Warning: Spoilers

Rogue One: A Star Wars story premiered in theatres on December 15. The film follows  the main character, Jynn Erso, who is rescued from the empire’s clutches. She is recruited by the rebellion to help take down a rumored superweapon that the empire is building. The story takes place in the time period between Star Wars episodes 3 and 4. Rogue One was based off of a small dialogue in episode 4 where the rebel commander explained that a group of rebels had stolen the Death Star plans.

Rogue One is like no other Star Wars movie. This movie is also special in that none of the main characters are Force users. The Force, however, still remains as an underlying theme. The director, Gareth Edwards, must have taken inspiration from war movies. He introduced tanks and grenades. The explosion following the Death Star’s fire looked like a nuke. This movie is extremely fast paced. Jynn and her crew are constantly in the middle of fire. If you thought the previous Star Wars movies were lackluster in action scenes, then this movie will impress you.

Instead of telling a story revolving around the Skywalkers, Edwards gave us a glimpse of the life inside the rebellion. It was very interesting to see Captain Cassian Andor develop as a character. Cassian went from being able to kill an innocent man to get away, to holding his fire against Galen Erso. It was also interesting to see the evilness of the imperial officers emphasised in Orson Krennic’s greed and hunger for recognition. The Death Star was also used numerous times without hesitation.

The music contributed to the dramatic and tense moments of the film. The cinematography was phenomenal. Rogue One was able to emphasize the size of Death Star. I liked how the Death Star was compared side-by-side to the size of the Star Destroyers and the planets. The way the Death Star covered a fourth of the sky made it even more menacing than it already was.

I would recommend this movie to everyone. It filled in the gap from between episodes 3 and 4, and makes the future independent Star Wars movies look promising.