"Rogue One" is a Star Wars story that is good, just not a great one.
"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" is being promoted as the first stand-alone film in the anthology series. Partly true, but this is still essentially a prequel to the chapter "A New Hope." It is self-contained, and fills in the blanks of the storytelling between chapters 3 and 4 in the anthology, but it feels less like a "Star Wars" film in both good ways and bad. It wins points for its diversity, and its adult edge, particularly in its third act battle sequences. Unfortunately, the varied ethnicity of the characters isn't enough to make up for their lack of dimension. And no new character, other than the robot K-2SO, gives Luke, Han or C-3PO a run for their money. Quite simply, this film illustrates that what the franchise truly needs is to tell stories not tethered to the original six. New directions will give every filmgoer out there a new hope.