Star Wars: Rogue One Review - 8 Ups & 2 Downs

7. The Connections To A New Hope

While Rogue One is presented as a standalone movie, that's quite obviously not true. Sure, we're not going to see Rogue Two (unless we're gonna get that movie about the Bothans and the second Death Star - and hey, if it's as good as this then bring it on), but the sequel does exist in the form of Star Wars (or 'A New Hope', if you prefer).

While I won't say exactly how close the movie gets to the start of that film, it does do a superb job of bridging the gap between the two. Upon watching the movie and seeing the events unfold, you know where you are in the story, and are left with a desire to go home and immediately re-watch Episode IV.

That may be where the connections end, but it's not where they start. It may be an anthology, it may have a rather different tone, but Rogue One still ensures to connect back to the bigger picture. There are a number of cameos and returning characters, from Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma to Jimmy Smits' Bail Organa, and from some impressive CGI recreations to a little fella called Darth Vader. At times it may come close to overdoing it - some characters or lines of dialogue crop up as if to just say 'look, it's Star Wars'.

But overall, from the aesthetics to the Rebel Alliance to the Death Star itself, it ties itself to A New Hope without being fan service or feeling pointless. Prequel has long been a dirty word among Star Wars fans. Rogue One means that should no longer be the case.