Hits the spot which The Force Awakens missed

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2019)

Not only is this film good in itself and fully respecting the the lore of everything before it, it ties into Episode 4 literally seamlessly and actually fixes plot holes (or at least open questions) from Episode 4 - i.e. Why the Death Star had a design flaw and why there was only one copy of the Death Star plans. This is really where TFA misses the mark...and where TLJ turned up to the wrong archery tournament two weeks late with a set of golf clubs.
The characters and acting are great, the story line makes sense and the tension is held at the right level all the way through the film.
The fact that it ends up being a suicide mission, has drier sense of humour than we're used to and the rebellion is portrayed as being ruthless when necessary means that it's not so suitable for younger viewers, but that's no complaint.
I would say an 8 is a bit high for this as a stand-alone film, but fitting any new film into the existing Star Wars universe introduces constraints, and when those constraints are handled this well, it deserves some credit.
All in all, if Disney could churn one of these out each year or two, the fans would keep coming, and I would die a happy man.