*** 3 stars | Rogue One: A peculiar story. |

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a peculiar standalone film in the saga. The story is set after Revenge of the Sith and just before A New Hope. This film is beautifully shot with grand visual effects and gripping performances but the whole story felt pointless.

There are a couple of interesting inclusions. Chirrut is a warrior with a vision impairment but that doesn’t stop him believing in “the force” and fighting in battles. K-2s0 is another droid who provides sardonic humour for comic relief. All the other characters are rather boring. Although the acting performances build the tension brilliantly, it does not amount to much.

In an innovative use of animation, the character Grand Morff Tarkin, is depicted with Peter Cushing’s (original actor) likeness. It made the character look quite sinister but had me questioning the whole time if he was real or not. The animated Princess Leia was surprising but a little bit creepy.

The sound design was really disappointing. The sound on a Star Wars film is usually epic but this time it was dreary and lacked interesting elements.

By the end it is clear that this film is about hope however it is unclear why they had to dedicate a whole new feature film to do this.

Scoring Guide

• Story – 6/10
  (Plot, Character & Themes)
• Acting – 8/10
  (Acting performances)
• Cinematography – 9/10
  (Visual imagery & Animation)
• Sound Design – 6/10
  (Dialogue, Sound Effects & Music)
• Editing – 7/10
  (Emotion, Story & Rhythm)