Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
So after a long time of speculation and mystery surrounding the first Star Wars spin-off movie, Rogue One, it's finally out for the public to see. It's directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, and Mads Mikkelsen. I got a chance to see it on Friday, and I'm glad to say that it managed to live up to most of my expectations, so here's my thoughts on it overall.
One of the things I was really looking forward to seeing in Rogue One was the cast, this film had an all-star cast of actors I really liked, so I was excited to see how they all turned out. And unsurprisingly, the majority of the cast is great in this movie. Felicity Jones excells in a fierce and aggressive yet very emotional role, it's always nice to see Riz Ahmed and Diego Luna because I think they're deeply underrated. If I had to pick my favorites, it'd be a tossup between Alan Tudyk and Ben Mendelsohns performances, Alan Tudyk delivers one of his best voice acting performances yet with absolutely brilliant comedic delivery, and Ben Mendelsohn (as always) doesn't hold back on the villainous nature of his character. What I particularly like about Ben Mendelsohn as an actor is that it always feels like he brings something fresh to the story, especially when he plays a bad guy, so here it was more than welcome. If there's one performance I can honestly say I wasn't a fan of, it was Forest Whitakers, however he's hardly in the movie so it's barely worth mentioning.
One of the things I was really looking forward to seeing in Rogue One was Gareth Edwards direction of the film, as his two films so-far (Monsters and Godzilla) have demonstrated that he's more than a capable director but he's just never given the kind of story suited to his style. However here in Rogue One, I think he's found something perfect for exactly his style, this film is outstandingly directed. At the very least it's the best-looking Star Wars movie ever made, with some outstanding examples of cinematography, color scheme, and composition. Edwards also uses more than a few moments in the movie to show off his best talent, which is his remarkable ability to convey scale. You really get a sense of scale with some of the things shown on screen in this movie, be it the planets, the ships, the death star, or even when a character is meant to have an imposing presence, it's captured amazingly.
As far as the movie as a whole goes, it's honestly an area I'm sort of torn in. This movie has an outstanding and incredibly entertaining second half with amazing action sequences and lots of really great writing. However, the first half of the movie is kind of where it dips a bit for me, especially as far as writing is concerned. The first half of this movie is pretty choppy, lots of expositional dialogue, a few moments involving Forest Whitakers character and his arc that were just straight up stupid, and one particular scene that stuck out to me as pretty shoehorned in to give the movie political relevance. However, this isn't enough to be a real bearing on the movie, as these flaws only last for the first half and are completely gone in the second half, and the movie is entertaining enough and has enough really enjoyable moments that I'm willing to forgive this sort of thing.
Final Rating
This is one of those movies that gets better the more time I give it, so I'm glad I waited a few days to write this. It's a lot of fun and a really enjoyable piece of entertainment, and it's a hell of a ride. The cast all delivers solid performances, and the action is some of the best captured sequences in the series. It suffers some noticeable issues in its script and editing, but I'm willing to look past those sort of things and enjoy the movie, especially appreciate how well balanced it is. If you haven't seen Rogue One yet, I'd say check it out, it's a fun movie and I'm sure most will have a good time with it.
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