The best character in reasonably good 'Rogue One' is robot K-2SO
鈥淩ogue One: A Star Wars Story鈥� is being billed as the first stand-alone "Star Wars" movie, but it sits rather squarely in the center of that galaxy far,聽far away. The plot is essentially one long battle and is designed as a lead-in to the events in the 1977 original. Plus there are token appearances by聽Darth Vader and (although very brief) R2-D2 and C-3PO, as well as a final guest聽surprise.
I鈥檝e never been a fanboy of this franchise. I enjoyed the original, loved聽鈥淭he Empire Strikes Back,鈥� and had fun at 鈥淭he Force Awakens鈥� last聽year. The rest of the entries strike me as being heavy on the hardware and聽light on true inspiration.
In the reasonably good 鈥淩ogue One,鈥� directed by Gareth Edwards (he聽of the 鈥淕odzilla鈥� redo), Felicity Jones鈥檚 warrior, Jyn Erso, teams up with Diego聽Luna鈥檚 rebel spy, Cassian Andor, to take down the Galactic Empire. Joining the Alliance in聽this jamboree are such nifty sidekicks as Donnie Yen鈥檚 blind swordsman,聽Chirrut 脦mwe,聽and聽Wen Jiang鈥檚 grunting guerrilla, Baze Malbus. (At times he seems to be channelling聽Toshir么 Mifune聽in 鈥淪even Samurai鈥�).
By far the most entertaining protagonist in the movie, however, is the聽effete droid K-2SO, who has all the good lines. (The script is by Chris聽Weitz and Tony Gilroy.)
I鈥檓 not sure if it鈥檚 such a good thing that the best character in a sci-fi聽movie is a robot. But then again, the best character in 鈥�2001: A Space Odyssey鈥� was HAL, and that film wasn't half-bad. Grade:聽B (Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action.)
