Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

— I didn’t run out to see “Rogue One” as soon as it hit theaters but now, after the rush and seeing it in a half-empty IMAX theater, I was surprised by how well it worked. It certainly has action and clever bits of humor here and there. It has some decent characters including a heroine Princess/General Leia would be proud of. It walked an interesting line as a standalone story that still has a few threads to the “Star Wars” franchise. It started quickly, jumping around the solar system and making me feel like I was on amphetamines and introducing a pretty large cast of characters. I was a little disappointed that eliminating the death star was the focus yet again, but that was a minor hiccup and didn’t detract much from the overall experience. I think anyone who casually liked the “Star Wars” films will like “Rogue One”. I did and I feel better about the “standalone film” concept now.

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[2016. 133 min. Directed by Gareth Edwards. Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, and Donnie Yen.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-2016