December 17, 2016 -- The latest Star Wars movie doesn't exactly continue the stories of characters from the previous film in this rebooted Star Wars series, and it ends in a surprise which seems to loop back to the beginning of things.

Don't worry, I won't spoil the ending and I won't pretend to know what it all means, or that I know where the series is going from here. I'll leave that to the real Star Wars fanatics. I was just there to enjoy the show, and it is a good show, a solid action film with some decent dramatic moments.

Unlike the previous film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” this is film is essentially a prequel to the original Star Wars film, which opened in 1977. We have essentially the same plot elements, the evil Empire, the rebellion, the death star, rebels stealing the plans for the death star, a hidden weakness in the death star that can be exploited by the rebellion, etc.

You'd think the Empire would be able to build a Death Star without a hidden weakness, but this movie actually explains how this happened, with the aid of a back story involving Empire scientist Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen of “The Hunt”) who is the father of action hero Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones of “The Theory of Everything”).

A few characters from the original Star Wars film “A New Hope” have been digitally reanimated for this film, which is a bit jarring and unconvincing. It is, however an impressive technical achievement to reanimate the late Peter Cushing (playing the character Grand Moff Tarkin). Cushing died in 1994. When I saw this character, I thought it was just some actor who looked like Cushing. It turns out that is essentially what I saw, but it is not the whole truth of the matter. I am not entirely at ease with digitally bringing back the dead in this way for this purpose.

In this story, the rebels discover the existence the death star, but instead of fighting it, they decide to surrender. Jyn and a group of other rebels, who believe there is a hidden weakness in the death star, decide to go rogue and steal the plans for the death star from an Empire archive on their own. I guess you could call them “Rebel Rebels” after the David Bowie song. This daring raid forces the hand of the more cowardly rebels, who decide to assist by attacking the Empire base where the archive is stored.

This, and Jyn's rescue from an Empire jail, comprise the bulk of the action sequences in the film, which are well staged. Hong Kong action icon Donnie Yen heats up the action with his awesome Kung Fu moves, aided by The Force. His character, Chirrut Îmwe, also provides the funniest line in the movie. Another interesting character is a reprogrammed Empire robot, K-2SO, who gets off some funny sarcastic wisecracks of his own, thanks to motion-capture actor Alan Tudyk (“Serenity”) who improvised much of that dialog.

While there is some humor in the movie, I would have liked more of that and less of the several scenes featuring characters stoically waiting to be killed. I can't really blame them for their fatalistic outlook since the Empire is like one of those super cockroaches from “Damnation Alley.” It can't be killed. The rebels and Empire seem to be locked in a neverending battle. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2016 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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