Rogue One: Une histoire de Star Wars

This is almost perfect Star Wars. By far the best Star Wars of the new era (including the prequels). Hard to find any fault with it. If only Abrams, Johnson and other took more note of this it might have saved us from some of the faults in those other movies.

It is crazy how well the beginning of this movie lines up and ties in with the ending of Andor. It's like I'm watching the new 3-episode arc of Andor, or season 3 of Andor. The feel is the same, albeit a bit more light-hearted than the show, and Andor and every other character act the same (well, maybe except Organa).

But first, I have to say what I have always felt about this movie. So my original rating for this film, the two times I watched it, was 7/10. The reason? I found the movie somewhat boring both times.

The characters are all new here, even considering Andor, you still don't really care that much about the blind guy and his friend, because they don't get much characterization, and also Jyn, who is the main character, isn't really that memorable for me, even though I've watched this movie 3 times now. The only thing making this movie good was focusing on Cassian Andor the whole time. Because we now have so much backstory and character development from him that he feels like the main character. Since all the other characters are kinda bland.

Now the thing I noticed is that the movie is so rushed. Like we jump from plot point to plot point so fast, and even though there are breathers in between, it still feels like everything is moving way too fast, and the characters don't get much characterization for the audience to care about them.

Now all that aside, now having finished Andor literally hours ago, this movie and especially its ending have changed significantly for me. The two previous times I watched this movie's ending, I was like "Yeah, this is kinda sad", but this time, I was a blubbering mess watching that ending knowing what happened in Andor.

I feel like if this movie came out after Andor and as a continuation of its story, and everybody had the knowledge of the events and character developments of Andor before watching it, it would be so much more highly rated, and my first watch would've been completely different. But on the other hand, you obviously could not have Andor if Rogue One didn't exist. It's kinda the chicken and egg situation (not really, but I couldn't think of another analogy). I still think Rogue One should be watched first, and then Andor, and then a rewatch. But this movie works so well if you watch it immediately after Andor and think of it as a really rushed Andor season 3.

So overall, even though I have changed my rating after all these years from 7/10 to 8/10, I still think this movie isn't that good as a standalone in terms of characterization and pacing. But I'm still on the high of Andor's finale, and this movie is significantly improved by the existence of that show. I'm just biased now, I always found it weird how people called this movie a masterpiece or "underrated" and how they adored it, because it's really not that great if Andor didn't exist. But now, I kinda didn't find it that boring this time around, and I actually enjoyed how each event of Andor from the beginning to the end leads to this movie and continues perfectly in here, and how this film's events also directly lead to A New Hope.

It's pretty cool. Devastating ending when you watch Andor before it.

Without exaggeration, this is easily the best offering in the franchise since 'Return of the Jedi'. Yes, it is a spin-off of a simple set-up line from the original film, but it manages to really craft it's own story around the demands of where the plot has to go by the end. While it's definitely not a character driven movie, I was surprised with the amount of time given to our key protagonists and the effort to at least make them intriguing.

The idea of another prequel movie was a hard sell; but unlike the prequel (and for that matter, the sequel) trilogy, this manages to tell it's own story within the structure of a lead-up to an event to which we already know the outcome. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are especially effective along with secondary characters like those played by Riz Ahmed and Donnie Yen becoming easy fan favorites. Ben Mendelsohn is great as always as Krennic despite not being given much dimension as a main villain.

The character of Saw Guerrera (Forest Whitaker) seems a little cut-up and while I understand the character is better informed by one of the animated series, what we have in the film seems like it may have been a little more beefed up in earlier edits of the movie.

One thing I hear from people who don't care for this movie is the amount of fan-service moments. Random appearances of old characters or species, call-backs to famous lines and some easter-egg visuals can be a little distracting and if you don't care for that self-indulgent stuff, you'll definitely notice it here. Personally, it never really bothered me apart from one instance that lasts 5 seconds.

On a final note, while the decision to include Darth Vader was inevitable for this movie, I was so glad to see they did a little more than give him a short cameo appearance and actually give him a moment or two without leaning on him too much as a crutch to distract the audience.

If you love old Star Wars and couldn't care less about the two superfluous trilogies that followed, consider giving this a try.

Rogue One is the movie we didn't asked for - but what we got was beyond any expectation. Excellent pacing of the movie. As the movie progresses it gets better and better. Culminates in one of the best finales seen in any of the Star Wars movies.

CGI on the past main character seemed odd. But worked well on pilots and scoundrels. Many Easter eggs trough the whole movie are appreciated. Humor from Alan Tudyk's K-2SO was spot on.

Empire Strikes Back is still king of the hill as the best SW movie till date. But Rogue One comes damn close near it.

Rogue One feels like a serious and grounded movie, with a plot that weighs a ton, that feels important on every scale from the very beginning and as the movie progresses it shows that it's on another level, much higher.

The plot is very well written. It's simple, but direct, without fillers or unnecessary diversions. The levels of politics are reduced to the minimum so that it remains a factor to consider, but from the farthest box possible. It has impressive action sequences supported by flawless visual effects, such as the battle of Scarif, the battles of the ships and the devastating power of the Death Star. As if that were not enough, the film has cameos that have a very important presence.

On the technical side, the soundtrack is very good as usual, but the sound editing also stands out tremendously. Photography is beautiful! Even from the first introductory scene of that ringed planet. The editing is also very efficient and its highest point is in the last third of the film, where there is a very fast pace as we get into the battles.

The few negative points are found in specific decisions regarding the performances and the non-existent development of some secondary characters.

This is a work that makes even those who most resist the fury of this old saga (like me) turn their eyes to this great action and science fiction show.