3/ ROGUE ONE. 2016. DIR: GARETH EDWARDS.

The first Star Wars film to act as its own thing and not part of another trilogy. Jyn Erso has been on the run from the Empire since her childhood. When taken by the rebels, she discovers that her father has been a key player in the construction of a new superweapon, the Death Star. But when it is also discovered that her father had also hidden the means to destroying the weapon in its plans, Jyn and a group of others must go on a suicide mission to get them and save the galaxy.

This is one convoluted way of fixing A New Hope’s plot hole. But the film mostly works. Gareth Edwards, who did recently admit to being kicked out and replaced by Tony Gilmore for the reshoots, was clearly attempting a war film in the Star Wars universe. The action in this film is the best in the series, especially the climactic space battle. Darth Vader’s horrifying attack on the rebels at the end was beyond amazing. It helps to have seen A New Hope before this, you do get a greater feel for the stakes involved, but even without you still get the sense of urgency.

It’s a film that gets better as it goes on. It feels very different to the rest of the series. A welcome change. At times I do wonder what Edwards’ vision would have been like if he was left alone, but I am still very pleased with what I got. It’s dark, but has plenty of humour to balance it out. It has great action, but also knows when to take it slow. It’s among the best acted of the films too. That is a definite bonus, because the characters themselves are not very good.

Everyone seems to have one personality trait and nothing else. The main character with father issues, the no-nonsense captain, the sarcastic robot, the blind badass, the badass with a gun and the pilot, who’s just happy to be here. Because of this there are emotional moments that don’t invest us. Coupled with a pretty boring opening and a horrible CG Peter Cushing and you have a fun yet very flawed experience. I still consider Rogue One to be the only Star Wars prequel I ever wanted to see. It’s certainly the only one worth seeing. It’s fun enough that it makes me want to see more of the Anthology films in the future.