Rogues gallery head to war

feels real and lived-in.

That is in stark contrast, though, to the dodgy, jarring CGI used in a commendable attempt to connect some of A New Hope’s familiar faces to Rogue One.

Thankfully this doesn’t include iconic baddie Darth Vader; he may not been in the flick much, but with his familiar wheeze and James Earl Jones’ dulcet tones making a comeback, Vader makes his presence felt.

And while there are no lightsabres in action, the design team furnish Jyn and company with lots of other cool weaponry – which is put to good use in a story brimming with strifeinfused battles.

Much of the pre-release hype positioned Rogue One as a war movie and there’s a potent mix between contemporary – “don’t confuse peace with terror” – and historical – assembled soldiers descending on a beach, Normandy landings-style – conflicts.

The half-hour-plus final mission is actionpacked with bombs, blasters, bazookas and the returning AT-AT’s featuring in a collective effort on the ground and in the skies filmed using the saga’s familiar parallel editing – and with plenty of casualties.

There are a good number of connections to A New Hope, but Rogue One still works as its own wounded animal.

In many ways it’s fresher than The Force Awakens, but lacking that entry’s sense of wonder and memorable villainy.

Now it’s over to Alden Ehrenreich to show what he can do as a young Han Solo in the next spin-off – after the small matter of next year’s Episode VIII.