Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: December 16, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 51 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
13
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Total FilmMatt MaytumDec 13, 2016
Rogue One might trade heavily in nostalgia but it's bold enough to take risks, and will leave you stirred, fired up and raring for more. Now, if only there was a follow-up we could go away and watch immediately… Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsEthan SacksDec 13, 2016
It stands alone as the best "Star Wars" entry since 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back." Yes, it's that good. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonDec 13, 2016
Perhaps the darkest, most action-packed Star Wars instalment, director Gareth Edwards’ standalone adventure establishes its own rhythm, balancing fan demands with grand, poetic moments unlike anything this cinematic galaxy has previously achieved. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonDec 15, 2016
Rogue One spins “Star Wars” into a whole new orbit. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 13, 2016
Rogue One is a letdown in other areas, and there are creative decisions so ill-conceived they take you out of the story. But somehow these aren't enough to sink the movie, which manages to succeed as both super-nerdy fan service and the first entry since the 1977 original that will satisfy people who have never seen a "Star Wars" film. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 13, 2016
This is a very “Star Wars”-y “Star Wars” movie. It’s not quite on the level of the original or “The Empire Strikes Back” (the best of ’em all, of course), but it’s on a par with last year’s “The Force Awakens” and it’s light years above “Attack of the Clones” and “The Phantom Menace.” Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 13, 2016
With the smashing Jones giving us a female warrior to rank with the great ones and a cast that knows how to keep it real even in a sci-fi fantasy, Rogue One proves itself a Star Wars story worth telling. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyDec 13, 2016
Rogue One would have been a very good stand-alone sci-fi movie if it came out under a different name. But what makes it especially exciting is how it perfectly snaps right into the Star Wars timeline and connects events we already know by heart with ones that we never even considered. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 13, 2016
Rogue One is a very good “Star Wars” film, frustratingly though, it falls short of being a truly great one. Read full review
80
The VergeBryan BishopDec 13, 2016
The film soars when it abandons all pretense of being a space opera, and fully embraces the bombastic modern action movie that’s at its core, giving it a unique identity that does indeed stand apart from other entries in the series. Read full review
80
CineVueDaniel GreenDec 13, 2016
A minor miracle in and of itself, Edwards' Rogue One somehow delivers on almost all of its weighty pre-release promises whilst at the same time besting The Force Awakens for sheer spectacle and world-building. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonDave CalhounDec 13, 2016
This is an imperfect film, bold but occasionally baffling, and one that in its final act grows into something much more exciting than you might initially expect. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 13, 2016
Rogue One stands on its own, an entry that is at once part of the “Star Wars” franchise (obviously) but also separate – a tougher, grittier film. Read full review
80
EmpireJames DyerDec 13, 2016
The ultimate Star Wars fan film, it’s short on whimsy but when it gets going there’s enough risk-taking and spectacle to bode well for future standalones. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyDec 13, 2016
What fans will get here is loads of action, great effects, good comic relief, stunning locations (Iceland, Jordan and the Maldives) and some intriguing early glimpses of the Galactic Empire as it begins to flex its inter-galactic power. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 13, 2016
But in its best moments, there’s a yarn-spinning intimacy to it too – an old war story told around a spectacular campfire. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 13, 2016
This is another really entertaining fantasy with fan-fiction energy and attack. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovDec 14, 2016
It starts off slow and somewhat clunky, but by the time the mind-blowing third act arrives, it’s all a fan can do not to stand up and cheer. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 13, 2016
Rogue One is a better movie than The Force Awakens - something that elevates it considerably over its “secondary” designation. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartDec 13, 2016
By the time its credits rolled, I was ready to forgive Rogue One any imperfections. Its last 10 minutes are spectacular and dark, with a final flourish that should give any “Star Wars” fan goose bumps — and a new hope that the next main installment will be this good. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyDec 13, 2016
It has undeniable weaknesses: an underwritten protagonist, a generic villain, a shortage of interesting personalities. (No knock against the large cast, which is mostly very good, but underused.) But in many other respects, it is a better film than last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens: leaner, darker, with a distinct visual style and an actual ending that feels like a denial of blockbuster expectations simply because it shows basic narrative integrity. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenDec 13, 2016
The action sequences, both on the ground and in space, are rousingly staged. But the losses incurred in those sequences are sobering. The stakes in the “Star Wars” rebellion are high indeed. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 13, 2016
Rogue One will engage such diehards but making new friends for the brand is unlikely. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 13, 2016
I do wish Felicity Jones’ character popped the way Daisy Ridley’s did in last year’s franchise offering. “The Force Awakens,” directed by J.J. Abrams, was smooth, consistent, even-toned, nostalgic. Rogue One zigzags, and it’s more willfully jarring. Yet it takes time for callbacks and shout-outs to characters we’ve seen before, and we’ll see again. And again. And again. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 13, 2016
It’s almost wholly satisfying — witty, warm and entertaining — a film in which fatalism isn’t a joke, where pitiless death is doled out by Empire and Rebellion, where those deaths have weight and meaning, where suspense is genuine. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 14, 2016
The movie didn’t rekindle the thrill of seeing, say, The Empire Strikes Back, but Rogue One will loom pretty large in the Star Wars galaxy — if only because there’s so little competition. Read full review
70
SlateForrest WickmanDec 13, 2016
By breaking some of the rules, Rogue One has made itself the first movie since The Empire Strikes Back to redefine the boundaries of what a Star Wars movie can be. The Force Awakens may have reanimated the once-dormant franchise, but it’s Rogue One that will give Star Wars fans a new hope. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangDec 13, 2016
A swiftly paced, rough-and-ready entertainment that, in anticipating the canonical events of “A New Hope,” manages the tricky feat of seeming at once casually diverting and hugely consequential. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 13, 2016
Director Gareth Edwards has finally made the first “Star Wars” movie for grown-ups. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoDec 13, 2016
Rogue One makes up for a shaky first act by punching into overdrive for an outstanding third act battle sequence that overwhelms in scale and intensity. Read full review
65
NPRBob MondelloDec 16, 2016
With all the aerial dogfights, armored combat vehicles, grenades, flame-throwers and snipers, Rogue One feels like a film for those who think that most Star Wars movies are insufficiently like World War II flicks. Or maybe that they should more closely resemble computer games. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 13, 2016
The cast does good work, despite a less-than-great screenplay. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 13, 2016
By no stretch is this a disaster on a par with Lucas’s misbegotten prequel trilogy. Still, at least until its final section, Rogue One lacks the zip, zing and exhilarating sense of return to form that “The Force Awakens” conveyed so lightly. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittDec 13, 2016
Rogue One is often undermined by its close ties to George Lucas’ original trilogy, and more emphasis is put on its central mission than its fresh-faced characters. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineSam C. MacDec 13, 2016
Rogue One is less the fetish object that The Force Awakens is because it at least has the ambitions to create its own character dynamics and plot routes rather than coast on existing ones. Read full review
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