Photo Courtesy of Tribune News Service | “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” adds clarification to some of the older movies from the saga, but offers a different plot line.
‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ — starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn
9 out of 10
By Sam Romero ’17
THE ROUNDUP
A new chapter in the Star Wars franchise is opened with their first ever live action movie that does not follow the Skywalker family as the main character.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” takes place in between “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” and “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.”
Director Gareth Edward does an outstanding job at showing the events that lead up to Episode IV and explains the biggest plot-hole in Episode IV; why would the Death Star have such a great weakness without the Empire knowing?
He keeps the feel of the other Star Wars movies by having many of the original characters make guest appearances, but he also brings in completely new characters to the Star Wars universe to expand it further.
Jyn Erso, played by Felicity Jones, is the daughter of the main architect of the Death Star, and the only one who can find out how to stop the Empire’s plan of finishing their weapon and taking over the galaxy.
Her character development from a scared child running from the Empire, to a soldier for the rebellion, happens naturally and is not forced onto the viewer, making it more believable.
Sadly, not all character development goes that smooth in the film.
Donnie Yen plays Chirrut Imwe, a blind man who puts all of his faith in the force.
Even though Imwe is my favorite character, being the closest character to a Jedi force user in the movie, his introduction is forced onto the audience and they have to accept that he is apart of the team with little background to who he is.
The main purpose of the movie was to bridge a gap between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, which Edward succeeded and surpassed.
This is the first Star Wars movie that put the “war” in Star Wars showing the perspective of the soldiers fighting.
Near the end of the movie, it has a huge cinematic battle on the planet of Scarif which gives the viewers an actual war scene they have been dying to see.
This scene puts the movie apart from all other Star Wars movies, making it a true war movie.
Another scene that shocked everyone came at the very end with the appearance of Darth Vader.
While only being a few minutes, this scene of Vader mercilessly cutting down rebel soldiers shows the true power of the dark side of the force.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was an amazing success and I cannot wait to see what other Star War stories Disney has in store for us.
