When Disney acquired the rights to the Star Wars franchise, the decision was made not only to continue the beloved story with a new trilogy, but to expand upon previously established elements in new spin-off films.

Given the narrative potential of the Star Wars universe (especially now that the previous expanded universe tie-ins, such as comics and video games, are now no longer considered canon) and the success Disney’s had with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this seemed like a no-brainer.

The first of these “Anthology” films came in the form of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which takes place right before the original Star Wars film and offers more context behind the film’s opening and climax.

With reports of multiple reshoots taking place a couple of months before the film’s release, fans were worried that this would be another Star Wars prequel they’d hate. Did Gareth Edwards’ direction prove that their lack of faith was misguided?

The film stars Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso, the daughter of Galen Erso, a lead researcher for a superweapon for the Empire that would become the planet destroying Death Star.

When he is forced to rejoin the Empire, he sends Jyn to be taken into the custody of the Rebel extremist, Saw Gerrera. 15 years after the incident, Jyn joins a ragtag group of Rebel Alliance members to rescue her father from the Empire’s grasp and obtain the schematics that will give the Rebels the key to destroying the Death Star.

While this is occurring, Orson Krennic, the Director of the Empire’s Advanced Weaponry and the film’s main antagonist, finds himself in the middle of a power struggle with the eventual Death Star Commander Grand Moff Tarkin all while trying to maintain composure of the project in front of Darth Vader himself.

While the original trilogy was pretty straightforward with the whole “good vs. evil” side of the war, the film showcases the tough decisions the Rebel Alliance had to make that paint them under a different light.

The darker tone is well-established early on, as one of the main protagonists is introduced to the audience killing an ally just to avoid capture. It’s one of the more captivating aspects of the first half of the film, as it adds more depth to the war between the Republic and the Empire and how war can be more about survival than heroics.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the film’s main leads. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna are fantastic actors, but aren’t really given a lot to work with their characters other than complain who’s had a rougher life and uttering the word hope every couple of seconds.

Perhaps they had better character moments before the reshoots (as evidenced by the numerous shots and lines seen only in the trailers), but as it stands, they’re serviceable at best.

Thankfully the journey is made more tolerable with their supporting cast in the form of Alan Tudyk as the wise-cracking rebel-droid K-2SO and Donnie Yen as the blind Force-worshipping Chirrut Imwe. K-2SO is the complete opposite of C-3PO in terms of design and functionality, and it’s refreshing to see a droid that can kick ass and be snarky without those aspects being reduced to R2’s constant beeping.

Chirrut doesn’t wield the Force himself, but he does reinforce the idea that it is seen as a religious allegory, rather than lucky blood-cells as shown in the prequels. He often steals the show when it comes to action scenes, but when you cast one of Hong Kong’s top action stars that’s well-versed in over ten martial arts as the stereotypical blind warrior archetype, what would you expect?

Ben Mendelsohn also does a fantastic job as Orson Krennic (even if he is given a few cheesy lines once in a while), as he is intimidating in front of his scientists while attempting to establish his authority in front of Vader and Tarkin. The issue with most of his scenes don’t come from Krennic, but rather from the Tarkin stand-in. Rather than rely on the makeup department, the decision was made to use CGI to attempt to capture the presence of the long-deceased Peter Cushing.

The result is… mixed at best. It stumbles into the uncanny valley plenty of times, but I think if the filmmakers kept most of Tarkin in the shadow, they would not only establish Tarkin as an intimidating figure, but the CG would look far more believable. If it weren’t for the character’s movements and contrasting soldiers surrounding him, I’d have less of an issue with Tarkin’s (as well as another character they CG’d in the ending) presence.

“Rogue One shows that there’s still exciting potential for the cinematic future of Star Wars.”

In terms of pacing issues, the movie is the complete opposite of Force Awakens in how it handles the plot. Whereas Force Awakens had a well-structured first half to establish the characters and conflict with a rushed climax, Rogue One has a slow first-half, but one of the best Star Wars climaxes in years.

It harkens back to the original Star Wars in which the final battle doesn’t hinge on who loses their hand in a lightsaber duel (not to say those fights aren’t cool).

It’s an all-out assault on an Empire base for the plans of the Death Star, and given how this is a prequel to the original trilogy, any one of these characters you’ve grown to love or be tolerable of can get killed at any moment. It’s fast-paced, has cinematography that would make it feel right back in the 70s, gorgeous backgrounds, and plenty of starship and land battles to satisfy any action or sci-fi geek.

All of this culminates with one of the best Darth Vader scenes ever put to screen, as the Sith Lord mows down a group of rebels in a dark room shot like a horror movie villain. It almost makes you forget Hayden Christensen’s performance ever happened. Almost.

Just like his 2014 reboot of Godzilla, what Gareth Edwards’ Star Wars entry lacks in characterization and an engaging first-half, he makes up for with a thrilling climax. It’s not to say the characters or actors are as bad as Godzilla, but it can be a little jarring how much effort was put into certain departments over the other.

Regardless, thanks to the supporting cast, epic fights, and darker tones, Rogue One shows that there’s still exciting potential within for the cinematic future of Star Wars, regardless if it’s a trilogy entry or spin-off.