Hey readers, so I wanted to offer up my quick thoughts about the just recently released “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” film which actually only opened up a few days ago. In the past I have waited a couple of weeks before doing this kind of summary but with the film getting a superb Box Office performance and having some truly amazing scenes I wanted to toss my hat into the ring about it. Though I had originally planned on seeing this in the city, I would end up in the Bay Ridge Alpine Cinemas instead. Movie time.

Now it’s important to to realize that this is a story that takes place post “Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith” and pre “Star Wars: A New Hope” (the latter of which was only called “Star Wars” way back in the original film release. Here is the brief premise from the films Wikipedia entry.

“After the formation of the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance recruits Jyn Erso to work with a team including Cassian Andor to steal the design schematics of the Empire’s new superweapon, the Death Star”.

I went to the second matinee showing in my theater and thanks to a very slow line of dishing out the tickets along with a customer who seemed to be purchasing bonds instead of a simple movie ticket, I missed a few minutes at the very beginning and came into the film where we see an adult Jyn Erso. Had I arrived earlier as planned I would have seen some scenes when she was younger. Oh well. The lack of any trailers before the film made this happen more than my train being a tad slow. Jyn is played by Felicity Jones and she will surely become a fan favorite after this one.

We meet The Rebellion who mostly go by The Resistance at this point who are seeking to be free of the Galactic Empire based on the overall tyranny that they are laying down on the galaxy and with this film we go to worlds one might have only read about in the Star Wars novels that while not direct tie-ins, do feature some connected plot lines. Jyn and pilot Cassian Andor played by Diego Luna, learn what the Empire is up to on a planet called Jedha and since this involved the ready to wreak havoc Death Star, the galaxy’s freedom will be short-lived.

As I don’t wish to spoil too much of the film I will say that this is loaded with new and very awesome characters and some truly exciting battle scenes. The villainy of the Galactic Empire seems dire as it should be and you know we are seeing Darth Vader in this one and believe me his scenes are excellent. The character is used just enough to send a chill down your spine and as a friend said to me after he had seen it, the film’s final five minutes are worthy of the price of admission. There are a few Easter eggs in the film so keep your eyes peeled for them and since this precedes the original trilogy there are moments where you will smile and say “oh yeah”. I greatly enjoyed this one and will likely go again and see how the 3D aspect of it is. I generally do NOT spend the extra money on the 3D as its usually not worth it to me. You might feel different and enjoy all of your films in this manner. To each their own. The talented cast is rounded out by Ben Mendelsohn as Orson Krennic, Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe, Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus, Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, Riz Ahmed plays Bodhi Rook. Outside of Jyn’s character my favorites in the film were the new droid K-2, Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe and of course Lord Darth Vader.

Since this happens before the original Star Wars film, you know that The Rebels end up with the plans for the Death Star and what happened to it at the end. It’s learning what they went through to get these plans that makes “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” so awesome. My hope is that we see other films across the timeline of the canon going forward. Stuff that shows characters we know and love in different adventures that while of the same framework only connect so much “back then”. See this film and enjoy it with fellow Star Wars geeks. There are NO bonus scenes for you to wait for once it completes. Based on where we are in the year, this seems to be the last film that I will see in the theater and hence final movie review posting for the year as well. 2017 sure is going to have a lot of the films that our demographic is tuned into so I am looking forward to continuing the angle whenever possible.

Official Film Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_One