See past the odd canon, and it's a fantastic movie.

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2016)

Now, you've just watched Rogue One, and according to the reviews on IMDb already, you have one of two opinions; It was fantastic or it was an embarrassment.
The two sides absolutely have merit. I am no Star Wars expert, not by a long way, even though I did see the original trilogy as early as I could have understood it as a child in the 90s. I do understand the plot in reasonable depth -enought to satisfy myself- and the canon created by some of the games and so fourth, so this is where the crux of why some of the reviews are they way they are.
It would be easy to dismiss the negatives as 'angry fanboys/nerds angry that the film doesn't stick to the canon', but of course, the original Trilogy does not explain how things came to be before the first film. Thus, we almost REQUIRE canon.
However, a lot of it is rather complex and convoluted, whilst being absolutely reasonable, it would not make a good move it it's own right. To spread the story over several movies would make it...yawn-worthy, to be polite.
So corners are cut and stories are re-imagined, which quite frankly, is fine by me. Fiction is just that, the 'original' canon was not (always) created by he who wrote the original story. So see this as a film friendly alternative. It is much more entertaining, and able to fit into a 2+ hour film.
And what a film.
As usual, great action scenes, wonderful scenery and overall CGI, as expected. The story itself does feel fairly rushed, but again, this is down to being able to fit a lot of information and background into screen time.
There were a couple of questionable castings yes, but I attribute this to showing the world new, young and fresh actors, rather than squeezing every last drop out of the existing pool before they pop their clogs randomly/suddenly (it is still 2016 and people are superstitious about it now). Admittedly, I thought Mr Whitaker did not belong, his accent was, ridiculous. In once scene I swear he had an accent from the north east of England! As for the CGI Tarkin and Leia, there are computer games with more convincing movements, quite disappointing, since although I assume this had a lower budget than the main films, these scenes were a huge let down.
K-2SO, the real hero of the film, and though occasionally feeling forced with the jokes, I do feel it matched his apparent programming. Great character overall.
As for Mr Vader, I am sure he was taller before, and the one liner was really REALLY not necessary, but his actions towards the end depict exactly the kind of ruthless killer he is, no pause, only grim determination. The Vader that we all longed to see in action.
Finally, addressing peoples concern over not being too emotionally involved with the characters, I don't think you need to be. This is a film filling in the blanks, while most of the characters were not hugely memorable, it is refreshing to see a movie killing them off in ways that make sense. It was after all a suicide mission, hero's need not survive till the end, you must only look to past wars to see that.
The multitude of nods to the old films, like the deathstar plan visuals and control panels are memorable, while not completely fitting in with modern designs, they are easter eggs in themselves (though very in your face ones).
To Sum up: If you are a hardcore long time fan, don't watch Rogue One. I'm being honest it doesn't make sense with the current canon and there are some cringe moments which the older audience won't appreciate.
If you like Star Wars and still agree that the other nameless trilogy was a waste of space, then you will thoroughly enjoy this film.
If you have not seen Star Wars before or are simply of the younger generation, you will enjoy this film, even though some of significant characters/events may be slightly unclear.
For the reasons above -as much as I wanted to give the film a 9- i give it 8 stars. There were just a tad too many things that let it down to give it any more, from the opinion of someone that isn't that into the original canon.
The most important advice: just go watch a film, form your own opinion. Where some may loathe, you may love. What matters is what YOU enjoy. Reviews just give you a tiny insight.
Thanks for reading!