[Rogue One Review Spoilers - Best Star Wars Of All Time]

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. So this is going to be a review with spoilers on Rogue One. So if you've not seen the film yet, this is really only for persons who've already seen the movie and want to talk about it, unless you just don't like to be surprised in a film. So let's jump into it. I'm going to make what may be a very shocking announcement. I believe this is the best Star Wars movie of all Star Wars movies. So just stick with me and I'll explain through the review why I believe this may very well be the greatest Star Wars movie of them all. So we know the details: a band of rebels working together and they intend to steal the Death Star plans. Obviously they want to stop the planet-destroying Death Star. So our main character, Jyn Erso, is the daughter of the scientist who builds the Death Star named Galen Erso, who's played by Mads Mikkelsen. So Galen is one of the greatest scientists in the galaxy. So you get the Empire basically making him an offer he can't refuse to build the Death Star. How the Empire negotiates is a non-negotiable contract. It's either you do it or else. We know by now how the Empire works. So in the opening scene, we get his wife trying to hide Jyn and herself so he can't be forced into attempting not to build the Death Star. However, she doesn't want her husband taken, so she pulls a gun on them. She's shot down by Director Krennic and the Dark Stormtroopers, I believe they're called, and Galen is taken anyway. Now the person who takes Galen is Director Krennic. Krennic is over the construction of the Death Star, and he's the well-dressed Empire associate with the long flowing white cape. You keep seeing in the trailers. So Krennic is ambitious in his climb up the ranks of the Empire. I don't really get that Krennic is menacing though. As much as I get he's ambitious and believes this is what it takes to bring order and peace to the galaxy, he's not on the Darth Vader wavelength. This also goes well into why I think Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie. Characters like Krennic. I just see the Empire being a more practical machine as the reasoning, or as to their reasoning behind their process and how they control the galaxy and why, at least with the administration's day-to-day operations. Not talking about, not talking about the Emperor though. So in the other Star Wars, uh, you get the literal parallel of characters being kind of one-dimensional bad, uh, guy versus good guy. I always felt like that on all Star Wars movies. However, I felt like I was supposed to feel that way, as the contrast between the light and dark sides of the Force, I felt, were motivating everyone all to a degree. However, in this movie, I feel in a different way. They just show a different point of view because the movie just feels so much more realistic than any Star Wars production thus far. That blew me away, as I've never seen a Star Wars movie on this level. So next we get Jyn being found by Saw Gerrera, played by Forest Whitaker. And these characters, uh, in this film, I guess some are part of the Star Wars EU or Expanded Universe. I believe I saw Saw Gerrera was featured in The Clone Wars. So Saw Gerrera is basically the most extreme and radical type of Rebel. To the Empire, he'd be a terrorist to the 10th power. Even the Rebel Alliance or the Rebel forces feels his methods are far beyond theirs. So Uh, he has his own factions in place. So Jyn basically ends up being raised by Saw Gerrera. You know, it was, um, he, he discovered her hiding, uh, you know, when her father, uh, Galen was taken. Saw, um, does raise Jyn to a certain point, but then has to abandon her because he has the Empire on his tail. So he feels it's better this way. However, Jyn at this point is a young woman dealing with such a great deal of abandonment. She at this point is resenting everyone and everything. She gets into trouble, and so she ends up in jail. And we can understand Jyn's life has been a troublesome one. So Saw Gerrera ends up capturing an Empire cargo pilot, or actually a former Empire cargo pilot. So the Rebels want to use— and I believe his name is Jesus right here. His name is Bodhi Rook. That's his name, uh, Bodhi, Bodhi Rook. Because some of these characters, like I said, they— I think they were just created for this film or, um, something, something along those lines. Uh, I don't think they're part— they existed prior to, uh, uh, you know, Star Wars, uh, canon. So the rebels want to use Jyn to get to Saw Gerrera in order to retrieve this pilot so they can infiltrate into the Empire and get to Galen, her father. They actually want to kill her father, but they don't make her aware of it as they fear she won't assist them, you know, by getting them into Saw Gerrera, as she was like a daughter to him. So we move on to Captain Cassian Andor. Captain Cassian Andor. Uh, so we don't get a lot about Cassian. Uh, we do know he's been part of the Rebel fight since he was like 6 years old. We know he's deeply motivated to stop the Empire. We know he'll do anything, whether it's clean or not, to make that happen. So, uh, he learns about the Death Star from a source on a planet that he, you know, then he later has to, uh, kill the person in order that he's not found out and the details of what he knows. So what I get from the scene, uh, in the movie is that even the good guys are making decisions that aren't pretty, uh, that when you're dealing with war and occupations, that the situations are very complex and not everyone is just good or bad, you know. It's people in their changing environments trying to survive and trying to fight to stay alive. And this is yet another reason why I believe this is the best Star Wars film of all time, because it's illustrating in an in-depth vision of what being occupied by the Empire would be like for the people under their iron fist, what life would have been like for them, which is something we never get in the Star Wars movie. We just kind of hear them talking about it and we have no sense of what it's like from the character's perspective, really living under the occupation and control of the Empire. So, so Jyn gets broken out of jail by the Rebel forces. Cassian is part of her breakout. He has a companion with him, a reprogrammed Empire droid called K-2SO. K-2SO. Uh, and that's him in the right-hand corner there. K-2SO. K-2SO, just an extraordinary performance. He's kind of the comic relief for the film. However, generally, the best way I can explain this, in a lot of movies, especially Star Wars movies, you get the droid comic relief, and I just feel like the entire movie lightens up. I'm brought back to, yes, this is a fantasy science fiction movie, But what's different about this time around is K-2SO's delivery of the comic relief is just the most perfect timing and presentation I've probably ever seen in a film like this. Even though he's doing the comic relief, it's like the situation and the atmosphere doesn't really take you out of it. It's like you're going, okay, that's pretty funny, but yeah, we're still in a bad situation. You're quickly brought back to that and still immersed in the film and the situation. Instead of taking a step back and going, okay, I'm out of the movie and I'm just watching the movie. How he does it is just so well done. So one of my favorite characters in this film, the reprogrammed Empire droid K-2SO. So they get Lynn— I'm sorry, Jyn— back to the Rebel forces headquarters on Yavin, and it looks like the setup from Episode IV: A New Hope. That's another thing. They do a great job of, uh, even with our advanced filming techniques today, they bring a great sense of familiarity back to 1977 Star Wars film. You know, everything still looks kind of like that, but in a way we can still see our advanced tech merged into it by film quality. So they're offering Jyn a way to save her father and saying, do this and take this mission. So you can help him escape. However, as mentioned earlier, they have no plan of really helping him escape. They just want to tie up loose ends. So it's really, you know, they want to assassinate him for building the Death Star and being responsible for all the deaths. So Jyn takes the mission. She goes along with Cassian and company to visit Saw Gerrera in order to retrieve the former Empire cargo pilot. So upon arrival, Jyn and Cassian are taken by some of Saw Gerrera's forces. They imprison them. However, Saw Gerrera and Jyn, they have their reunion. Saw Gerrera figures out why Jyn is really there, and he explains to her why he had her leave the way he did. So Jyn is still responding like a person that has been abandoned, so he finally shows her a message from her father In the message, her father Galen Erso explains why he went ahead to build the Death Star. His reasoning is basically they would have built it anyway, but if he built it, he could put weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the Death Star, which he did. So Jyn gets the information and knows she has to take it back to the Rebel forces and stop the Death Star. And I thought that was just genius, made a lot of sense. You know, basically he was right. The Empire would have scoured the galaxy. They would have found another way. They would have found someone else. But if he could be the inside man and if he could create these vulnerabilities in the Death Star, it would make it easier for the Rebels to take the Death Star down. So the problem is, whilst all this is going on, there is an Empire destroyer and it's stationed over the city due to the rebel activities from Saw Gerrera. So the destroyer suddenly leaves. The reason it leaves is because Director Krennic, he's behind in the completion of the Death Star. So they want a test done. So they decide what better place The Saw Gerrera City, which I believe is called Jedha. So Krennic is under scrutiny by Grand Moff Tarkin, who was played by Peter Cushing, who died in 1994. So what we're getting is the best CGI I've seen to date on film, and it just looks great. The CGI, Peter Cushing gets more screen time than he did when he was alive. This is another reason why this is the best Star Wars. This film overall has reached a pinnacle in CGI I didn't even know existed. So as Grand Moff Tarkin explains to Director Krennic how imperative it is to get the Death Star fully functional because the Emperor is not happy Director Krennic decides in his ambition to just destroy the entire planet. However, Tarkin says only a city will be a necessary demonstration. So Jyn is still on that very planet along with Saw Gerrera. Cassian breaks out of prison and has also found the cargo pilot, or Brody. Jyn wants Saw to go with her because The death, um, star beam has hit their location and the entire city is being destroyed. Saw Gerrera believes he'll just slow them down. Saw Gerrera is basically the opposite end of Darth Vader. You know, his body over time has been replaced a lot with cybernetics. He as well uses a breathing apparatus. He's in pretty bad shape already, so he decides to stay behind and Jen and Cassian escape. So I did miss a point, I, I, or I missed the scene, and, uh, that was, uh, during when Jen and Cassian first arrived, uh, on the planet. And the gentleman here, um, I believe his name is pronounced Chirrut Imwe, um, you know, and again, I don't, um, you you know, these— I believe he's not part of canon either. He might be an invented character for the movie. But, um, uh, but, um, basically Jyn and Cassian, uh, when they first arrived on the planet looking for Saw Gerrera, they're, they're, they're, uh, stuck in a rebel squirmish between Saw Gerrera's men and the Empire. And Jyn and Cassian, they get mixed up in it before they are taken prisoner. And that's when we're introduced to Chirrut Imwe, um, um, and, uh, he's basically a blind Force wielder. He's not a Jedi, however he has some use of or control of the Force. So you probably remember him from the trailers. He's magnificent in his fight scenes and they just are great. And he's also in this conversation with Jyn about kyber crystals. And what's interesting about this film is we get to actually see a kyber crystal. I've never— I don't think we've ever seen kyber crystals before in live-action Star Wars films. We know that they power lightsabers, but we also learned that— and I don't know if this was something that was always part of the Star Wars story, but we also learned that the kyber crystals, their immense power, is what's responsible for powering the Death Star. So Chirrut Imwe, he helps Jyn and Cassian in a brawl with the Empire but is taken prisoner along with them, and his comrade whose name is Baze Malbus, who's the guy over here with the big gun in his hand. Uh, Baze Malbus, um, you know, it basically also helps, um, you know, in the fight against the Empire along with Chirrut Imwe. And, um, he aids, uh, Chirrut. He's a comrade and friend. So they all barely escaped the destruction of the city. By the Death Star, and they go into hyperdrive. The problem is everything Jyn has seen and heard from Saw Gerrera, she has no proof that the Death Star has a weakness. So they don't trust Jyn— or I'm sorry, she actually heard it from a hologram of her father, a message that was smuggled out of the Empire, but it was all destroyed when the Death Star blew Jedha up. So she didn't have any record of it, you know, no proof to take back. So they don't trust Jyn at this point or believe her. So they then drop out of hyperspace and they go to where Jyn's father is. And Jyn believes that they're going to rescue her father still. However, Grand Moff Tarkin has already explained to Krennic that there was a message smuggled to the Rebel Sagrera, and that either Galen or one of the Engineers are behind it. So Krennic is going to kill the Engineers responsible, or Galen, or whatever the case is. But he finds out Galen is involved, as Galen doesn't want Engineers to die, as he's the one who smuggled the message out. So, um, Cassian is there to kill Galen as well. However, Uh, Cassian, uh, searches his feelings and he decides that's not who he wants to be anymore. As much of his life has been about doing whatever it takes to win against the Empire, so Cassian doesn't pull the trigger. But Galen dies anyway from an X-wing aerial attack that has been planned previous. Um, and he tries to call it off, but it's too late. They they're already engaged. So Jyn figures out with Chirrut Imwe's Force intuitive abilities and reasoning that Cassian was actually sent to kill her father. So we get this powerful scene from Cassian about how he didn't kill her father, but that he had become that way because that's all he knew since he was 6 years old, and that he had lost so much, just like just like she had, but he just couldn't bring himself to, you know, to do it. And that's Captain Cassian Andor, a picture of him second to your left corner. So they arrived at the Rebel headquarters, and the command doesn't want to authorize the mission to steal the plans to take down the Death Star, as they don't believe Jyn, as she had no proof but her own words from Saw Gerrera's hologram that was destroyed in the Death Star blast. So what's interesting is we get Senator Organa and the other senator from the Clone Wars. She's been a prominent figure in many Star Wars films. However, I just can't remember her name. I did like the scene we got with Senator Organa as he's talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi being in hiding and that he will have to contact him. So although Cassian and Jyn previously had the cold and separating scene. Cassian actually does believe that Jyn is telling the truth, so they put together a rag team of Rebels to go in unauthorized by the Rebel forces. They basically go in like the Dirty Dozen or the Magnificent Seven, that type premise, which I really enjoyed. So we cut back to Director Krennic and It would seem him and Grand Moff Tarkin's conversation didn't end well. It's seeming like Grand Moff Tarkin won't give Krennic full credit for his overseeing of the Death Star. So Krennic is later in a meeting with a great scene, a real treat from Darth Vader. And Darth Vader, just awesome scene, how it's done. Vader basically ends up Force choking him with his back turned The message seems to be that Krennic is overreaching, that his ambition is getting the better of him. Darth Vader doesn't quite phrase it that way, but it's a great line about how his ambition is going to lead to his undoing. We move on to Jyn and Cassian, and they are basically with their rag team and the cargo pilot, or the former Empire cargo pilot who gets them through. A force field, and that was basically his purpose, purpose to smuggle them in. And but they need the force field back open because once they get the data, they need to be able to send the plans of the Death Star back out. They can't do that when the shield's up. So after they sneak in, they have a fight to actually get the shields back open as they were able to smuggle in, but they won't be able to get out. So they have a fight there Uh, or they have to fight their way out of the shield generator, turn it off. So we get this great land forces battle, and what's important to understand about the feel of the film at this point, along with it just being the best movie cinematography and CGI I've ever seen in a film, uh, it just feels like one of those great war movies, like Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line, you know, all of those war movies. You know, this is a real war movie, you know, with that feeling you get when you're watching one. You know that feeling where you just know a lot of people aren't gonna make it out alive, if anybody at all. I just never thought I'd get that in a Star Wars movie. I didn't think Star Wars would go there to that degree. Agree. To my surprise, they do, but do an excellent job at it. So this is no longer like one of those George Lucas movies with puppets and Muppets and crazy tin can droids. I know, I, I, I, you know, I know, I know it's changed a lot from that, from The Force Awakens, but, uh, you know, it's just not anywhere in that universe anymore. So this is for real now. This is the real deal. So to make the film perfect, the character Chirrut Imwe, the blind Force wielder, he's just under super heavy gunfire to get to the place to turn off the shields, but he's using the Force and he just manages to walk through just an open barrage of gunfire without being hit, and he turns the shields off, but Then as he does it, he's later shot and killed. His comrade, uh, Baze, uh, um, Baze Malbus. Yep, Baze Malbus, that's his name. Having a little trouble remembering, but, um, you know, he sees this and he goes on his last and final attack to join his friend. You know, I just can't put in words enough how powerful and sad the scene was. Just like what happens in the best war movies. This was that movie. I was just blown away by the degree to which they did this. So Jyn and Cassian are ready to upload the file, but Krennic shoots Cassian as he gets, you know, to their location with a group of Death Troopers. And Death Troopers— I made a mistake, I called them Dark Troopers, but they're actually called Death Troopers. You know, they're these really cool-looking stormtroopers in black They are a lot more well-trained. I guess maybe they are like the special forces units. So Cassian has his hands full with them. He's shot and it appears he may be dead. And Jyn is cut off to upload the data of the Death Star to the Rebel forces by Krennic. And in that scene, she informs him that she's Galen's daughter. Simultaneously, unfortunately, my favorite character, K-2SO, He's also being killed while he's trying to aid in disabling the shield and gain access to where, you know, the information was held on the Death Star. So another sad scene by a great character. But Krennic is about to kill Jyn at this point, and Cassian returns just in time to shoot and kill Krennic. So they were able to upload the files to the Rebel forces, who did at the end decide to come into the fight anyway. After most of the mission had been initiated, but they were still able to stop some troublesome AT-STs, or what you may know as the four-legged walking machines in every Star Wars movie. So that did help them a lot to finish the mission. Unfortunately, the Death Star fires on the entire planet where Jyn and her band of rebels are, and Cassian and Jyn aren't able to escape from the planet. So they wander out to the beach, and as the Death Star blast hits, it engulfs them and kills them in this powerful, just amazing scene, you know, as they accept their, their death. Uh, and so everyone dies in this movie like a true real good war movie. So wow, Star Wars is what I felt. Uh, you know, when the Death Star destroys a planet, you know, it— the effect is just amazing. Uh, as I've said before, the film industry in this day and age are leaps and bounds ahead of anything that could have been done in any previous Star Wars film. And at this point, the movie could have ended. I was already impressed with the film already. I was ready to give it the best Star Wars title there is. However, the movie wasn't over. We got more, and in some ways the last and final act was the best part of the film, you know. So as the, the data is loaded to the Rebel forces, it takes us back to the type of vessels they had in the original Star Wars, because in this Star Wars timeline, this is all happening right before Episode 4, or A New Hope. So everything in the movie is starting pretty much to look like that. Uh, so as the ship above makes copies of the files, Darth Vader gets there and invades their ship. You know, he's after the Death Star files. They are fighting in this narrow corridor, you know, like you always see in the Star Wars, uh, films on their ships. You know, like Princess Leia's ship, how they always walking down that corridor and they always getting a blaster fight and they just got enough room to duck around corners. Well, Darth Vader is fighting like 10 to 20 Rebel guards at once in this corridor. It's just so crazy. They're all shooting and Darth Vader is just cutting them down and he's blocking several dozen blasters at once and he's moving so fast like I've never seen. Wow, I mean, it's crazy. He's Um, I've never seen Darth Vader move this fast. You know, usually he's kind of slow and methodical, and that makes him look quite intimidating. But in this scene, he's really moving, getting the job done. The last guy he kills can't even get through the door with the file. He just has to kind of stick it through the door crack. Uh, just such a treat. One of the best scenes of the movie. And then we get another one. We get the Death Star plans being delivered to Princess Leia. It's her CGI version because it's the young Carrie Fisher version from the 1977 A New Hope, and I believe she's only like 19 years old, uh, um, uh, you know, there in that, uh, in that particular, uh, uh, film. And I mean, they're just so good with the CGI recreations now. I mean, honestly, um, if the studios can get permission to use a person's likeness, I don't even see why they need to show up on set. They can just CGI everyone. It's gotten that good already, and I can only imagine in the next several years it's going to just be totally indistinguishable, probably. Just an awesome movie. My goodness. So why I think, um, uh, why I think that, uh, this was the best Star Wars film ever— well, the mood of the film was just amazing. I, I just totally separated it was even a science fiction fantasy film at all. This could just be a good film overall and compare it to other non-fiction films as well. It It just, in my opinion, outdoes every Star Wars in every way. It depicts a greater understanding of Empire politics and how people living under the Empire, which was the entire galaxy, how they coped and responded. You know, I'm sure you either had sympathizers or you just had people who wanted to rebel, but again No Star Wars movies ever really got me to get the true feel of that, with the exception of this one. The battle scenes, uh, there is no Star Wars film that can match these battle scenes. Just no, no, maybe no, not no. The Force Awakens got close in feel to the film of this, uh, or to the, you know, to the feel of this film. However, Rogue One took it to another level. But I could see in The Force Awakens, they had learned a lot from the mistakes of George Lucas' brand. And that's what I mean to say, that the George Lucas films, you know, they worked for their time. It was a simpler time. However, now we're more sophisticated and we're more knowledgeable. And when you're dealing with wars in film, We now as a group, and always have, I think, uh, uh, you know, understood how war really was. But we had the media and the film industry, and they would censor it from us. But we always understood the mechanics of what goes into battles and wars and people's emotions. Another thing I like that this film did was um, it is a Star Wars film, and we know we're supposed to see aliens and weird-looking creatures. However, I like how they use them sparingly in this film, and it just made me feel like they were saying this is a human film that happens to be in an alien universe. And I really felt Star Wars failed to do that in some of their films. A lot of Star Wars movies revolved around, you know, the animatronics and puppets CGI, and this film, when it used it, um, it looked— it looked well, and it was used at the right time. Well, it didn't, uh, appear, uh, it, it, it didn't appear silly, um, you know, uh, you know what I, what I mean. It, the, the, the, the, the characters Um, you know, the characters, they just looked right at the right time. Um, so, um, you know, I think Star Wars, you know, failed to, um— oh, I'm sorry, I wanted to say that, um, you know, um, even films like The Empire Strikes Back You know, which was one of my favorite and set the bar. Um, you know, did some things I felt wrong, like with the abominable snowman scene. And then, um, you know, when they had the big creature that swallowed the Millennium Falcon living on the asteroid, that seemed a little bit, you know, far-fetched to me. However, this film is probably the only film in maybe the last 10 years for me that just about gets a perfect score. And the only reason I think— the only fault, and it's not even really a fault, but just if I had to find something, because otherwise I would give it a 10. But the only fault I find with this is because the Star Wars franchise and Disney, I'd say about 90% of it is centered around families. And you know, if you're— and you know, and families taking their kids to see a traditional Star Wars film amongst families, this movie does lose out because it didn't feel like a family Star Wars film or Disney film. So I just wonder if the studios cared about that, or were they willing to just sacrifice one film in merchandise and branding because they killed all the characters? And it just wasn't a family-friendly film. You know, you can barely take your 13-year-old to this and they, you know, they'll view it how, you know, you saw it. But as an adult, it was perfect for me, uh, for my demographic. I give it a 10 out of 10. You know, however, because Star Wars is traditionally family-friendly, I maybe want to give it a 9 just because of that, just because it does seem to be part of Disney me in the Star Wars branding. Other than that, it did everything right. I felt it was the perfect film. I still think it's better than every Star Wars. I know you all won't agree, but I, I'd love to hear you guys comment about which Star Wars you think is the best and where they rank. I hope you enjoyed the movie as much as I did, and if you like content like this Don't forget to like and subscribe. Take care, folks. May the Force be with you.