewer, Jeremy Jahns would say, “Rogue One is Awesometacular!” If you’re an avid fan of Star Wars or just an average moviegoer, I’d definitely give this movie a watch. If Star Wars movies are going to be as fantastic as this from now on, my extreme anticipation for Episode 8 has grown tenfold!
