Rogue One: 8 Reasons To Be Excited Even If You Aren't A Star Wars Fan

Star Wars is traditionally associated with a multi-episode story structure. The original trilogy and the prequel trilogy each tell a complete story which makes it harder to watch and appreciate the individual films by themselves - especially for rookies. Rogue One is a franchise-first in this regard, because (excluding any unexpected sequels) it's the only movie to tell a complete, standalone story in one go.

For non-Star Wars fans, this is an attractive proposition. You don't have to watch any films beforehand, you don't have to brush up on your Star Wars lore, and you don't have to have a prior investment in a franchise that you don't care about - you can just rock up at the cinema in December, take your seat and watch a (hopefully!) great movie, without any baggage.

There are more benefits here too - we'll get a complete story arc in one movie, which ensures it'll have to be tight, well-reasoned and punchy, since the filmmakers cannot rely on any sequels to flesh things out later on. The film will also be able to pack more of an emotional punch - characters can be killed off since there's no reference to them in any of the Star Wars movies, which should help notch up the tension significantly.

All in all, it's just genuinely refreshing to get to watch a standalone blockbuster in the world of the cinematic universe. You may not be a big fan of Star Wars, or even sci-fi in general, but given that Rogue One is a self-contained blockbuster war movie from an accomplished director, there's no reason not to give it a try.

Are you excited for Rogue One? Drop us a comment down below!