5 Darth Vaders out of 10 and Vader has no real function for the plot!

Rating: 5/10 (14 December 2016)

I just saw the midnight premiere in Germany and I just wish to share my thoughts in this movie. I should mention I watched ANH right before this one, so I got a good comparison.
First, I would like to congratulate Disney for really trying to make a different movie, it has some good looking effects, the Star Destroyers looked like they were models, at least in some shots, which I appreciate. K-2SO has some funny one liners, Darth Vader is in it and the references are very neat.
**SPOILER** Although I ask myself how the two "death sentences on 12 systems"-guys (dunno their names) escaped the destruction of the city?
All in all it felt nice to watch, yet there are numerous things, aesthetically, about the staging and the characters, that to me do not fit. If you want to know why Vader has no real function in the story, skip to the end.
There is Darth Vader's costume and statue. The whole thing seems somehow wrong. I thought to myself the helmet and his statue are looking too stocky and that rubber part under his helmet? It may be the same thing used in ANH, but it just does not look like it.
Although I was surprised about the quality of Grand Moff Tarkin's face, I could easily tell when it was CG and when it was stock footage. Nice try though.
Some shots on Yavon 4 are the same as in ANH, but still they were not able to recreate the atmosphere. But they gave it a good try.
By trying to close a plot hole, that is the existence of the exhaust port, another was created: why on earth didn't the death star attack the rebel fleet? Really? To give Vader his moment? There are some other things in the final battle that made no sense, but that's o.k
That virtually none of the main characters of the movie survives is the classic recipe for a so called war movie, but I found the deaths of most of the characters quite boring. It would have given the movie a much better dramaturgy if Vader killed most of them, but no, he just has to kill some poor rebel crew members.
Now for Vader. The bacta tank scene has no real function. Why is it there? We all know what is wrong with Vader.
His conversation with Krenic does what exactly? Remind him of all his mishaps and give him a warning? Krenic already knew this from Tarkin.
The boarding of the rebel ship? Haha. Vader accomplished nothing! The rebels escaped with the plans. (By the way the corvette in which the rebels escape looks wrong too!) So the story could have lived well without Vader or it makes Vader look really bad because he wasn't able with all his force powers to pull the disc with the plans out of the hand of that one rebel? Sorry that is lame. Vader is just there to please the fans.
I think the movie would have worked much much better if the Krenic character would have been replaced by Vader and make him the main villain of the movie and Tarkin responsible for the construction of the Death Star as it was indicated at the end of RotS! It also would have served the ongoing tension between Vader and Takin in ANH if they would have had tensions in this movie as well.