Hoping to unite the disparate Rebel factions, Alliance leaders enlist the help of Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) – a longtime friend of extremist Rebel leader Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Believing that Gerrera might bring her one step closer to finding her estranged father, Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), the engineer responsible for designing the Death Star, Jyn agrees to aid the Rebels. However, when her search for Gerrera is interrupted by a deadly clash between Rebel insurgents and Imperial Stormtroopers, Jyn discovers that she can no longer sit on the sidelines – and sets out with a band of roguish heroes on a mission to unite the Rebels and get revenge on the man responsible for tearing her own family apart.
Following the critical and commercial success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney’s intention to roll out Star Wars spin-off movies every-two years was met with a mix of excitement and trepidation. After all, while Star Wars: Episode 7 managed to revive interest in the big screen series, prequel films never fared as well – making Rogue One: A Star Wars Story all the more risky a proposition for Disney coming off one of the biggest franchise relaunches in film history. Thankfully, director Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One isn’t just a quality Star Wars installment, it’s a rousing sci-fi drama packed with thrilling action set-pieces, charming characters, and fun nods for viewers at all levels of Star Wars fandom (from casual theatergoers, to longtime Force-lovers, to die-hard members of the 501st Legion).
Edwards doesn’t deliver a perfect film, and certain aspects of the movie will be familiar (especially to viewers who thought The Force Awakens borrowed too much from A New Hope); yet, Rogue One proves a Skywalker isn’t essential to telling rich stories and spirited big screen adventures in that galaxy far, far away. Instead of a meaningless cash grab, Edwards ensures the Rogue One narrative is additive to the mythology, weaving a number of well-known faces and story threads into the spinoff tale, while also servicing the core tale and its characters. By its very presence in the larger film series, Rogue One gives new weight to the events of A New Hope and beyond – most notably Luke Skywalker’s fateful run on the Death Star trench.