10 Thoughts on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Now that I’m 24 hours out from seeing Rogue One, I’ve had plenty of time to process my thoughts on the movie. Beware of spoilers below.

1. I was smiling during every cameo. From the computer generated Tarkin to the the appearance of R2-D2 and C-3PO, I had a shit eating grin on my face. I enjoyed them so much I went back to read every article I’ve avoided to see what was out there.

2. They acknowledged Rebels more than I expected. I knew Ghost would show up, but I never expected to see a quick glimpse of Chopper nor hearing Hera’s name at Yavin IV. It goes even further with Saw Gerrera showing up in this current season of the show.

3. I wish they would have done more with Gerrera. I think it’s more that I liked the character than the way he went out. In fact, I really liked his death. But it seemed like a waste of Forest Whitaker’s talents to be in the movie that little.

4. The computer generated characters could have been a lot worse. They didn’t look incredible, but I was more excited to see them show up. Tarkin was creepy as a real life character in Episode IV, so the computer generated creepiness was pretty spot on. Young Leia wasn’t in the move enough to truly notice if it was bad or not.

5. Vader is still bad ass. After the prequel trilogy, the Vader as the ultimate villain took a little bit of a hit. The whiny Anakin made Vader see a little underwhelming (until I watched the Clone Wars and saw how Anakin matured as a character). When the original trilogy came out, there was no worse bad guy than Vader. Seeing him in action at the end of Rogue One, it reminded me of how great a villain he is. (Granted the Marvel Comics have done a good job at it too)

6. I really need to finish Catalyst. I’m about a third of the way through the book and, while it’s only a fraction of the story, I could still appreciate what I learned from the book. I didn’t get tot he part where Galen started working on the Death Star Laser or meeting Gerrera, but I knew enough to explain a good deal to my family.

7. Really, the movie was more than I expected. Based off the previews, I didn’t expect the stuff with Cassian trying to assassinate Galen. I didn’t expect Gerrera’s rebels were separate from the Alliance. I didn’t expect that the Alliance was not in support of Jyn’s mission to get the Death Star plans.

8. Knowing the ending didn’t take anything away from the movie. I was worried that knowing the ending would take away from the story a little. I didn’t expect anyone to live. And while none of them did, the story kept me on the edge of my seat.

9. The movie lived up to all of my expectations. And i think they were higher than those of Episode 7. The movie was darker than any of the other movies and dealt with darker tones. It also shows that a Star Wars movie without a Skywalker theme could work.

10. Bring on the next movie. Episode 8 is going to be incredible; I’m ready to see what happens next in the new trilogy. I’m also ready to see young Han Solo, especially with Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian; I hope they show Han leaving the Imperial Academy and freeing Chewbacca.