“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Movie Review

    “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was the first Star Wars spin-off film to be announced from Disney films.  The film is essentially an adaptation of the opening crawl from the first movie way back in 1977.  I didn’t know what to expect from this movie but I was feeling positive after “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens”.  This film ended up turning out to be rather divisive among fans of the Star Wars saga.  Some fans hail it as one of the best Star Wars films ever while others view it as a misstep from Disney.
    The film is set right before the events depicted in the original Star Wars film (A New Hope) and revolves around the mission to steal the Death Star plans.  This movie allows the Star Wars franchise to fill in some plot holes like why it took the first Death Star so long to be built while the second Death Star could be built relatively quickly.  It is an interesting idea and exploring a time without the Jedi order is a fresh concept.
    The film was directed by Gareth Edwards fresh off of Warner Bros. "Godzilla" reboot.  The film was plagued with production issues and much of the movie ended up being reshot.  Tony Gilroy reportedly took over directing duties from Edwards after Lucasfilms was said to be unhappy with some of his work (although Edwards remained the only credited director).  The trailer for the film features many alternative scenes later re-filmed by Gilroy.
    The cast is made up of Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Alan Tudyk, Mads Mikkelsen, and Forest Whitaker.  They all do a fine job but the clear standout is actually Alan Tudyk as K-2SO.  How Tudyk hasn't become a bigger star is beyond me.  Cameos by Jimmy Smits and Anthony Daniels also helps it feel connected to the prequel and original trilogies.
    I couldn't talk about Rogue One without bringing up the computer animation they used to varying success.  Grand Moff Tarkin reappears in the film with Guy Henry taking over the role.  However, the late Peter Cushing's face was digitally inserted onto Henry's face to make it seem like Peter Cushing was still alive and reprising his role.  The Tarkin scenes worked well when played in the shadows but when he was in clearer view, it was distracting.  Same goes for the cameo by Princess Leia.  Ingvid Deila provided the physical stand in while Carrie Fisher's face was superimposed onto her body.  This scene in particular has a bit of an uncanny valley feel.  James Earl Jones also once again provides the voice of Darth Vader though his voice seems off in this film.  Darth Vader's scene at the end is definitely the highlight of the movie though.
    "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" feels like it was missing something.  It was a solid science fiction story but nothing really stood out besides the Vader scene.  As bad as they could be at times, even the prequels had some epic scenes.  This film just personally feels lacking and I can't help but side with those who feel like it was a misstep for Disney (although not a huge one either).

Grade: C+

"How it Ends" Movie Review

    Sometimes you are at home, bored, with nothing new that you are in the mood to watch so you decide to hit up Netflix or Hulu to see what new offerings they have.  In this case, Netflix had a new film titled “How It Ends” that seemed like it could be decent.  I mean, Forest Whitaker was in it, it had to be at least okay.  I had no idea what I was getting into.
    First of all, the film is about Theo James and Forest Whitaker trying to find James’ wife (and Whitaker’s daughter) across the country after an apocalyptic event occurs.  Now an apocalyptic event could be interesting to explore, right?  Well, don’t expect any interesting exploration into what caused the apocalypse because no information is given.  The characters barely seem curious about it.  That is literally about all there is to the movie.  Some talking and people getting sick.  From what?  Who knows or cares!  This movie sure doesn’t.
    The cast really doesn’t elevate the film either.  I actually think Theo James has promise given the right role but this sure wasn’t it.  He just seemed to be phoning in his performance.  James wasn’t the only one guilty of this because Forest Whitaker gave one of the worst performances of his career.  He just seemed uninterested in the project.  He was better in “Battlefield Earth”.
    Then comes the final act of the film.  It plays out for a bit and then the film just ends.  It literally seems like the filmmakers either ran of steam and just ended the film wherever and figured no one could stay awake that long.  I guess in the long run, “How It Ends” doesn’t matter since the filmmakers didn’t feel it mattered, let’s just be grateful that it finally did end.

Grade: F