Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Elevator Pitch.

After her father, the Empire’s weapons designer is forced out of retirement to complete his work, the young Jyn Erso grows up as a rebel and with guidance from a hologram of her father, recruits a band of fighters to recover the plans of the Death Star which is capable of destroying whole planets. As the new weapon shows its awesome capabilities the rebel band recruit a former Empire pilot with his cargo ship (the Rogue One of the title) with the intention of infiltrating the Empire’s organisation. Can they succeed against the odds?

Content.

There are many set pieces of the rebel spacecraft in dogfights with the Empire’s fighters and battleships. A bewildering number of planets are visited and Jyn Erso is broken out of jail several times. Then quite a few land battles which look very like any combat films you might have seen and include stock characters, one using a Star Wars version of the chain gun. Some rather unsettling inclusions of two actors who we know to be dead. While many people are killed there is no overt  violence, no sex, nudity or anything else to offend.

A View.

This is a pretty straightforward wartime combat film disguised as a space opera, and intentionally so, the difference being the presence of Felicity Jones, mostly looking like a pouting hamster. It was like a video game, the participants given stuff to overcome, some of it completely ludicrous. But I should say that it was quite liked by the critics, and was reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes by hundreds of them. I have never been a Star Wars fan and so I watch them for the benefit of this blog. This is not the worst, and if you are already a fan you will enjoy it.