Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Film Review

When people think of Star Wars prequels they usually thing of episodes one through three and yet there are technically two more prequels in live action form. As in 2016 Disney did something that no one expected them to do and that was create kind of an off shoot to the main trilogy of films with this film being made to explain certain things in A New Hope and heck out of the two spin off films that they made this is one that is technically the most successful and is more remembered of the two and so then join me as I review the film that could be seen as being the finale to it's TV prequel Andor with the film in question being called simply just "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when the Empire become closer to finishing of the construction of the Death Star it's up to a bunch of rebels to find the plans to destroying it and hand them off to a familiar face before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this films plot being one that did kind of need to be told as for a long time us the audience had no idea of how Leia in the original film got ahold of the plans to the original Death Star in the first place and yet this is something that this film does set out to rectify and while yes there other aspects to the films plot as well like Jyn trying to proof that her father is a good person something which she does do those other plots just aren't as interesting as the films main plot as this is quite literally a do or die situation for these characters as if they don't pull this off not only will they die but so will the rest of the galaxy and it's that idea that does make this films plot be all the more all the more exciting because of it and while yes this films plot could have bee alot more stronger then what it ended being as the film does pend alot of time on pointless scenes all pf which do add nothing to the films overall plot but when the plot is good it can be great and heck it could even be argued that this films plot is better then the plots of episodes one , two and three combined as that's how good that the plot of this film with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.   

Starring in this film is Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso , Diego Luna as Cassian Andor and Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe. Also starring in this film is Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso , Alan Tudyk as the voice K-2SO , Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook , Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus , Jimmy Smits as Bail Organa ,Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma , Anthony Daniels as C-3PO , Jimmy Vee as R2-D2 , Guy Henry as the voice of Grand Moff Tarkin , James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader , Warwick Davis as Weeteef Cyubee , Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera and Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances in this film something that must have been an easy job due to the act that this films director Gareth Edwards is known for having alot of really good acting in his films with this being helped by the fact that alot of this films actors are a bunch of really good actors in there own right however alot of them were also unknown or very little known actors as well which yes is something that does make it easier to buy into this films characters as your not seeing the actor just the character but on the flip side of that is the fact that it also means that we have to no idea what to expect from this films actors either and thankfully we did end up getting performances in this film with the best actor in the whole entire film being Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso as she does make what could have been as being a really preachy character seem likable and for lack of a better word real as she gives us these real human emotions that help to ground her character with that being something that makes her acting in this film be just so good in the first place with the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Industrial Light & Magic , Hybride Technologies , Jellyfish Pictures , Ghost VFX , Whiskytree , Atomic Fiction , Scanline VFX , Raynault VFX , Virtuos , BOT VFX and Mist VFX Studio. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this film having lots of really good looking CGI in it something which is one of the very few positives that could also apply to the sequel trilogy as well and yet here it feels all the more true due to the fact the film does get to have some really creative looking effects shots all of which do work well as they are things that we really haven't seen before now and yet things like seeing an AT-AT on a beach is something that looks really good as we get to see just how big these machines are something which yes we did get hints of in The Empire Strikes back but that was when it was being compared to a small ship where as here it's being compared to a human and seeing them tower over a human is something that is terrifying as it great to see as while these films will always be effects heavy films this film does use it's effects really well with the film only using things like ships that would appear in this time and while there aren't really any practical effects like there was in the original trilogy to help to balance the films CGI effects the effects in the film do feel like that they belong in the time that this film takes place in. 

There are a few things that this film is well known for and sadly at least two of them aren't for positive reasons with the first one being the fact that the film does use CGI to resurrect characters that are portrayed by dead actors. While that is a very novel idea effects just weren't and still aren't where they need to be to make those characters look as good as they should have done as while both Leia and Tarkin look really good when there mouths aren't moving it's when there mouths start to move that the whole thing starts to full in on itself as the characters just enter this uncanny valley state where it's not as realistic as it should have been this is despite the fact that we the audience know that these were real people with the sad thing being that there was no way for the makers of this film to get around this due to when the film takes place as they always had to end the film with Leia due to the plot of the film and due to them having to build up Tarkin even more then what the original film did they needed him in this film to serve as a foil for Krennic and yet effects on the whole just aren't up to the point where they can realistically recreate not only a human being but also replicate a human mouth movement at least not to the point where the mouth movement feels real and natural with this being something that the makers of this film should have thought about when deciding to make this film as while they very easily could have had Leia be silent for her cameo at the end of the film that was never going to be possible for Tarkin as he does play a minor role in the film and that is something that does require him to talk and yet the makers of this film quite clearly didn't think about the quality of those mouth effects this is despite the fact that this films director Gareth Edwards actually comes from the world of VFX.

One of the other things that this film is infamous for is the fact that it had a really cool looking end shot in the teaser for the film where Jyn prepares to fight a tie fighter only for that shot to instead be changed to her now getting ready to fight Krennic. Which isn't as interesting nor is it as cool as preparing to fight a single tie fighter and while yes movies to often change shots that are in trailers in the final film all of the time heck Marvel Studios is quite well known for it but there's usually a story reason for it as nine times out of ten that actual real final shot is meant to be something that's huge spoiler for the film and therefor they change it for the trailer inorder for it to remain a surprise here tho there's nothing to be gained from changing the tie fighter to the films main villain as it's not a big surprise that there going to fight the main villain of the movie that's kind of expected and while in hindsight it is easy to work out that these characters were never going to die due to the fact that there not in the rest of the original trilogy it still would have been super cool to see one of the films main heroes get ready to fight a tie fighter on her own as that's something that we haven't seen before and yet it's something that would have been really cool to see and yet for one reason or another this film just didn't give us something that they promised this is despite the fact that Star Wars films are typically usually really good when it comes to giving us things that are in their trailers which makes this film out of place and people rightfully so were upset about this as like myself many people were looking forward to seeing Jyn Erso go toe to toe with a tie fighter as it would have been super cool and while yes we do get a super cool Darth Vader scene at the end of the film it still would have been nice to see that missing shot from the trailer in this film.

Speaking of Krennic he really isn't that good of villain as he does come across as being a more tame version of Tarkin. Which in all fairness is something that could also be said for alot of the franchises evil characters barring a few characters of course but here it felt like that they were just trying to so hard to make this guy be a major threat that they forgot to actually make him a threat as the character doesn't really do or say anything that's all that threatening in this film where as with Tarkin he's always scheming and is always one or two steps ahead of what everybody else is doing and heck he even stands up to Vader a few times as well something which Krennic fails to do as he cowers at the mere sight of him when it would have helped to establish him as a major threat if the film did show im doing something threatening with the only real bad thing that we see him do is blow up a planet and that's it which yes granted does go along way into making him appear like a strong character and one that our heroes should fear but that's all that he does and even then that's not that unique as it's the go to movie for all of the villains in this franchise and heck Tarkin himself did it in the original film but when made it stand out there was the fact that we got to see him torture someone first before then blowing up there home planet where as with Krennic we don't get that with that being something that could have been something that helps to make him be a major threat like how menacing would it have been if before her father was killed Krennic tortured Jyn for information on the rebels only for her to saved by her friends before she could reveal anything yes it would have been a small thing but it also would have shown us the audience why we should be scared of this character in the first place and that's nothing something that we get in the final cut of this film.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and thirteen minuets and fifty seven seconds. Which to be fair to this film is pretty much the bogstandard running time for the Disney era of Star Wars films and again to be fair to this film this is a film that really does need to be that long in order to tell it's story in the most effective way possible as the film does have more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place with the film using it's running time really well as the film does take the time to develop it's plot as while yes this films plot is really simple the film does take the time to show us why the rebels are in a hurry to get the Death Star plans in the first place with this being true for the films character development as well as the film takes the time to give all of it's main hero characters really well as they all get the chance to proof just why they are on this team and why we should care about them in the first place which is something that the makers of the film didn't really have to do as these characters were never going to make it out the film alive in the first place but it's the fact that they did that does show us that the makers of this film really did care about giving us some really good characters all of which makes there deaths be all the more tragic as that is something that just wouldn't work if the film didn't take the time to develop there characters and make them likable and well written in the first place something which the rest of the Disney era Star Wars films fail to do with it being made clear as day that the makers of this film knew to give us good characters that we like but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an actin film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the film having some really fun and creative action scenes all of which are things that do work really well as they all showcase just what it is that each member of this team bring to the team in the first place with this being helped by the fact that the film doesn't limit itself by just using lightsabers as here we have people using guns and we have people using bow staffs all of which are things that make the action in this film be all the more fun and entertaining then what it really should have been with the best action in the whole film being the entire third act as we get to see our heroes take on the empire on this small beach planet while our heroes are trying to get the plans to the Death Star to the other rebels all the while trying to fight off hundreds if not thousands of stormtroopers all the while above the planet there's a really cool battle going on with other rebels trying to get to the planet which is something that does add to the drama of the scene with it being something that makes it all but certain that the main characters are all going to die something which the film does take great pleasure in showing us in this film with the rest of the films action being just as good as well with the makers of this film really showing us that they do know how to craft some really well done action as all of the films action scenes all have something about them that make them all really good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall this film is still the best Star Wars prequel film even ten years later as the film took the chance to explain things that the previous prequels never did and yet do so in a way that does satisfactory with the film even being one of the best Disney era Star Wars films released thus far in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good ad as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very revie well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.