Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction.

A solid entry in a galaxy far, far way. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

The film goes deep into the Star Wars mythology. The Kyber crystal was originally included in early drafts of the Star Wars story, but later eliminated by George Lucas in favour of making the Force a more ethereal power. It was the MacGuffin (plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist pursues, often with little or no narrative explanation) in the Star Wars novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which itself was written to be filmed as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the original film was not a success.

For diehard fans like myself, the ultimate moment was when we finally got to see Darth Vader’s castle on the big screen. First introduced in early drafts of the original film, conceptual arts from Ralph McQuarrie had us dreaming of seeing this one day. There were also tons of cool cameos. Overall a worthy experience.

Director: Gareth Edwards
Running time: 134 minutes
Released: 2016