WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW

On first look, one might not realize “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is part of the Star Wars franchise because it is gritty and violent, making it felt like a modern war movie with Star Wars as merely the setting.

“Rogue One” follows the story of a group insurgents, “rebels,” and their plan to obtain the Death Star plans. By doing so, this movie clears up the plot hole in “Episode IV: A New Hope” where an exhaust port being shot with a perfectly timed torpedo manages to destroy the entire Death Star.

The main aspect of the movie that makes it feel more gritty and violent than the rest of the Star Wars franchise is the fact there is barely any use of the Force, which typically gives of a more fantasy vibe. In fact, there were only two characters who somewhat use the force, Chirrut Imwe, a blind warrior monk who seems to be somewhat sensitive to force, and Darth Vader. The rest of the violence is left up to gun blasts and dogfighting in space. All this combined really drives the whole violent and gritty war movie concept home, which is closer to what we face currently on Earth than somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.

While I felt there is no acting deserving of a standing ovation, there is some decent acting and the characters were convincing. The characters played off of each other well, with my favorite characters being Chirrut Imwe and Jyn Erso. Another good character is the reprogrammed imperial droid. He provides the comic relief throughout the whole movie which is needed.

I feel funny saying this, but I feel that “Rogue One” is in the grey section on whether or not it is suitable to let younger kids “younger than 13” watch, mainly because of younger kids not understanding what the movie is trying to portray. I remember walking out of the theater hearing a kid talk to their parents, saying how the movie was too violent and the ending was too sad. I remember feeling the same about “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” when I was 10. “The Empire Strikes Back” was different from the rest of the star wars movies as it showed the heroes getting utterly destroyed, the rebel base is demolished, Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, Luke gets his hand chopped off and of course the big reveal: “No, I am your father.” It wasn’t until recently that “Episode V” became my favorite movie, so I have similar feelings about “Rogue One,” due to the violence and the ending. In order to truly enjoy this latest installment of Star Wars, viewers should probably be a little bit older so they can fully comprehend “Rogue One”.

Overall, “Rogue One” is a solid movie and I highly recommend seeing it. Despite the beginning being a little slow, I liked it  because of its new way to portray the Star Wars universe. It is an interesting movie that should be seen and I’d give it a 9/10 when taking everything into consideration.