By Susan JAMES

While the male superhero world of Marvel debates the pros and cons of a solo Natasha Romanoff (aka the Black Widow) film and the universe of Harry Potter replaces the brilliant and irritating Hermione with the passive and colorless Porpentina, the “Star Wars” franchise, home to Princess Leia, Queen Amidala and the always Forceful Rey, doubles down on girl power in its new episode of the “Star Wars” saga, “Rogue One.” It’s a shrewd move.

Working from a screenplay by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy, British director Gareth Edwards, a life-long fan of the “Star Wars” universe, has done something that the 2015 “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” failed to do. He’s given audiences an homage to the 1977 original without attempting a slavish reiteration of characters or a tired re-tread of the same old plot. Yes, main character Jyn Erso is yet another avatar of Luke Skywalker but Jyn also manages to reveal a layered personality all her own. “Rogue One” ties into the themes and characters of the first three films but in subtle and thankfully surprising ways. We don’t always know exactly where the story is taking us and that in itself is refreshing.

Rather than a prequel or a sequel or any kind of ‘quel,’ “Rogue One” drops us into the middle of the 1977 action as it is occurring, just beyond the perimeters of the story of Leia, Luke and Han. This is a parallel tale that touches theirs but is able to stand on its own. At first glance Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso, with the face of a child and the huge depthless eyes of a droid, is a clone of Daisy Ridley’s Rey, orphaned as a child, unsure of her own destiny, a Dickensian street rat who has learned hard lessons in the art of survival.  Recruited by the Council of the Rebellion for a mission against the Empire critical to their survival, she is partnered with rebel warrior Cassian Andor, played with authority by Mexican actor Diego Luna.

To tell much more of the plot would be to spoil the surprise Easter eggs hidden throughout the film. Suffice it to say that Mads Mikkelsen, the snarling Kaecilius of “Dr. Strange,” has a more muted but no less important role here.  All of the key ingredients that make a good “Star Wars” movie are present and accounted for. There are fascinatingly imagined alien worlds with spectacular CGI’d landscapes. There is an ironic, mouthy robot voiced by Alan Tudyk, an evil but fallible lieutenant of the Dark Lord, Orson Krennic, played with suitable hauteur by Ben Mendelsohn, and a blind Asian mystic, Chirrut Imwe (played by Hong Kong martial arts star Donnie Yen). Imwe may not be Obi Wan-Kenobi (and oh, how we miss him!) but he reads the Force as easily as if it were a book in Braille.

There are also battles – lots and lots of battles – while armies of faceless men in white plastic suits are sent in messy batches to that great recycling plant in the sky. It’s not giving anything away, given what’s going on at the same time in the rest of the galaxy (Luke! Leia! Han! Obi-Wan!) that the Rebellion lives to fight another day. And with “Rogue One,” so does Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise.

See you at the movies!

  susan james