Rogue One was Booooooring

I personally really enjoyed it. Yes, the first act was generically boring, and the characters lacked strong development and personality, but the later half was pretty solid. Obviously, we already knew what was going to happen; it's literally advertised as the story of the team that stole the plans for the Death Star and ultimately got wiped out, prior to the original Star Wars trilogy. A lot of films with premises like this are more about the journey rather than the destination. The journey in this case was rough, but nevertheless exciting enough to watch.

What I liked most is that for once, there is an actual atmosphere of a 'WAR' in STAR WARS. The shootouts and space dog fights are some of the best in the series ever. There's an enormous amount of creativity with how Director Gareth Edwards captures giant, 'epic' visuals and gritty warfare; he's been known for that since Godzilla (2014). In general, Rogue One has a much more gritty, vicious style compared to previous Star Wars movies, with many battle scenes shot from the rebels' ground perspective facing against overwhelming odds. Things like rebel infantry under fire from giant AT-AT walkers along the open beach really help audiences identify with the dangerous situation as to 'how absolutely fucked' the heroes are. Most of the sympathy comes from this sense of impending doom, along with the built-up fact that many of these characters have lost something or have tried all their lives to do the right thing, and when they finally do, they end up dying and never actually knowing the outcome of their efforts.

This could be great for a sad story of loss and sacrifice. Unfortunately, where the film really stumped is in its shallow characterizations. Aside from a bunch of lost souls bent on hope for the rebellion, there wasn't anything particularly deep or interesting about the characters. For example, I love Donnie Yen, and I think he and Jiang Wen were awesome when kicking storm trooper ass, but we never actually learn much about their characters' personal relationship with the Force or why they are the way they are in the first place. The only fully developed, well-rounded character I can think of is maybeee Diego Luna's and the female lead, whose entire arc depends on the "runaway child experiencing father's death and becoming a heroic leader" trope. We've seen that shit since Lion King. Disney, please.

I think Rogue One has some really great moments with regard to its scale of epic warfare, character diversity, and visual spectacle. It just suffers from weak writing and a boring-ass, clearly uninspired first act that was supposed to make us care for Erso and Cassian more than I probably did. The Force Awakens had fewer, yet more interesting characters (Finn, Rey, Kylo Ren) than Rogue One's entire crew of rebels. Still, it's definitely worth a watch if you're into Star Wars and large-scaled 'epics' with a premise of inevitable death and sacrifice. Or lasers and explosions. There's always that audience too lol

7/10