In this YouTube commentary, the presenter argues that Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie ever made, a stance first voiced years ago and later reinforced by the success of the Andor series, which expands on the film’s main character Cassian Andor. The video outlines several reasons for this claim: the direction of Gareth Edwards, whose cinematic style brings a gritty, adult‑oriented tone that contrasts sharply with the toy‑driven, family‑friendly approach of earlier George Lucas films and many recent franchise entries. The presenter praises the film’s serious storytelling, sophisticated cinematography, and its effective depiction of the Death Star plans heist, while also acknowledging flaws such as an overly long runtime, occasional filler, and under‑developed secondary characters. The commentary situates Rogue One within the broader Star Wars canon, comparing it favorably to The Empire Strikes Back and arguing that its mature tone makes it especially appealing to older fans who grew up with the original saga. Overall, the video presents a balanced, opinionated analysis that positions Rogue One as the franchise’s most accomplished entry for adult audiences.
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All right guys, welcome back to the channel, and this video is long overdue. Actually, this is kind of— I guess you could consider this a part 2 to a video I did years ago when Star Wars Rogue One first came out. And, um, I even then said that against the better judgment of many critics, uh, that Star Wars Rogue One was the best Star Wars movie ever done. And people couldn't believe it, especially at that time, because I think they were expecting that the Star Wars franchise was going to just produce, uh, bangers and just knock out, uh, more and more great work. And, uh, it's been kind of the opposite of that, uh, in the franchise for many reasons. But specifically, I want to focus on why Star Wars: Rogue One, and it's kind of part 2 video, is the best Star Wars on the list right now. Years later, I was somewhat vindicated because they came out with, um, Andor, right? Uh, based on Cassian Andor, the, the, the main— one of the main characters in Star Wars: Rogue One. And many people start to talk about how, as a series, Andor was one of the best Star Wars series to come out. And I found that interesting that they thought Andor was one of the best Star Wars series to come out, but they didn't think Rogue One was one of the best Star Wars. Some people would say, oh, it was an incomplete movie, it was, uh, missing something, right? So let's talk today about why Star Wars Rogue One was the best Star Wars, and I'm going to give some reasons why that is and why this, uh, was the best Star Wars movie I've ever seen. You know, it used to be Empire Strikes Back, but I think in some ways this might be better, uh, than Star Wars, uh, Empire Strikes Back. And, uh, so we'll discuss it. So let's start— let's kind of jump to the difference in this type of Star Wars movie and what we got with many of the George Lucas earlier films, etc., and even these new franchise films with, uh, with Miss Kennedy. Uh, so the first part is, uh, we need to focus on the director. I believe his name is Gareth Edwards, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. I think that's his name. Uh, I recently saw his latest movie called The Creator. Uh, now Garrett Edwards, you can kind of see the style of what he did with Roy. He just has a great film cinematography style, number one. Uh, but what it is about this, this Star Wars— of course, me, you know, watching Star Wars as a kid, becoming an adult Well, first, you know, obviously first it's a Star Wars for adults. And because Star Wars came out in the late '70s, many of these Star Wars fans are actually pretty old, right? And so one of my reasons for saying it's the best Star Wars, it's the first gritty Star Wars movie we ever got in the Star Wars universe, right? And today with sophisticated filming and subject matter, Um, you know, that goes a long way. Uh, you know, George Lucas, to his credit, and which I don't blame him, uh, I would have done the same thing, uh, had this genius plan at the time that was revolutionary, that when he created Star Wars, uh, uh, you know, unlike just, you know, being a filmmaker who's gonna make money off of box office tickets and make money off of, uh, you know, uh, you know, the profits and such from the movie. Uh, he figured out how to get all the rights to the characters in the, uh, in, in the toy lines and such. And that's something that wasn't as popular then as it is today. He made a fortune off of that. Unfortunately, that became the model for every Star Wars film. So everybody wants to create a toy, and everybody wants to, um, you know, uh, have these Muppets and puppets and such for from that George Lucas era. And, uh, again, I, I don't blame them. I understand it. But it was just so refreshing, uh, especially for older Star Wars fans, to see a gritty Star Wars in a universe where we can take people as serious as Darth Vader serious, right? Uh, but I also— it's not that I have a problem with that. You can have the Muppets and the puppets and stuff in there. It's not that I have a problem with that, even as an older person. But it's just that sometimes I don't think it works. It can take you out of the film. And this is such a sophisticated, well-done, beautifully shot film that it just, it just, you know, it just did everything right in this universe. Now, there were some negatives, right? There were some things that I could see maybe where some people were coming from that I felt could easily have been uh, uh, fixed in the film, right? Because it's not a perfect film, but it's to me the best Star Wars film, right? Just like Andor is the best Star Wars series. And that being that, um, you know, the length of the film, I, I think there were some stuff could have been cut out of film, right? Probably that's what it is. I think when your film runs too long and you kind of get lost in where your story's going, or maybe it's a little bit too much filler, maybe that just means you need to cut the film down right now. Of course, a lot of people complain, hey, you know, then that means it's an incomplete film. And that's a lot of what they got, that it just wasn't. But I think it was— I think the story could have been told a little shorter. You know, absolutely there were some things that could have been told a little bit shorter to not push us through that. And I think we could have got enough time and understanding of these characters to get enough of it, right, in the development. I thought the development was fair, right, the character development, right? Of course, these people weren't going to matter in the future of Star Wars very much for us to, you know, know a whole great deal about them. But we got the story of how the plan of the Death Star were obtained to find these vulnerabilities in the Death Star, right? And so I appreciated that. Now, of course, you know, you can say that many of these characters were greatly underdeveloped. You know, anytime you have this many characters on screen, I don't think they're meant to be developed. I think we got enough of Andor, Cassian Andor, the type of person he was, and Jane Ursula, uh, I think we got a, a great deal of her, right? Uh, you know, of course it was her story. Um, but, uh, yeah, this again, this was just a, a, a very adult base. And let's, you know, face it, like, uh, when you're doing kind of the Muppet, Puffet, childlike Star Wars versions, the Jar Jar Binks as it were, and I'm not, I'm not You know, harping on Jar Jar Binks, he redeemed himself, the character who plays him, a great deal in The Mandalorian series, right? I'm more so focused on the, again, the puppets and the Muppets. It's just very hard
