ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY [Blu-ray]

I was utterly blown away by this film; I'd mistakenly thought they couldn't do much with the concept in terms of story, and I was SO glad to be wrong. It shows a different, darker side of the Rebellion, making it clear - as the original trilogy did not and really COULD not - that the Rebels sometimes had to compromise their ideals and stoop to the Empire's level if they were to stand any real chance of winning....or, in the face of something like the Death Star, any chance of even surviving. This actually made for a much more mature film which could still appeal to the younger audience without whom the originals would never have been so successful and so popular to this day. The visuals were superb - the ringed planet Lah'mu (not named, for some reason), the final stage of the Death Star's construction, the terribly beautiful sight of the entire plateau of Jedha City erupting in a miles-high plume of destruction, Star Destroyers colliding (I doubt that could ever have been realised with practical modelwork, as much as I love the old-school techniques)...terrific stuff. Saw Gerrera was an absolutely realistic response to a totalitarian regime; in every revolution there are always extremists, but Saw was more honest than most - and still held to "the dream" even as Jedha's landscape exploded around him. Cassian, too: ruthless to a fault, but always with the core of his beliefs staying intact, not apologising to Jyn for his intent to assassinate her father, not excusing his actions either - but realising himself that it was not the way to go. Besides, what would be the point? The Empire had already built the Death Star and therefore no longer needed Galen anyway. As for Jyn - I can't help but see her as a sort of female, angry Han Solo, i.e. having lost faith in pretty much everyone and everything, expecting nothing from anyone...and very surprised to find she's nowhere near as cynical as she thinks. A very powerful character; one can only hope she found peace in the Force. Chirrut Îmwe was an absolutely brilliant creation. He could, if not written or played properly, have been a cliché if not a caricature - the blind pilgrim with mad combat skillz - but I can only wonder how deadly he could've been with a lightsabre and true Jedi training. He was most formidable with just a staff! (It would've been nice if his comment to Jyn, "The strongest stars have hearts of kyber", had been explained - as it was in the novelisation - as something Lyra once told her, i.e. 'how did he know that?!') The only minor point was that the rivalry between Krennic and Tarkin could and perhaps should have been expanded upon; left as it was Krennic seemed almost childish, which isn't really fair - again, the novelisation depicts this in more depth. Oh well. It might have been the greatest retcon in movie history, but at last the Death Star's fatal design flaw makes SENSE. (Again referring to the novelisation, there's a very clever chapter detailing communiqués between Galen and his superiors, which show how he in fact TRICKED them into APPROVING the thermal exhaust port!) Oops, I nearly forgot the brilliant K2-SO, brought to life so superbly by Alan Tudyk, beloved to Firefly fans the world over as Wash. A greater contrast to C-3PO they surely could not have come up with, even given that he was a reprogrammed Imperial droid ("and there's a fresh one if you mouth off again!" - priceless!). I am NOT getting into the whole issue of bringing deceased actors into play via CGI, beyond saying that I actually thought Tarkin was very well-executed indeed; I was taken completely by surprise, knowing as I did that Peter Cushing passed away in 1994. In fact I didn't even KNOW at first they'd used CGI; I assumed at the time they'd created a lifelike prosthesis and/or found a near-identical lookalike. But Peter had such a distinctive look that simply putting a new actor in his place wouldn't really have worked; what they did, DID work. But the final scenes with Darth Vader proving once and for all just how truly badass he was - just ELECTRIC! You can just imagine what those doomed Rebel soldiers thought when they saw his lightsabre ignite: "By the Force, what is THIS?!" followed quickly by "Oh, we are SO dead, we are utter bantha poodoo!" Yet they DID THEIR DUTY. They stood their ground and fought, even though they were so far out of their league it was like setting a kitten against a rabid tiger, and bought the time needed for the Death Star plans to be safely dispatched. Heroes of the Rebellion, every one. All in all, a wonderful film, told differently from the originals yet, in a way, even more effectively.

Good copy. Good movie to watch. Shame there is no extras other than the movie. Good value though

Instead of just making more money by producing new Star Wars, Disney intend to bring the cinema audience stand alone movies set in the fictional universe of Star Wars as well. This is the first of them. It takes place in between Star Wars episode three and episode four. Familiarity with those films will naturally help you get more from this one. Although chances are you will have seen them if you are reading this. At the start, we meet a young girl whose father fled the empire. But who finds he can't hide forever. She becomes a young girl forced to grow up fast. Fend for herself. And want to get revenge on the empire. Years pass, and said young girl is now Jyn Erso [Felicity Jones] who gets the chance she has been waiting a long time for, when given an offer by a group of rebels. To help them steal the plans of a new weapon of mass destruction the empire is building. A mission she has a bit of a personal connection to. The imperial forces will stop at nothing to ensure they prevail. This might just be a suicide mission... There's no opening title scroll to fill the viewer in on any exposition, and without that, and a lot to set up at the start, it does take about fifteen minutes to really get into this. Early on the interest is held by the pragmatic and forthright K-2SO, [voiced by Alan Tudyk] who has a delightfully entertaining way of speaking. But action and laser gunfights come along whenever the script needs. And Felicity Jones carries the lead role pretty well. Steadily, though, as it goes along, this does get pretty good and pretty involving. And it's all worth it for the final quarter. Which has some excellent non stop action. It doesn't pull it's punches. It consistenly grips. There are stunning visuals. And it's very much a war movie that tries to be as realistic in it's depiction of combat as it can. All of which results in a film that ultimately hooks and ends up being excellent entertainment. It also rather smartly tries to fill in a few of the blanks and join up a few dots, as it were. But it never compromises anything from earlier films when doing that. Which is as it should be. Thus fans get their fun and everyone else gets their entertainment. This does get past the problem of one cast member from the original no longer being with us by means of digital trickery. The technology is impressive to say the least, but how you feel about it being used this way is going to be a matter of opinion. There are no extra scenes in the end credits. If all of these stand alone movies are as good as this, then Disney are onto a winner. It's not a cash grab. It's good entertainment. And hopefully more will follow. The disc has the following language and subtitle options: Languages: English. Spanish. English audio described. Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Portugese, Spanish, Swedish. The dvd goes straight to the main menu when loaded, with no adverts or trailers. It has no extras whatsoever.

“Rebellions are built on hope.” The first of the (for now) short lived ‘Star Wars Story’ spin-off’s. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story follows Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) whose father (Mads Mikkelsen) is forcibly taken by the Empire to help the complete the construction of the Death Star. As an adult Jyn joins a group of resistance fighters and try to steal its blueprints. Rogue One feels truly different to the main saga of films old and new. Even with a troubled production (uncredited writer Tony Gilroy being brought in to reshoots instead of director Gareth Edwards) everything still works and the film feels extremely well put together. Visually I believe it’s the best looking Star Wars film. Whether it be the more ‘real-life-esque’ locations such as the opening scene on Lah’mu ,the desert landscape of Jedha and the tropical island flavour of Scarif or the volcanic dread of Fortress Vader and the truly epic shots set in deep space, everything looks phenomenal. Even just watching the film on an average sized screen seeing the star destroyers collide together and shatter to pieces, or the scale of the Death Star are still jaw-dropping. The film also has some of the best action-sequences within the franchise. The last 30 minute assault on Scarif is one of my favourite sci-fi movie battles of all time. There is so much going on but the whole sequence is put together so well that you will never lose focus on who is doing what and where. The inclusion of unique and varied characters bringing in their own fighting style also really makes for engaging set pieces, with another highlight being the battle on Jedha, where we see everything from force martial arts, LMG’s and more all brought to the table. Look everyone knows this film’s now iconic moment which occurs in the last 5 minutes, it is undeniably awesome seeing Darth Vader completely obliterate several terrified rebel fighters using the force and his lightsaber. The ultimate moment of well implemented fan service. It’s a shame in a way about the finale because I would wanted to have seen more adventures with this group of characters, which in a way also helped the film from a dramatic and emotional standpoint because their deaths were more impactful. Felicity Jones is commanding and courageous as Jyn and truly becomes an excellent action heroine. Diego Luna is great in the morally flexible but really a good guy role (what other Star Wars character does that remind you of?), Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe has some of the most memorable scenes and lines in the film and definitely one of the best fight scenes with him taking down a wave of storm troopers, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen & Wen Jiang also all are deliver memorable performances. However Alan Tudyk basically steals every scene he’s in as the sarcastic reprogrammed imperial droid K-2SO. Ben Mendelsohn is playing his typical role here and Krennic is a solid yet albeit uninteresting villain, however his scenery chewing does give him a good screen presence. The use of a lot of practical effects and costumes for the various creatures and different planet inhabitants is welcome as always. The score is as impressive as expected and the film is paced very well so that’s its runtime never drags. There are a few moments of dodgy CGI mainly on one particular character towards the finale of the film and Tarkin is very noticeably a complete CGI augmentation. Rogue One is an action packed blast which never lets up. It features a likeable group of well acted unique characters, some of the most visual stunning visual effects and cinematography seen in the franchise and some of the best sci-fi battle sequences put to screen. A major highlight of the series and well worth watching.

My six year old has just watched all the star wars films in story timeline order. I am a little jealous.....because, even though we had to start with Phantom Menace, it all stood up together rather well (Revenge of the Syth was the best of the frist three according to my daughter!).............but all that aside when it came to rogue one we were both hypnotized and amazed by this film (It was my third go at it and it looked even better the third time!!). I guess it is the heart and the texture of the film, settings, characters and use of effects which makes this prelude to episode 4 so outstanding. The thing that makes the best star wars films tick is the heart of the story, supported by the masterfully poignant use of effects, props, the force mythology and quality character building. For me this film has it all - and everyone involved should be so proud of this - You should have seen the look on my daughters face when episode 4 kicked in - the story and how it continued made sense to her and she really wanted to know more about everything.......but as far as the film being a stand alone goes it also is so memorable and rewarding a viewing experience - the ending leaves you pumping but also distraught, and excited - just like any decent mythical short story, you are itching for more. Mythical stories tend to contain the bare bones of what an audience truely craves - the heroes and villains yes, but also the fight, the heart and the adventure, the passion....you do not need to show everything about a character - leave the audience something to use their imaginations with.........I Anyway I am starting to twitter on, so just let me re-assure you if you have any doubts - this film rocks - the people who made this did so with great care and affection. Watch, enjoy, then watch again......... By the way - watching all 8 films so far in order is an awesome experience.......just have to wait 5 months and me and my little one will be in front of the big screen waiting for The Last Jedi........my daughter rated this film in first place, new hope in 2nd, Empire Strikes Back 3rd and believe it or not Force Awakens 4th............and yes I kind of agree with her! We both agreed that whatever the case this has to be one of the greatest stories told ever!

As described. Great item for the Star Wars fan.

PLOT... All looks lost for the Rebellion against the Empire as they learn of the existence of a new super weapon, the Death Star. Once a possible weakness in its construction is uncovered, the Rebel Alliance must set out on a desperate mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. The future of the entire galaxy now rests upon its success. This movie mixes everything we love about the classic original saga and mixes it with a modern day edge but still keeping that classic look and feel in every way, for me personally its the best star wars movie ever made, the story is brilliant and plays out really well, the movie sets a slightly darker more grim tone than previous movies as we all know the fate of what happens in the future stories, the cast is great, Felicity Jones is an amazing and beautifully talented actress (Doctor Who, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Inferno) she makes a perfect lead along with Diego Luna, Donnie Yen (Martial artist and Hong Kong action star) Mads Mikkelsen, Forest Whitaker and so many more, the special effects are absolutely top notch all the way and the music score is one of the best star wars soundtracks ever recorded! Overall its a solid movie with everything you love about star wars, the magic is back again in a new way for new and old fans! A must see! And as a special treat on top of that we get to see some major characters we love come back, the major one being Darth Vader of course and he certainly makes use of his screen time with one of the most EPIC jaw dropping scenes from a star wars movie you will ever see! The Blu-ray has a fantastic HD picture Features include lots of mini featurettes on the making with interviews and cool facts about the movie (total 1hr 12mins) Bonus features are exclusive to Blu-ray too, the DVD has none. Region FREE ABC, 134-mins, 2016. Languages English, French, English audio described. Subtitles English hearing impaired, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, French. First lot come with a nice slipcover.

Brilliant show 👏

great film

Love the steel book. Packaging is amazing and the transfer is top notch.

One of the best Star Wars stories ever. Really helps to sew things together!

Great 4K disc, happy with it! Amazing to see.

Compra internacional que chegou antes do previsto (2 dias antes) e a qualidade da embalagem é superior as que já estamos acostumados (embalagem azul) e o disco, em 4k, apresentou erros durante a reprodução (depois de uma hora de filme, ele trava. Apresenta pixelagem). O filme não apresenta dublagem e legendas em português do Brasil. Vem também a versão em blu-ray normal. Não tive problemas com esse! Vem com opções de dublagem e legendas em português do Brasil.