Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a 2016 epic space opera film directed by Gareth Edwards, starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker.  It is a stand-alone film in the Star Wars film series and the story follows Jyn Erso, the daughter of the unwilling designer of the Galactic Empire’s superweapon, the Death Star, and her quest to retrieve his plans for destroying it.

Positives:

• Great cast
• Great performances
• Great visuals
• Great soundtrack
• Great story
• Great cinematography
• Great action
• Great script
• Great direction
• Great characters

Negatives:

• n/a

Plot:  The main story is centers around Jyn’s efforts to save her father and the Alliance’s efforts at stopping the Empire.  The war between the Alliance and the Empire is really engaging, especially with all the espionage and various internal struggles among the factions.  Jyn’s quest to save her father is very compelling considering how both of their roles influence their respective groups.  The climax is highly entertaining and though it leaves off on a sad note, does a great job of leading to A New Hope.  (4 out of 5)

Characters:  There is a crap ton of really good characters.  Jyn Erso (Jones) is a young woman who joins the rebellion and the main protagonist of Rogue One.  She is a likable character and a strong woman but not overly strong as a distraction. Cassian Andor (Luna), Bodhi Rook (Admed), Baze Malbus (Wen), Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) are great characters.  Baze has a lot of badass moments as well as the Zaroichi-esque blind warrior Chirrut Imwe (Yen) who had some great action sequences as well as humor.  K-2SO (Tudyk) was also a really funny character.  Orson Krennic (Mendelsohn) is the Director of Advanced Weapons Research for the Imperial Military and the main antagonist of the film and is pretty cool.  (4 out of 5)

Cast:  Great performances by the cast.  Felicity Jones kills it as Jyn Erso.  Other performances include Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen, and Forest Whitaker.  Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and C-3PO.  (4 out of 5)

Visuals:  This is just a visually appealing film.  The good use of practical effects, make-up effects, and CGI effects are just superb.  The grand shots of the landscape are just beautiful.  The action is shot with great editing and cinematography. (5 out of 5)

Score:  Fantastic soundtrack for fans of the previous films as well as new entries.  John Williams’ score is an absolute beauty while newer additions by Michael Giacchino are just brilliant. (5 out of 5)

Writing:  Well-written script.  Gareth Edwards is a great director and does a great job presenting this film as a Star Wars.  It looks like Star Wars, feels like Star Wars but has its own unique feel.  There is good humor especially when it comes to the dialogue and certain characters.  One of the most exciting sequences in the film is Darth Vader’s moment near the end where he is just wasting all of these rebels left and right and it is the most active, the most standout that Vader has ever been in a movie. (4 out of 5)

The Verdict:  In the end, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is not only a great film but a great Star Wars film.  It has its own unique feel and fans of the franchise will definitely appreciate it.  The film has terrific performances, great characters, action sequences, visual effects, great direction, and a fantastic musical score.  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story gets 5 out of 5.