After the smash success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first entry in the Skywalker Saga after Disney purchased Lucasfilm, they decided to broaden the conditionally-beloved franchise's horizons with spinoff media, including the very first spinoff film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which tells about how the Rebel Alliance acquired the Death Star plans, referenced in the opening crawl of A New Hope. The spinoff begins with the signature phrase, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." and goes cold-open into the film, starting six years after the Galactic Empire forms.
Imperial Director Orson Krennic and his death troopers forcibly recruit scientist Galen Erso to finish work on the Death Star project, with his life Lyra offed in the process and their daughter Jyn going into hiding with Saw Gerrera, leader of the Partisans. Jyn goes to prison thirteen years later, while Rebel Intelligence officer Cassian Andor (who would get his own series) learns about the Death Star being made with the help of Kyber crystals, also key to the creation of lightsabers in the Star Wars mythos, from an Imperial defector named Bodhi Rook (nice name, by the way).
Jyn is rescued from imprisonment and brought before various Rebel leaders including Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, Jyn banding with Cassian and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO, who has some occasional funny lines like, "I am taking them...to imprison them. In prison." Meanwhile, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, one of the masterminds of the Death Star initiative, and depicted through CG rather than an actor (though I really couldn't tell), worries about the defector, wanting to test the station. Stuff happens on Jedha, including a battle to defend the Kyber Temple on the planet.
The Death Star is tested on the moon but doesn't destroy it, and the Partisans get the hell away, with Director Krennic and his colleagues relishing at the destruction. Tarkin seizes control of the project, which pisses off Krennic and leads him to Mustafar to complain to disabled war veteran and Sith Lord Darth Vader, who warns him not to "choke on his aspirations," naturally accompanied by a Force Choke. Jyn goes back to Yavin 4 to help with plans to steal the Death Star schematics, securely held on Scarif, with the infiltration team receiving the titular name Rogue One.
The Battle of Scarif plays out magnificently, the ending tying into A New Hope, with Rogue One overall being a great start for Star Wars spinoff films, given its great cast, writing, effects, music, and addition to the series mythos. I know "fans" love to complain about the hypothetical infallibility of the Original Trilogy movies (and will definitely whine about the CG moments of Rogue One like Tarkin), but I actually liked it more than them, the Prequel Trilogy, and The Force Awakens. Aside from minor stuff like "Bodhi Rook" and the absence of the trailer line "This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel!", I consider Rogue One a cinematic high point in the franchise.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
| The Bottom Line | |
| A great debut for Star Wars spinoff films, and a high point in the franchise. | |
 |
|