ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016)

Genre: Science Fiction / Adventure
Running Length: 2:13
Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen,
Director: Gareth Edwards
Screenplay: Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy from a story by John Knoll and Gary Whitta, based on characters created by George Lucas

ROGUE ONE is better than Force Awakens, not because the former is more superior but it's because the end product feels unrestrained. Probably the filmmakers do not feel overly pressurized to fit their story into the Skywalker saga. One do not really need to fully understand the universe that George Lucas has created in his trilogies to enjoy this movie.

For Star Wars fans, Rogue One is packed with easter eggs. Thankfully it wasn't distracting but more like a wink to its legion of followers. As for the narrative itself, it's a grittier fare than one would expect because this film has more "war" than "star" ie space opera. People die in Rogue One. Not just one but many.

That said, when the characters gets killed off, I didn't feel much for them, eventhough the movie took a good 50%-60% of its running length to establish its characters. Ok, I did feel a lump in my throat when one of them perished.

The 'return' of Darth Vader was triumphant. Eventhough Director Krennic is the chief villain in this film, it is Darth Vader that steals the show with the few scenes he is in. Talk about impact. As for the rest of the cast, Diego Luna's character is equally central as Felicity Jones'. And as for Donnie Yen, it's nice to see him finally getting the kind of recognition from the West he so deserves. Overall, the diverse cast is adequate.

The big standout for me was the special effects. It is very impressive especially the dogfights and war scenes. It wasn't a disorientating mess as viewers know who's good and bad. And thank God it's not a CGI fest aka screensaver, like the ones in Ep. I, II and III. And speaking of CGI, the recreation of Grand Moff Tarkin (once again portrayed by Peter Cushing, who passed away in 1994) using CGI was a distraction for me. It reminded me of Polar Express.    

In summary, Rogue One a good standalone movie and it presents a closure on why the Empire's ultimate planet killer weapon had such an easy-to-exploit flaw. And it serves well as a companion piece to the Star Wars anthology too.

Rating: 8.5/10

GODZILLA (2014)

Genre: Adventure
Running Length: 2:03
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn
Director: Gareth Edwards 

GODZILLA the movie clearly propagates an anti-nuclear message - play with fire and you will get burned. Godzilla is like the consequence of man's folly with power, a force of nature so unstoppable when it fights back, men can prepare all they can to execute search and rescue missions, but there's not a lot they can do to stop him. Two things I like about the movie's direction; (1) the movie offers a slow build-up and takes its time with the big reveal because when Godzilla finally appears in its full glory rampaging self, jaws will drop (Godzilla looks absolutely amazing and its deep "throaty" roar sent chills down my spine) and (2) although the movie is about Godzilla, the events that unfold are observed from the human perspective. But here is where the biggest problem lies - the human characters are absolutely wasted. I was totally not invested in them at all. I blame it on bad casting and perhaps a terrible script. The cast is so one-dimensional they barely exist (there were times when they became so dull I wish they were crushed by the monsters). Thankfully, the film makers nailed the last 30 minutes with the jump off the plane scene and the smackdown between Godzilla and other giant monsters.

Rating: 5.5/10