Theater seats rock back and forth. Popcorn buckets rustle as eager Star Wars fans await the most recent addition to the series, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” The lights dim until the room is dark and the score begins. The room suddenly seems to fill with excitement as a ship shoots by into the atmosphere of a sandy planet. Although the excitement seems to be shared throughout the theater, something is missing. The movie is, in fact, a part of the Star Wars franchise, but already lacks small details which have become a sort of tradition in the other movies, such as the opening crawl and the theme music.

“Rogue One,” the first stand-alone film out of all Star Wars movies, was created to fill in one major plot hole from events leading up to Episode IV: how the rebels stole the plans to the Death Star. The original movies never went into detail about how the plans were obtained, only many people lost their lives for the plans.

Until about halfway through the film, little is known about main character, Jyn Erso. Pieces of her past are shown through flashbacks, so the audience is not left entirely in the dark about how she came to be the Jyn seen on screen. Jyn has a fiery personality. She is defiant while still determined to accomplish her goals.

Viewers only know Jyn as a small child and as an adult when her adventure begins. Nothing is said of how she became the woman shown on screen. The journey which makes the character who she is and gives her motivation for her actions was not shown, and to know where a character has been connects her to the audience. For the filmmakers to leave Jyn’s potential as a complex character undeveloped seemed lazy.

Felicity Jones portrayed Jyn spectacularly, but the writing of the script let fans down. Compared to the original movies, it was the little sibling trying to copy everything the older sibling does.  The plot was a repeat of “A New Hope.” The hero’s home is destroyed, sparking a journey across the galaxy to defeat the Dark Side, and with the help of the rebel forces the hero is able to help save the galaxy.

“Rogue One” also had similar main characters compared to those in the original trilogy. From the original Star Wars movies to “Rogue One,” there was the main hero who felt alone and lost a father to the dark side; the young, cocky love interest who happens to be an amazing pilot; and a sassy, sarcastic robot.

The score built up to the intense scenes and fell with the hearts of fans during the final scenes. The only disappointing part of the score was the fact the original Star Wars theme song, which has repeatedly filled fans with the hope and knowledge the Dark Side can be defeated, was not played a single time.

“Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” had its fair share of plot holes, but it was a well-made movie and a fitting end to the original trilogy. “Rogue One” filled in the plot holes the fans had pondered for 40 years, but it did not satisfy viewers or entice audiences as the previous movies had done so well. “Rogue One” does a good job of explaining how the rebels found these plans which were instrumental in defeating the Dark Side, but the unoriginal plot and the fact that the movie has many plot holes of its own leaves me believing it was an unnecessary addition to the Star Wars franchise. Although it was a good movie, it did not live up to the exceedingly high expectations and spectacular legacy created from prior “Star Wars” films.