Rogue One: Death Stars, plot holes and a darker side of Star Wars discuss with spoilers

This was a far greater feat of digital wizardry than Captain America: Civil Wars depiction of a teenage Robert Downey Jr, or those scenes in Westworld featuring a young Anthony Hopkins. Cushing seems to have at least as much screen time in Rogue One as he did in the original Star Wars. The scenes were apparently shot with Holby City actor Guy Henry stepping in for the Hammer horror icon, with the images altered in post-production. On the giant Imax screen at the Empire in Leicester Square, London, there were moments when you could just about see the strings holding up this digital puppet, but the differences between fake Cushing and the real thing were so microscopic as to be virtually negligible.

Did you also enjoy the brief glimpse of Mos Eisley gangster Cornelius Evazan? How about Luke Skywalkers future X-wing pilot comrades, or the superbly rendered Mon Calamari commander Admiral Raddus, who appears to be a distant relative of Admiral Ackbar? Perhaps the piece de resistance here was the miraculous final shot featuring a young Carrie Fisher, even if it must have made a seriously incomprehensible ending for anyone who has not seen Star Wars.

Then there was Darth Vaders swashbuckling revival. The scene in which the charred remains of Anakin Skywalker are seen in an Imperial take on Luke Skywalkers bacta tank from Empire Strikes Back was an unexpected sideswipe into body horror territory that summed up Rogue Ones obsession with the grimmer corners of the Star Wars galaxy. And the Sith Lords arrival on Leias ship gave us the lightsaber battle that no Star Wars movie should be without, even if it was pretty one-sided.

The future of Star Wars

Where does Rogue One leave Disneys mooted cinematic universe? If Edwards movie hits the magic $1bn mark signs look positive it will have proved that Star Wars can flourish without Skywalkers, Jedi Knights and miraculous feats of telekinesis, as well as putting the lie to the suggestion that the long-running space opera is just for kids. Rogue Ones thrillingly raw and downbeat veneer might even allow room for the upcoming young Han Solo movie, not to mention Episode VIII, to dip into duskier territory than we might have imagined. More than anything, the films success will have proved that passion for further Star Wars adventures has remains undimmed, almost four decades after the original episode ushered in the blockbuster era, and that the Mouse House was right to suggest that the sagas potential for future spin-offs is almost infinite. A new Star Wars film every year? At this rate, Rogue One makes that task look easier than bullseyeing a womp rat.