Episode III.i

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Crit

I'm a pretty big fan of the franchise--love the original, consider The Empire Strikes Back a great film by any measure, liked The Force Awakens, would prefer not to talk about the others--but there's a galaxy-sized chasm between enthusiasts like me and full-fledged Star Wars nerds, and that's who this film was made for. The filmmakers spent so much effort planting Easter eggs to other films in the series that they seem to have forgotten about storytelling.

Two appealing characters: K2SO (Alan Tudyk), unfiltered, attitude heavy, and the first genuinely fun droid in the entire series, and Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie Yen), or, as I have been referring to him before looking up his name, Blind Jedi Dude.

The character we're supposed to love, as the series continues its admirable trend of giving our daughters and granddaughters tough female characters, is Jyn Erso, sadly miscast in Felicity Jones, who seemed to be every bit as bored as I was.

Trailers

• Fate of the Furious--OK, time to start a Kickstarter campaign to keep Charlize Theron from having to be in stuff like this.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming--Huh! A re-reboot with a kid (Tom Holland) actually almost young enough to play a high schooler.
• Dunkirk--Christopher Nolan directs.