The force is definitely with Donnie Yen

This is gonna be a short post with a very simple message: Donnie Yen KILLED it in Rogue One. Even if you weren't a Donnie Yen fan before or had no idea who this guy was, if you got to see the movie this weekend, I'm sure he won you over. True, he was given a pretty decent role with plenty of applause-worthy one liners, but his performance was what made the character so memorable. The free spirited personality of Chirrut Imwe's character was lamented with a sense of seriousness that made you believe that this was a guy worth respecting. It's actually one of Donnie Yen's best performances ever, in my opinion, maybe only second to Ip Man (the first one). The fact that he delivered such a great performance in English is even more impressive. The force of others was definitely with him. Pretty lame I know, but if there ever was a good time for a pun, that would've been it.

The fight scene on Jedha also felt like a typical Yen-choreographed set piece, and given that he has an 'uncredited' fight choreographer title on IMDB, those feelings are probably accurate. The Empire got a taste of Donnie Yen's ass-kicking abilities in Rogue One, and in an alternate universe, I could only imagine how cool it would have been if he was cast as a full-on Jedi instead. Donnie Yen with a lightsaber? I'll let you sit on that one for a second.

To be honest, it's just nice seeing an Asian actor (especially one from Hong Kong) given a prominent role in a Star Wars movie. That's a HUGE deal. Although the posters were already suggesting otherwise, I was pretty scared that Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen would get the Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian treatment circa The Force Awakens. But as it were, such fears were completely unfounded. If you're a fan of Donnie Yen or Hong Kong cinema in general, you should make your way to the theatres and watch Rogue One ASAP. And if you're not, you should still watch it because it's a solid movie, and more importantly, it's Star Wars!