What Do The Reviews Have To Say About 'Rogue One,' The New 'Star Wars' Movie?
Nearly a year to the day after Star Wars: The Force Awakens arrived in theaters, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story touches down, to much anticipation (thanks to the steady stream of trailers).
Rogue One tells the story of how the rebels (led by Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso) stole the Death Star plans that Leia, Luke and co. use to destroy the Death Star in Episode IV: A New Hope. Which is all to say, Rogue One is a prequel to the original movies.1
So, is it any good? Here's what the reviews have to say.
It's For Fans — For Better Or For Worse
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is for the fans, all right, but in that expression's worst way. Unless you're thrilled by the idea of 133 minutes of sideways mentions, shout-outs and straight-up references to the original "Star Wars" (or "Episode IV: A New Hope," for those born after 1977), there's not nearly enough excitement going on here, much less character, plot or story.
[TheWrap]
Which, if you're a fan, isn't a problem:
It is not, if we're being honest, a real movie. It is a fan exercise. Its whole purpose is to tread water in a larger, more familiar pool… Luckily, I am a fan! As such, there comes a point at which I shrug and stop caring if others are bored. (It's like bringing a friend who only knows the hits to see a band you love, and they decide this is the show where they'll bust out their early, complex album cuts. At some point you stop being a tour guide and cheer for yourself.)
But It Also Diverges Sharply From The Standard 'Star Wars' Formulae
There's actually quite a bit of the "Star Wars" formula missing here: no Jedis, no light sabers (until Darth Vader finally shows up), no iconic villain (Mendelsohn's sneering, John Hurt-ful performance suggests a mid-rank Nazi functionary), and no chemistry, despite a half-hearted attempt to suggest Jyn and Cassian could be a couple.
[Variety]
The screwball banter from characters like Han Solo and Princess Leia — or Rey and Finn, for that matter — is so essential to what we think of as "Star Wars," so it's hard not to feel like something's amiss when those kind of exchanges never materialize, or when the darker tone never gives way to the Flash Gordon-style adventure we've grown accustomed to.
Unlike last year's punchy The Force Awakens, this is a dark and sobering meditation on the collateral damage and sacrifices that happen offscreen while we're busy cheering on Jedis and laughing it up like a bunch of fuzzballs.
This is the first Star Wars feature not to be graced by an original John Williams score.
Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso Is A Bit Of A Mess
And the two most important members of the group, Jyn and Cassian, are the least defined, which means that their emotional peaks near the end of the tale are merely affecting when they ought to be deeply moving.
Jyn's transition from apathetic spectator to hardened rebel is the heart and soul of the movie, the meat of its turgid second act, but Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy's script is too busy connecting the dots of the film's greater purpose to give their protagonist the trajectory she deserve.
But The Rest Of The Cast — Human Or Otherwise — Buoys Things
For sheer scene-stealing wow, though, you can't beat Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe, a blind warrior monk, and Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook, a nutjob Imperial pilot now siding with the rebels. Best of all is Alan Tudyk as the voice of K-2S0 (Kaytoo to his masters), a security droid with a mouth on him. The 'bot's unasked-for statistical analyses of every war strategy is daunting and, OK, hilarious. "There's a 84 percent chance we'll all be killed," the droid announces lightly.
"Rogue One" introduces a fine addition to the "Star Wars" universe, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), who gets some genuinely funny material. He's programmed to express his feelings at all times, no matter how blunt.
Whatever Faults The Movie May Have, The Third Act Is A Hell Of A Ride
The third act of this film is on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrilling. At very least, you will love the last sequence in the movie, and that is all I will say about that.
[/Film]
Rogue One is a Star Wars film, yes. And it feels epic. But what it really is at its core (underneath all of the gee-whiz special FX) is a heist flick. This motley band of thieves and scoundrels has to nick some blueprints. It's Ocean's 11 in space. And while the movie sags a bit in the middle (where it gets weighed down with exposition), the third-act heist is white-knuckle stuff. It's when the movie really goes into hyperdrive.
I found the first two-thirds of Rogue One pretty bad, but I have to admit that the last part caught me up and left the preview audience jazzed
[Vulture]
Best/Worst Reviews
The best:
It stands alone as the best "Star Wars" entry since 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back." Yes, it's that good.
The worst:
Lobotomized and depersonalized, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the latest entry in the film franchise, is a pure and perfect product that makes [Star Wars: The Force Awakens] feel like an exemplar of hands-on humanistic warmth and dramatic intimacy.
TL;DR
If you're a big time Star Wars fan, you should see it — but we didn't need to tell you that. If not, here it is in simple terms:
It has undeniable weaknesses: an underwritten protagonist, a generic villain, a shortage of interesting personalities. (No knock against the large cast, which is mostly very good, but underused.) But in many other respects, it is a better film than last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens: leaner, darker, with a distinct visual style and an actual ending that feels like a denial of blockbuster expectations simply because it shows basic narrative integrity.
[AV Club]
Watch The Trailer
