BY CHRIS VOLZKE (’17)

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” came out today and, wow, this movie somehow exceeded all my expectations. Not only does it pay homage to the very first Star Wars movie, but it is the perfect tie in movie as well because it *spoiler alert* ends about ten minutes before a “New Hope” begins.

There are a lot of things to look forward to in this movie. Going in, I personally was more excited to see Darth Vader than anything else and I was not disappointed at all. Darth Vader is supposed to be one of the most powerful and skilled Siths of all time, and in my opinion the original trilogy didn’t quite represent the full power of Darth Vader, especially when it comes to lightsaber combat. “Rogue One” finally brings the Darth Vader we have all been waiting to see to screen. He not only is incredible epic, but his fight scene is one of the best in the entire series.

“Rogue One” perfectly blends in to the Star Wars Universe, while still introducing new characters and worlds. The protagonist of the story, Jyn Erso, much like Rey, is an incredible female character. She brings a lot of emotion to the story and she, as well as Rebel Captain Cassian Andor, bring the dark tone and grit in this film. While other characters, like K-2SO, bring the comic relief and fun to the story, which keeps the film from becoming too dark. Now that doesn’t mean that “Rogue One” doesn’t have its moments that leave you going, “wait… did that really just happen?”

Without going into too much detail to avoid giving anything away, “Rogue One” is a Star Wars movie that gets kind of a George R.R. Martin treatment, and what I mean by that is the movie doesn’t care how much you may love and be attached to a character, that character can be killed off at any minute without a second thought. This is one of the strong points of the movie because it separates itself from not only the other “Star Wars” movies but also other big budget action movies these days.

“Rogue One” is finally a Star Wars prequel worth remembering. It greatly outdoes George Lucas’s prequels that, honestly, most of us try to forget anyway. So if you need your Star Wars fix make sure you go see “Rogue One,” the prequel we deserve.

*Spoiler Alert*
One of the planets is Obi Wan misspelled and its awesome.