First reactions to Rogue One: 'It's better than The Force Awakens'

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is just a few days away now an the first reactions have emerged after advanced screenings.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story..Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) in foreground, Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) in background..Ph: Film Frame..Copyright 2016 Industrial Light & Magic, a division of Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd., All Rights Reserved
Felicity Jones stars as Jyn Erso. (Photo: Industrial Light & Magic). Credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

Gareth Edwards’ movie marks the first ‘Star Wars’ spin-off to play in cinemas, as well become the first if the existing seven released films not to have the famous opening crawl.

With the buzz around Disney latest sci-fi epic at an all time high, it appears the hype was indeed justified as fans who’d been lucky enough to see it shared their thoughts on it.

Celebs who’d seen it were in love with it, as they offered their thoughts to their Twitter follower.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story..Chirrut (Donnie Yen)..Photo credit: Lucasfilm/ILM..©2016 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Chirrut (Donnie Yen) kicking stormtrooper butt in ‘Rogue One’. Photo credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

And some critics who’d been fortunate enough to attend also appeared to be in agreement over how great it is.

And yes, you read right: The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg reckons it’s even better than ‘The Force Awakens’, which is quite the claim.

The film was inspired by the opening crawl in ‘A New Hope’ – the first ‘Star Wars’ that came out in 1977. The story here focuses on a group of rebels (led by Felicity Jones’s Jyn Erso) whose goal is to infiltrate enemy territory to steal the Death Star plans.

‘Rogue One’ stars a plethora of acting talent, including Riz Ahmed, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Alan Tudyk, and Mads Mikkelsen.

With last year’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, directed by JJ Abrams, making record money in record time, many are predicting ‘Rogue One’ will also have a very strong box office run. That said, with ‘The Force Awakens’ scooping a huge $2 billion+, the new instalment certainly has a lot to live up to if it wants to match it.

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ is in UK cinemas on 15 December.

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