There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the newest Star Wars film, but the question remains: does it live up to the hype? My answer is: absolutely. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an anthology film that is separate from the Star Wars trilogies that typically follow the Skywalkers. It takes place before A New Hope and after Revenge of the Sith although it is technically the eighth installment in the Star Wars franchise. Rogue One follows the Rebel Alliance and their journey into stealing the plans of the infamous Death Star. Our protagonist, Jyn Erso, is a strong and skilled soldier who teams up with rebel Captain Cassian Andor and droid K-2SO in order to retrieve the Death Star plans.

One thing that I really appreciated about this movie was that it took risks. Since Disney now owns the Star Wars franchise, I did not expect the film to be as dark and gritty as it was. It was the first Star Wars film that emphasized the war part of the story. I loved all the new characters in Rogue One and I only wish we could have had more of them within the movie. I really wanted to see more of some of the characters backstories. Although the movie was quite dark, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO and Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe, a blind martial artist, were hilarious. The casting for this movie is incredible. Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso is a strong lead who has remarkable chemistry with Diego Luna who plays Cassian. There are many battles within this adaptation, however the ones I was most impressed with were the ones in space. Rogue One blended new and old concepts together to create beautifully executed battle scenes.

The first half of the movie goes a bit slower than the second half, however I did not mind that so much as I really enjoyed the whole storyline of Rogue One. CGI is used in this film quite a bit. It is not flawless, but I would still consider it good enough. I wasn’t a huge fan of the CGI characters, but it did create an effect that I did really enjoy. I understood why the CGI was necessary and I do think it added a lot to the movie as a whole. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a great installment that can stand alongside the original trilogy.