‘Rogue One’ saves ‘Star Wars’ series

After the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” many “Star Wars” fans were a bit disappointed with the outcome. “Rogue One” seems to have saved the series.
A good view for classic “Star Wars” fans, “Rogue One” also draws in those that aren’t as caught up in the series. While the movie takes place in a tight window on the overall “Star Wars” timeline, it also fills in a crucial gap.
The movie introduces several new characters to the series and while the ending is a bit disappointing, it is also in many ways expected.
Classic characters make an appearance as well, among them are Darth Vader, Princess Leia and Governor Tarkin. While Darth Vader can be played by pretty much anyone, since it’s his voice that counts, Princess Leia as she was in the original movies and Governor Tarkin were somewhat surprise appearances.
To get these influential characters into the movie, computer-generated images (CGI) had to be used, considering the actor who played the original Governor Tarkin died in 1994. This could have been a tricky task, throwing well known CGI characters into the mix of live actors.
But Disney managed to pull it off. While the CGI was noticeable if one actually looked for it, it didn’t particularly stand out.
And for developing the characters of the actual movie? Disney did a pretty good job. I’ll admit, when I first saw the previews for “Rogue One,” I seriously had my doubts. It looked like it wasn’t going to fit into the timeline at all and that Disney was going to do its own thing with the series and that got me a bit worked up.
But it simply wasn’t so.
The main characters played a crucial part in the timeline and were well developed in the classical “Star Wars” way, which was a huge relief.
Many people, myself and my father included, worried that Disney’s purchase of the rights to “Star Wars” would completely ruin the series. And after “The Force Awakens,” it seemed we may have been right.
It was refreshing to be proven wrong.
The movie didn’t start out with the classic theme song and a back story explanation that so many people are familiar with, which was admittedly a bit disappointing. But the rest of the movie made up for it, and, truthfully, that is only a small part of the movie anyway—though it is nice to have that sort of preparation to the rest of the story.
There were, as with all movies, some places where it falls short. Such as the way the council was set up: There were several humans within the crowd and it’s a bit disappointing because more than just the human race was being suppressed by the Empire.
They changed a few of the classic characters from the council, and if Governor Tarkin and Princess Leia were CGI, why could the head of the council not also be CGI, for originality purposes?
There was also a definite difference between the person they used to play Darth Vader and the original, though this is a minor difference, it was still, sadly, noticeable.
I have always been a Disney fan. So, in the end, I was glad to see they hadn’t completely butchered the “Star Wars” series. And it gives me hope that in the future movies, they will continue to do as well as they have here.
Overall, I would rate this movie four out of five stars, maybe even four and a half. It is definitely a movie worth owning when it comes out on DVD in the next several months.