Was okay for me.

Rating: 7/10 (20 December 2016)

I didn't go in with huge expectations. I'm a Star Wars fan, but thanks to episode one, two and three i've cooled down to the franchise. Also the geek culture around it got a little too over the top for me.
As a movie it's a fun action spectacle. Maybe "fun" is a little too lighthearted, as the movie has a distinctively dark tone to it. This is the Dark Knight version of Star Wars, one scene literally taking place on black rocks, which makes clear how much the director tried to detach it from the sequels. He overshot the target for my taste.
The characters were ... okay? There is a snarky droid, which provides some good comical relieve. There is the blind monk, that seems weirdly insecure after one heroic battle with a whole bunch of storm troopers. He contrasts nicely with the gun-toting grim veteran. There is the girl, which the story revolves around, but her motivations beyond her father seem cloudy at best. There is the master. There is the rogue empire pilot. There is that guy with an English accent. I still don't know what his role was. The movie has problems focusing on characters, it gets quite hard to tell who is doing what for which reason. Even when the protagonists yell it out.
The actual plot gets lost in details, in the spectacular action sequences and in a substantial amount of quotes of the original movies. Some subtle, but most almost painfully on the nose. At several occasions they felt forced or full on artificial and should have been omitted. Why call it "a star wars story", when it features pretty much all what star wars has to offer? I'd have approved more if they had taken the chance to concentrate more in detail on a facet to enrich that universe. Instead it's an entertaining popcorn flick.