Empire Strikes Back = Rogue One > Force Awakens

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2016)

Rogue One is simply one of the best thing that could happen within this franchise. It successfully accomplishes to be a Star Wars movie without relying too much on mass Easter-eggs as Force Awakens did, but it also extends the lore with its new story-line which in the end perfectly docks to the beginning of the New Hope.
Do you remember how was it like when you played the Jedi Knight Outcast for the first time, or a more fitting game, Rogue Squadron? Or read some of the novels of the young Obi wan Kenobi, when he was a Jedi padawan, or any of the Dark Horse comics about Luke's dark side? It gave wider perspective to the universe that the Star Wars movie anthologies represented. It's just a refreshing feeling when you experience the happenings of new characters in different places of different galaxies, reminding you that not only the universe of the movies exist in this franchise, and that there is a lot more beyond that line abundantly more.
And here we are, Rogue One, a story which is the prequel to the New Hope, a sequel to the new trilogies about Anakin Skywalkers failure. A story where we see a totally different side of the Rebellion, a lot more dirty, darker, with its morally questionable members who struggle to bring justice to their galaxy which is under the rule of the Empire. We can feel this blooming hope, as we watch these people throughout the movie, where we see the most credible representation of this repression, as non-stop tension rules around the forces of empire walking around of people's everyday life. I assure you, non of the prequels could present the oppression in such effective way as this film.
The storytelling is beyond amazing with examining every cliché a Star Wars movie could possibly do, and with that it could re-think how even the most minor action scenes would be exciting without making the audience yell: damn, this again!"; Here we go again!". The characters have also interesting dynamics between them, and makes us feel attached to easily, making them well understandable in most of ways.
The cinematography is really distinguishes itself of the Star Wars norma, but with an understandable purpose: The monumental scenes never felt so monumental EVER in any other Star Wars movies, or it is just executed in a way as it is should be nowadays, making these scenes Huge, and Wide. It was really a long time ago that I had ever been so touched by the visual presentation of any movie. That's how amazing it is.
With these elements listed above this movie perfectly works as not just a Star Wars movie, but also as a motion picture which wants to be a Sci-fi/fantasy. And that is what Force Awakens looked over, to be not just a movie that relies on being a Star Wars movie, thinking that it is enough to be a sci-fi nowadays, but a production, which has to be a Sci-fi in the first place and THEN Star Wars. With this thinking I believe it could be possible to bring a totally new, fresh feeling to a film within this franchise, to think a bit out of the box, and not being afraid to tell new stories, to be INDEPENDENT from the Star Wars norma.
The narrative is a blast from A to Z, it is fast phased, but still comprehensible, enjoyable. It has seemingly many stories but perfectly built around the main story: which is to steal the famous plans of the Death Star. To understand the hugeness of such action the movie made us to understand the Rebellion. To understand the Rebellion we had to believe that the Empire is indeed repressing the people and maintains the stress-fullness in people's everyday life. The story perfectly gives you these right information at the right time. Everything is perfectly built on each other, the narrative has never been that complex and yet understandable in a Star Wars movie in my opinion. It just feels natural to watch and it's simply enjoyabe. So that's all you gotta do when you go watch this movie: To enter this world and let it tell you the story the way it wants to do it. You will hardly be disappointed.
There are also flaws of this production though, but mostly minor ones. Only one big issue I had with this movie is what every other reviews are talking about: The CGI faces, but you will understand when you watch this.
Overall it is a Star Wars movie, gave me such emotional waves at places that couldn't resist me saying in my head Oh MY GOD, oh MY GOOD! Is this really happening?!". And sometimes made invisible ninjas cutting onions. But what's the most important thing in my opinion: I just couldn't take off my eyes from the big screen that was presenting the One and Only real Star Wars I have waited for long, giving me feelings that even Force Awakens couldn't accomplished. And that my friends is a HUGE thing for a Star Wars fan.