A SUPERB "Deja-Vu"! As best as the "origina" trilogy was/is!

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2016)

Nostalgia... "How great the old Lucas StarWars films they were" (Episodes 4/5/6)
...We have the "new" trilogy (Episodes 1/2/3), filling the story, but not as good as the old trilogy was. They didn't have that "smell" of the old one - even if the birth of Darth Vader from Anakin (in 3rd Episode) was marvelous.
Episode 7th was a good effort... but that's all about, a good effort, not a good StarWars film.
...And what about this one, here, now?
REMARKABLE! A "GEM", no question about it!
Well, the producers & directors had less difficult job to do, as Episode 7 had to do. In Episode 7, they FIGURED the story how maybe will be. In this one, an episode BETWEEN Episode 3 & Episode 4, it fills perfectly the gap! In Episode 4, we're reading in the beginning's yellow text (that disappears in deep space) the story of "Rogue-One". Just few lines... And then, in the end of Episode 4, just before the final assault on "Death Star", Mon Mothma (the Rebels leader) is telling to the pilots that "many Rebels died due the process, to get this plans into our hands".
And that's it, WE HAVE A STORY to tell!
"Rogue-One" is set FEW DAYS BEFORE the opening scene of Episode 4 began. In "Rogue-One", the Rebellion exists, the Empire exists, ALL THE MAIN characters of Episode 4 exists (!), DARTH VADER exists (and... he's amazing, for these few 15 or so minutes he appears!), the original StarWars feeling exists... ...it's an authentic StarWars film, period!!!
In the beginning of the film... you'll may surprised (no spoiling, just saying). And you'll turn to your mates right and left of you in the cinema and ask "hey, what's going on? What's this?"... And you'll FIND OUT WHY the beginning was like this, at the end of the film.
The story is a bit slow for the first 40 minutes, because the director wanted (I suppose) to fill all the "puzzle" of young Erso's (main female character) background/story. WHEN "AN INCIDENT" happens (no spoils, just saying),... well... you feel like you stepped into a... Ferrari cockpit and you pressed the gas all the way down and you didn't let it go!!! The action starts like a F-14's afterburner... and keeps burns to the end, more and more!
If you know (or remember) the story (from the other films), you may not expect Jedi knights to see - it's not a spoil, just remember. In the end of Episode 3, the last Jedi knights flee and gets cover in the four corners of the galaxy, while in Episode 4 ONE Jedi appears to Luke (the old Kenobi)... So, don't expect light-saber duels. But EXPECT light-saber action! (There is STILL ONE "Jedi"... well... Sith Lord!)
The film is dramatic, thnk God for that! No, you won't see like in Episode 7 ...an old grand-pa Han Solo and an elder Chewbacca along with a young inexperienced girl and a coward ex-stormtrooper to... set a whole Imperial base to hell! Here... is TRUE war! Here, they do BLEED,... a lot! And they suffering... a lot! And there is also dramatic ending, as there is "A New Hope"...
(These are not spoils, you know from Episode 4 that it was VERY DRAMATIC mission, to steal the plans of "Death Star").
And... yes... for the love of God... and for the flavor of MILLIONS of StarWars fans, we DO HAVE (AGAIN) our ultimate character of ALL films, of ALL times:
VADER... IS BACK!
Truly... mark my words... just don't see the film, go sleep into the cinema and tell your guy next to you... to wake you up ONLY when DARTH VADER appears (about 7 minutes in the middle of the film, and about so - 7 minutes - and the end of the film). EVEN IF YOU WATCH ONLY THESE 14-15 minutes... you won't regret it, ever, in your life! Especially the last 7 minutes... well, is the BEST DARTH VADER APPEARANCE in every StarWar films, ever made!
(I probably had... orgasm, during that last 7 minutes of the film!)
I'm a huge StarWars fan; I'm 47 years old, and I was fortune to see (in cinema) the first film (Episode 4) in the single Greek/Athenian cinema, back then... After the movie, I remember (I was 7 years old) that EVERYBODY was talking about that remarkable "Dark Evil Lord"... The film was about the good lads (heroes), the good lads won... but all of the people were talking about that dark-clothing tall, "cold-blood", extreme evil character... ...And yes, after all these decades, DARTH VADER is by far the GREATEST character of StarWars... and perhaps the greatest "bad-guy" ever created in the History of Cinema.
...And, HE'S BACK! He's alive! He's amazing!!! Mark my words... this Darth Vader's appearance, will write a new history in the legacy of StarWars.
(Jesus... why you made SOOOOO FEW scenes of him?! He was amazing! We could "enjoy" a quarter minutes more, for sure!)
...
Music was amazing,... cut-scenes were amazing,... battles EVERYWHERE (urban, terra, close-contact, you name it) were amazing,... the OLD CHARACTERS were amazing (thnk God for the CGI in modern cinema!), everything was fantastic.
The only thing it wasn't so good, was the screenplay of the actress with the main female character. She was good, but she may could act better - or the casting could find a better one. She was good, but not as the rest great parts of the film. That's why I gave 9, instead of 10 stars.
...
Epilogue... this is a remarkable film! You need to go NOW, I mean... stop reading, book a ticket, FLY NOW to this "galaxy, far far away"!