Reactions to Rogue One, the newest entry in the Star Wars series, have started to emerge online after the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles on 10 December. Although media reviews are embargoed until 13 December, fans and celebrities who attended the screening have been airing their thoughts on social media.
1sr Rogue One review. It was actually AMAZING!!! Super fun & exciting. Ties in w/episode 4 perfectly. #StarWars
— RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) December 11, 2016
Actor Rainn Wilson described it as “AMAZING!!! Super fun & exciting”, while fellow actor Wil Wheaton wrote: “The last time I loved a Star Wars movie as much as I loved #RogueOne, it was 1977.” Film-maker Kevin Smith, a long-time Star Wars obsessive, was equally positive, tweeting that Rogue One “is unbelievably wonderful! ... An excellent chapter in the @starwars Universe!”
Holy Sith! @RogueOneMovie is unbelievably wonderful! No lie: it is #EmpireStrikesBack great! An excellent chapter in the @starwars Universe! pic.twitter.com/Lb0vQ06ifh
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) December 11, 2016
Rogue One, directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones and Mads Mikkelsen, was conceived as the first in a string of “standalone” films, connected to but outside the main narrative of “Episode” films. (Star Wars Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson, is due for release in December 2017.) The next standalone, or “anthology” film is an as-yet untitled story about a young Han Solo, pencilled in for 2018.
Rogue One has had a difficult run-up to release, with rumours of extensive reshoots and neo-Nazis calling for a boycott of the film.
Media insiders have also weighed in with their opinions, with the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg writing, “ROGUE ONE=@RealDonaldTrump’s worst nightmare”; and IGN’s Terri Schwartz tweeting, “#RogueOne is FANTASTIC. Incredible action, both planetary and interstellar, and looks GORGEOUS.”
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is released on 15 December in Australia and the UK, and on 16 December in the US.
•This article was amended on 12 December to correct the surname of Rogue One’s director.
