Five Reasons Why ‘Rogue One’ is the Best Movie of the Disney Era

Rogue One Is the the clear winner among Disney Star Wars movies.

Star Wars is a great franchise. Lately, we’ve taken a good, hard look at some of the things the sequel trilogy got wrong, some things it got right, and some things it just kind of… did.

We’ve also been taking a look at some of the things Star Wars Prequel movies have gotten right, and a few things they’ve gotten wrong here or there. We’ve looked at Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, Attack of the Clones, and more. Some silly git even had the temerity to pan The Phantom Menace.

We also looked at  Rogue One. Now lets take a look at some reasons why it’s the best Stars Wars movie Disney has made so far.

5. It Looks Like Star Wars

Courtesy of Disney

You might think that its easy for a Star Wars movie to look like one. However that’s not always the case. Both the prequels and sequels (less so) have been accused of not really looking like a Star Wars movie. Rogue One however absolutely nails it. It not only looks like a Star Wars movie, but like one set right around the first movie.

Courtesy of Disney

The costumes, set design, ship models and even the mustaches are 100% spot on. The reuse of some deleted footage to bring pilots from A New Hope in the movie is amazing. Even the somewhat controversial tech made to bring back actors no longer with us looks great. This movie looks crisp and amazing and yet also some looks like a movie made in the late 70s.

4. K-2SO

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Star Wars has some pretty good droid characters. Many of them verge on the comic relief of cute side of things. K-2SO might not be cute, but he is funny, and likely the best droid in Star Wars. Witty, dry, and little blood thirsty. K-2SO has it going on.  This character is an instant classic and gets to be not only one of the most badass droids in Star Wars, but somehow also one of the most human.

3.The Darker Part of the Rebellion

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Star Wars is normally pretty black and white. Light and Dark if you will. The Rebels are good and noble, the Empire is evil and bad. And yet we all kind of know that Rebellions are not normally… clean. Normally some dodgy things get done in any kind of war, let alone a Rebellion/Civil War. Rogue One is really the first, and for the main part, only Star Wars movie that ever goes into that. While the Rebels are still the good guys, and the Empire is much worse, they do some stuff. Cassian Andor kills a Rebel operative rather than let him fall into Imperial hands. Later the Rebels plot to murder Galen Erso rather than let him remain in Imperial hands, even while they know he is trying to help the Rebellion, and they are using his daughter Jyn to unknowingly help.  Its a side of the war that makes the setting a lot deeper and more realistic.

2. It Puts the “War” In Star Wars

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The name of the franchise is “Star Wars”. Despite that many of the movies don’t particularly feel war-y. Then tend to verge more on action-adventure movies. Rogue One on the other hand is clearly a war movie. The first two acts feels like a classic covert operations movies, like The Dirty Dozen.

Courtesy of Disney

The third act is a straight up war movie, with large scale battles on both land and space. These are when it comes down to it some of the best looking and easy to understands battles in Star Wars. They blow anything else made by Disney out of the water (possibly with a lower powered Death Star shot). The references both to OT, WWII and Vietnam are all there, and its up there with one of the best and most satisfying third acts in any Star Wars or war movie.

Honorable Mention: The Hallway Scene

Courtesy of Disney

Do I even need to really say why?

1. They All Die

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For me at least, this absolutely makes the movie. This is at its heart a war movie. By the time the team goes off to Scarif they all know its a long shot suicide mission. To have them survive and come out unscathed would have felt both unrealistic and inauthentic.

Courtesy of Disney

Their deaths, often beautiful deaths, make this movie hit. It also helps give Star Wars real stakes. Killing off the main cast made this a Star Wars movie like no other. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but to me at least it makes the movie.

Let us know why you love Rogue One, down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.