_posts/2016-12-16-my-brief-review-of-rogue-one.md
---
title: 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'
date: 2016-12-16 22:29:00 -06:00
tags:
- Star Wars
- movies
- movie review
- review
custom_type: post
subtitle: The first of the non-saga <em>Star Wars</em> movies has finally come out,
and I really liked it
review:
type: movie
rating: 3.5
movie:
letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/ttimsmith/film/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story/
featured_image: "/uploads/2016/12/rogue-one-jyn-erso.jpg"
---
<figure class="extendout">
{% include imgic.html src="/2016/12/rogue-one-jyn-erso.jpg" alt="Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso in Rogue One." %}
<figcaption>Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso in <em>Rogue One</em><span class="image__copyright">© Disney/Lucasfilm</span></figcaption>
</figure>
_This review contains spoilers._
Kelly and I went to go watch _Rogue One_ on opening night. I purposely didn't read anything about the film, and was completely spoiler-free going in. Here are my thoughts, **that are full of spoilers**.
Seriously people, **spoilers**. You've been warned.
- It still felt like _Star Wars_ without the crawl.
- The score is ok. Michael Giacchino did a great job making it feel like _Star Wars_ within the time he had to do it.
- Understanding what the Death Star is made with was cool.
- I don't think we've visited so many places in one _Star Wars_ movie.
- Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are amazing in this movie.
- Vader. Oh my goodness. Vader, people. Vader. Vader.
- I wanted more Vader.
- James Earl Jones came back for Vader, and it was an awesome… 2 scenes 😭.
- This story adds so much context to _A New Hope_.
- Leia's motion capture face is _terrible_.
- The first two acts are a bit slow, and unfortunately don't use the time to give more information about the supporting characters.
- Everyone dies. _Everyone_. That was a surprise for me, but made sense.
- All in all, I really liked it, but _The Force Awakens_ is still my favorite of the recent _Star Wars_ movies.
---
I'll be doing an episode about _Rogue One_ on _Retake_. [Subscribe to the show](https://nightowl.fm/retake), so you don't miss it!