Star wars over the years has become a part of life, for more than three decades Lucas and his bunch of space trooping communities have ruled the genre of Space and Science fiction together. Rogue one is a stand alone prequel not lingering together with the recently rebooted franchise of Star Wars, it comes as in early terms before the “Star Wars – A new Hope”. Without interfering into the storylines of the 7 movies in the franchise, it still carves out a niche place for itself by spanning out new characters and plots that touches the cusp of the Star wars vibe.
As one would have expected, the film uses Star Wars terminology extensively, Darth Vader, Death Star and yes the familiar far far away….! Young Jyn Erso is living on a farm with her parents on the grey, wet planet of Lah’mu that still has moisture evaporators for some reason. Trouble comes to our heroine races to safe keeping with Saw Gerrera (played by Forest Whitaker), the first case of a character from the Clone Wars animated series making its way into the league. The protagonist of “Rogue One,” Jyn Erso, is first seen as a child, living in extreme rural isolation with her parents, Galen and Lyra when a drone finds them out and a spaceship bearing officers and soldiers of the Empire comes to capture them. Galen is a scientist whose talents are needed to complete the Death Star—a project in which he wants no part but is tricked into it and somehow amidst the chaos our heroine escapes. Many years later, as an adult, Jyn (played by Felicity Jones) is arrested by the Rebel Alliance on the grounds that her father (with whom she has had no contact for fifteen years) is a criminal too according to the alliance as he was assisting the Emperor on various terms.
Though Jyn had never exhibited any spirit of revolution, she is shown as a person who goes through resistance and had enough trouble surviving, merely not getting caught too. She blends together with a band of strangers, one of whom brings her a holographic message from Galen in which he explains why he worked on the Death Star and conveys his insider knowledge about how she can defeat it. The drama, such as it is, involves Jyn’s transition from a survivor to an active rebel, and the movie builds to the climactic battle and chugs along predictably yet brilliantly. K-2SO is the real star of Rogue One. The Imperial droid played by Alan Tudyk is by far one of the best things in the film. His dry sense of humor and brutal honesty floors you down throughout the scenes he appears.
Sometimes maybe it’s a bit too harsh to see Rogue One being considered as a standalone movie, just thriving on the already established franchise, but one look at the movie and is quite clear that Rogue one is a product of Star Wars legacy and is indeed a blend into the galaxy of the series. Idling around the early stages of New hope, JJ Abrahams and Lucas are no nonsense makers and have looked into detailing of every single aspect so that both; the Star wars fan and the ordinary movie goer would have a whale of a time throughout the run of two hour and fifteen minute. But as you leave, you may also start to wonder something. The film has so many surprises to the rest of the franchise — are all those fan moments of excitement and recognition covering the film's other flaws? If you're a Star Wars fan, it's hard to say conclusively when you're on one side or the other, but the franchise has for long thrived not just on the luxurious CGI and visuals, its underlying storyline and characterization has what made people go gung ho. Either way, while Rogue One has a few problems, it ultimately comes together nicely. The stakes and consequences for the characters give it a real emotional anchor, and you'll marvel at how dense every frame is packed with space and starwars. Sure, not every character is a classic, but some of them are, and the way this story leads into A New Hope is delightful. Like its predecessors, Rogue One is a Star Wars movie we're going to be watching for a long time.
Verdict: Rogue One is a combo of space, sci-fi, action entertainment and is right on the money when it comes to being a film tailor made for Star-wars fan. If you are not a fan, you might still relish for its brilliant plot and characterization.
