<P> IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave the film a C+ rating, calling it "a spirited but agonizingly safe attempt to expand cinema's most holy blockbuster franchise and keep the wheels greased between proper installments (...) just a glorified excuse to retcon some sense into one of the silliest things about the original ." While he praised the set design and visuals, calling them "gorgeous", he criticized a lack of interesting character development and a script that felt "completely constricted by its purpose ." </P> <P> Peter Bradshaw, film critic of The Guardian says "Rogue One doesn't really go rogue at any stage, and it isn't a pop culture event like The Force Awakens, in whose slipstream this appears; part of its charm resides in the eerie, almost dreamlike effect of continually producing familiar elements, reshuffled and reconfigured, a reaching back to the past and hinting at a preordained future . There are some truly spectacular cameos from much - loved personae, involving next - level digital effects--almost creepily exact, so that watching feels at various stages like going into a time machine, back to the 80s and 70s". </P> <P> Rogue One introduced many new characters into the Star Wars mythology, but most critics and general audiences have pointed out that Chirrut Îmwe, played by actor Donnie Yen, and K2SO, played by Alan Tudyk, were the highlights and stole the movie . Donnie Yen's performance, in particular, was also applauded by audiences worldwide . In an official poll on the Star Wars webpage opened in May 2017, which more 30,000 people voted, Chirrut Îmwe was voted as audiences' favorite Rogue One character . </P> <P> While much of the computer - generated imagery (CGI) received plaudits, some news organizations published criticism about certain aspects, including the visual effects (VFX) that were used to revive Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, as Grand Moff Tarkin . The Guardian's Catherine Shoard, described the "resurrection" as a "digital indignity". Joseph Walsh of The Guardian raised legal and ethical issues about bringing a long - dead actor to life . However, Lucasfilm had obtained permission from Peter Cushing's estate before deciding to use his likeness . The Washington Times's Eric Althoff rejected the entire concept of using CGI to recreate a deceased actor: "Alas, what we get is, basically, not a simulation, but an approximation of a simulation--a dead character portrayed by a living actor inhabiting not the character, but imitating the dead actor ." </P>

Where were opening scenes of rogue one filmed