I saw Star Wars: Rogue One. It wasn’t bad.

Say what you will about George Lucas’ prequel Star Wars movies, but they are distinctly Star Wars. And not just because he’s the creator. His Star Wars movies have a sense of wonder, magic, and mythology, amongst the drama, humor, and cheese. They were operatic. They were epic. You don’t have to like them, but they are distinctly Star Wars, just as the original trilogy is (despite the differences in acting and scripting quality).

Star Wars stories outside of the movies, such as the Clone Wars shows and all the books and comics, have a noticeably different flavor than the films. They’re smaller in scope. They can take their time. They are smaller parts of a much, much larger whole, and their storytelling reflects that in a good way.

Rogue One is a good Star Wars story. As a film, it’s a little flat, and there isn’t a lot of character development, which is kind of a first for Star Wars because the series has always focused on the characters while the universe provides context. The dialogue is good. It’s witty. At times, it’s inspiring. The presentation of Rogue One makes it seem like a large movie, but its focus is small. There is no sense of wonder. It’s simply a story set in the Star Wars universe. It’s a small tidbit that comes before A New Hope.

Technically, we knew what was going to happen in the prequels. We didn’t know exactly how things would unfold, but we knew ending: Darth Vader’s origins. Still, despite our over-generalized knowledge of the basic story, I submit that the films attempt to convey an other-worldliness. There is a sense that, despite knowing how the trilogy would end and, especially, despite the controversial cheese factor, we are watching something mythological take place. Lucas’ Star Wars films are romanticized versions his tale. His dialogue is not how people would actually talk; it’s arguably romanticized dialogue befitting the operatic nature of the films. In The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, films he produced but did not direct or write, still work as magical epics – and the scripting in these films is less romanticized than in A New Hope.

Even The Force Awakens – which is more of an homage than a new Star Wars movie – seemed grand. Through that entire film I was excited to see what happened next, even though, unlike the other, Lucas Star Wars films, it doesn’t attempt to present anything new. It is a lot of A New Hope and bits of Empire, but I was still transported to a larger world. The story is not small in any way. Regardless of whether one thinks The Force Awakens was original or not, there is a sense of wonder and grandeur about the film.

It is that mythological sensibility that makes me giddy when I watch one of the main Star Wars titles.

And that makes Rogue One a unique Star Wars movie. It’s the first Star Wars movie to lack a sense of wonder. There is no mythology, even though it is the tale of a key event in the Star Wars mythology. Rogue One is simply a good, fun, sci-fi action film set in the Star Wars universe. That, to me, would have made it a good offering for TV. But, instead, we get a whole movie. Think Marvel’s The Avengers movies versus the Agents Of Shield TV show. If it weren’t for the fact Rogue One bears the Star Wars name, I think most audiences would see it as just another science fiction space adventure. The Star Wars brand, and the film’s place in the cinematic timeline, is what gives this movie its grandeur, even though the movie itself is not grand.

I enjoyed Rogue One, but I miss the very thing George Lucas brought to the table: a sense of wonder in the films.