To this end, director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) uses a decent amount of hand-held in incorporating an overall grittier style than the franchise has ever seen. At this juncture, audiences know that everything old is new again (they're seeing a companion piece to a 40+ year-old iconic film that digitally recreates the late Peter Cushing, for Chrissakes) and they don't need to look into the past any more than they improbably have. The famous scroll at the outset of all preceding chapters gets nixed, as do the wipes and dissolves that were nods to the Golden Age of H'Wood that spawned the Buck Rogers serials which in turn inspired Star Wars. Where Rogue One smartly diverges from the trilogies, however, is in regards to presentation. In fact, because it bridges generations so well, it feels rather organic. Though it's a one-off, it never feels completely foreign from what's come before. Set during Imperial-Rebel wartime, this is a Beings-on-a-Mission film involving a disparate group of humanoids, aliens and one hilariously sarcastic droid (think: The Darth-y Dozen). This intermingling of past, present, and future gets done exceedingly well, especially considering these strands never sacrifice the crackerjack standalone story at the movie's center. In fact, it even spackles (fearing a deadly backlash, the words 'improve upon' will be avoided) certain plotholes from the original trilogy and provides audiences with a throughline to the second trilogy. It shares much with that vaunted classic, including characters (some beloved, some minor) and interlinking storylines (some kickass, some Easter egged).

As the central plot involves the blueprint for the Death Star, a key plotpoint in the first act of Star Wars Episode IV from 1977, it's not spoilerish to say that the franchise's latest entry leads right up into that very same flick. Part sci-fi flick, part sequel, part war movie, part prequel, and part character-driven adventure, Rogue One is many things to many moviegoers but the whole package proves quite entertaining, able to satisfy new fans while pacifying most long-time diehards save for the true curmudgeons. In this PG-13-rated sci-fi adventure, the daughter (Felicity Jones) of an Imperial scientist (Mads Mikkelsen) joins the Rebel Alliance in a risky move to steal the Death Star plans. A Rogue agent in all of the right ways, this superb Star Wars Story might have much of the franchise's storied mythology running through its DNA but its edgy design and execution speaks of a bold and exciting jump into a new hyperspace for the historic series.

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