By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Henry, Jimmy Smits,Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen and Forest Whitaker.
Rating: Excellent.
British director Gareth Edwards brings “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and honestly I had many prejudgements towards the film. But once again I was proven wrong and I was impressed with the result of the product.
The movie centers on Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) a rebel warrior and thief who is rescuedby Rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna).
The Rebel Alliance asks for Jyn´s help to steal the plans of The Death Star base created by her father Galen Erson (Madds Mikelsen) that is capable of destroying an entire planet.
Jyn agrees and she will be joined in a risky mission by Andor, his rebel droid K-2S0 (Alan Tudyk), the blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), the mercenary Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang) and the rogue pilot Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) to recover the plans to destroy the imperial base and fight against the weapons developer Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn).
One of the many things that work of “Rogue One” was the story. The narrative and the screnplay written by Academy Award Nominees Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, who´s most notable work are movies like “About a Boy” and “Michael Clayton” wrote a smart, engaging and entertaining screenplay that is loyal to the first Star Wars Trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi).
The way that both Weitz and Gilroy wrote deep and truthful characters with both internal and external conflicts work at all levels and one of the things that I noticed was the fact that they weren´t any Disney elements in this film since Episode VII: The Force Awakens which was released this past december, which led into a good movie but to predictable and obvious.
Basically the events happen after “Episode III: The Reveng of the Sith” and it´s a prequel to “Star Wars: A New Hope” since it tells the origins of the imperial base which was never seen in other installments of the succesful franchise.
I remember at the beginning of 2016 started and the first teasser trailers for “Rogue One” were released I honestly had a prejudgement and I wasn´t expecting anything. In fact by moments I was having the feeling of I was going to see something similar to Episodes 1 to 3 but like I mentioned before I was wrong and I was very pleased.
The direction of Gareth Edwards is truth, sharp and his cast delivered remarkable performances. The one performance I loved the most was Ben Mendelsohn who portrays Orson Krennick with so much realism that you hate how bad as a human being he is. Mendelsohn without a doubt is a character actor and if you don´t know about he´s work I encourage you to watch the Netflix show “Bloodline” where he won the Emmy this year for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Danny Rayburn and movies like “Animal Kingdom”, “Mississippi Grind” and “The Place Beyond the Pines”
The use ofCGI (Computer-generated imagery) as well asboth special and visual effects was used in a smart way and it looked very real in all terms.
The score this time was composed by Michael Giacchino, who won the Academy Awardfor Pixar´s “Up” in 2009 was engaging and I thought by moments that it was by John Williams, who has composed all the scores from the Star Wars movies since 1977.
The use of the music in key scenes was correctly used and you feel an immediate connection to all the characters.
The ending of the film I felt like I was reviving the first trilogy of Star Wars and I was very happy since it brought me very good memories and it works and you have a feeling that you want to see more of the film, specially if you grew up with the Star Wars movies.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is one of the biggest surprises of this year and I definitely give it a huge recommendation.