So let me start by saying I have been pretty damn pumped for Rogue One for quite some time. When I went to see the premiere in 3-D in beautiful State College, PA, I was expecting a pretty cool movie. What I got was one of the best damn Star Wars movies yet produced.

I knew for a while that Rogue One was going to be unique. For those unfamiliar, Rogue One isn't a "Star Wars Episode *insert Roman numeral*" - it's a spin-off film. Kind of imagine it like a fan-fiction that got the go-ahead to be the real deal. What's really intriguing about that is that this film was not going to follow the standard form of the Star Wars saga. Most of the Star Wars films, from Phantom Menace (*gag*) to Force Awakens, have a similar tone. There's some comic relief here and there, but much of the film is about the struggle between good and evil, the Jedi and the Sith, the Light Side and the Dark Side. Really, it's about morality and the battle of light and darkness within all of us. It can be a little lofty sometimes, but it's a beautiful story of the capacity for good even in the darkest of times.

Rogue One, however, is a different kind of story. While the Skywalkers - oh ho, the Chosen One, huh? Aren't you special?! - have the time to wrestle with their moral conundrums of whether or not to betray their friends, kill a bunch of kids, or give in to anger and all that, there are average folks out their who are laying down their lives to save the galaxy from tyranny. That, my friends, is the story of Rogue One. As director Gareth Edwards describes it, "it comes down to a group of individuals who don't have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy." That's something I've always thought about, even when I was a kid. Yeah, Luke's out there being a hero with a lightsaber and all these awesome powers, but what about the rest of the Rebel Alliance? They've been fighting their asses off against incredible odds for years, and then this punk-ass moisture farmer kid from Tatooine comes in out of nowhere and steals the show?

Rogue One is set just before Episode IV: A New Hope, back when Luke was just a nobody whining about going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), the daughter of a long-last Imperial scientist, is recruited by the Rebel Alliance to track down the plans to a hidden super-weapon her father helped construct. Let's get one thing straight right now - Jyn is a bad-ass woman who gives no shits about what you think or what you want. She is her own person. Early in the film, she is broken out of an Imperial labor camp where she is imprisoned. As a rebel operative offers her a hand to rescue her from her captors, she makes it pretty damn clear she doesn't need "rescued." She wails the guy in the face and makes for the open door and freedom, and the only way the rebels got her to headquarters was in handcuffs.

The movie's cast of characters are no saints, nor do they pretend to be. They're criminals, assassins, traitors to the Empire, and even bums off the street. This is what the Rebellion really looks like. These are the low-down scum of the galaxy who work in the shadows - but they're also the ones saving the galaxy.

Rogue One, with characters like this, doesn't portray an epic struggle between heroes and villains - it's much more realistic. The truth is, this is a war movie, and war isn't pretty. War is filled with pain, suffering, injustice, cruelty, and death. War doesn't let the "good guys" live just because they're "good guys." Plus, it's not always clear who those good guys are; there is no absolute good and bad, but a mixture of both on each side. That's the nature of war in our galaxy, and that's how it's portrayed in a galaxy far, far away. When we see Saw Gerrera (Forest Whittaker) and his band of rebel insurgents attack patrolling Stormtroopers on the planet of Jedha, we notice that these guys look an awful lot like terrorists. Think about it - they basically are. In fact, these guys are so radical and extreme that the leadership of the Alliance has cut ties with them. They fight dirty, they torture, and they don't care about collateral damage.

The battles within Rogue One show that even the most righteous and glorious causes aren't pretty to fight for. War is hell. When you're outnumbered by thousands and there's no way out, there will be no miracle. You're fighting a suicide mission, and the only thing left for you to do is think how best your death could benefit the cause.

If you want to avoid big spoilers *STOP HERE.*

I'll lay it out bluntly.

Everyone dies in the end. It was awful because I really came to love the characters. Each and every member of Jyn's band of rebels was a unique and amazing element that added to the story line. But even so, it's best that they all met their end. Sure, there's the sake of continuity - none of these guys of course appear in the later films, so what else could have happened to them? No, the big point is what I mentioned before, about how cruel war is. Heroes don't survive just because they're heroes. Death comes for us all, no matter how brave we are. But there's a silver lining to that. As the final battle on the planet of Scarif comes to an end, most of the heroes have met their doom, shot down on the beaches while fighting for their life and those of their friends. Jyn and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) have transmitted plans of the Death Star's fatal flaw to the Rebel fleet just in time - but there's no way out. In their final moments, they kneel in the sand of the beach and look out to the horizon as the Death Star's rays reduce all to oblivion. It's bittersweet and in a way beautiful. Jyn and Cassian have no hope for themselves, but they tranquilly accept their destruction. Why? Because they have provided hope to the galaxy. They have done their duty, and now it will be up to others to bear the burden of overthrowing the Empire's reign of terror. I honestly shed a single tear at that scene. That's the reality of every great effort, you know? Even in real life, thousands of people whose names you may never know laid down all that they had in the world to advance us one step closer to freedom, to peace. That's a really beautiful thing if you think of it that way.

Rogue One hit me like an eighteen-wheeler. As a person who's loved Star Wars since he was a little boy, this rekindled a fire in me. It reminded me of how I wanted to be like Wedge Antilles or Han Solo. It reminded me of that amazing hope that even as just a normal person with no powers or anything like that, we can do great things. Even beyond that, there's just something magical about that galaxy far, far away that makes me feel we can apply it to our own existence. Even against immeasurable odds and a tyranny that seems unstoppable... we rebel. We fight. We go rogue. And one day we will win. That's what this movie means to me. But it can mean more to many others. It makes me truly happy to think how many little girls will watch this or Force Awakens and be inspired by strong, heroic characters like Jyn or Rey. I think of all the people like my dad, who has seen every Star Wars movie in the theaters since Empire Strikes Back, who had that magic reignited in them when they saw the cameo appearances of Red Leader and Yellow Leader and the amazing CGI recreations of Governor Tarkin and Princess Leia (circa 1977, of course). Rogue One was a very different take on Star Wars, but in the best way, and I can't praise it enough. If you haven't seen it yet, DO IT. It's an adventure you won't regret taking part in.