Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Review

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a movie for Star Wars fans. From the Phantom Menace to the Force Awakens, I would say that every single Star Wars film was made with a general audience in mind. Rogue One, however, feels like a fan film that got a gigantic budget. Double down on the fan service like X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers, AT-AT fighters, the works. As a huge Star Wars fan I loved it all. Seeing this universe at this time in the story brought back to life was a great sight to see as were the special effects! A certain city is destroyed by the Death Star and the destruction was absolutely incredible. On the edge of your seat urgency and excitement. Also, the final act with the assault on the beach and the battle above the atmosphere was one of the best final acts in Star Wars history. It really does feel like a film like Black Hawk Down or any other extremely intense war movie. So exciting and breathtaking! This film definitely has the largest body count in any Star Wars film. Real violence has been added into the Star Wars universe as opposed to the Wilhelm screaming fun of the originals. So then why isn't this a perfect rating? Simply because it lacks the two most important elements all great movies have, a comprehendible story and charismatic characters. I'm sorry, but I don't like Jyn Erso. Simply because the movie doesn't give us a chance to. Rey in the Force Awakens was extremely likable because we could relate to her and was charismatic. The movie actually put time aside for us to understand Rey and know who she is and want she wants. Not here though. Jyn Erso had little to no humanity. I don't want my main character in Star Wars to be bland and unlovable. As for the other characters, Cassian Andor, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, and others, they were "cool" characters but I still barely knew anything about them. When talking about the film with people who have seen it, I bring up a character's name like Bodhi Rook, and they are like, "Who?"... yeah, that's not a good sign. Also, it's hard to remember all those names when the whole first half of the story consists of, "Oh we have to find this to bring to this character before this character finds out that what we are looking for directs to this person who is related to this person who is vital for..." It's a bit much to handle unless you are a hardcore Star Wars fan who did some research beforehand. While I can keep adding to the list of good moments, like K2-SO, or the bad list, the unintentional allegory between some rebels to Islamic Jihadists, or the fact that the musical score felt lacking, but I shall end this review by saying I was blown away by Rogue One's second half, but it lacked a great first act that would make us care about these characters.