The only thing that stood out in Rogue One is how similar the “Darth Vader vs. The Empire vs. Rebels vs. Rebel alliance vs. Rogues” situation sounds to real world wars. That parallel aside, there is nothing new in terms of story or visual extravagance. In fact, there is hardly any magnificence in the visuals. No saber duals, so the unique awe is missing. Not too many Jedis around, so no spiritual-metaphysical stuff going around either.

No saber duals, so the unique awe is missing.

The story sounds complicated to begin with but once you get the bearings, it is the run-of-the-mill good vs. bad. Within the good then, there are factions as there are amongst the bad. But, that is the usual Star Wars fare. The only emotional arc doesn't tug because there is too little of it.

The performances of the main characters are what one expects from a film from this genre. Some of the actors in character roles though, especially those that play the villains, are surprisingly stiff. In fact, the voice of the droids are the most noticeable – they make you smile at appropriate intervals.

Those humorous lines too are pretty much predictable. The rest of the dialogue is rather lame. In fact, the lines given to some of the people who believe in the force are outright ridiculous. In addition, they are intentionally and unapologetically repetitive, as if to say, “we will not spend any energy to write dialogue for this character, do what you like.”

The only value then that Rogue One adds to the Star Wars series is that there is one more Star Wars film to watch. And that is good enough for some of us.

- meeta, a part of the audience