Hello, Vader!

Rating: 9/10 (25 December 2016)

I remember first hearing about this movie and thinking that it simply couldn't be good because a "Star Wars" spin off movie has never worked before. Every single one of them was worse than "The Phantom Menace". I find it astounding everyone still complains about it when there's four films that are worse. I just got done with "The Star Wars Holiday Special", the first of these, so I didn't have high hopes. I consider a "Star Wars" spin off film to be any that doesn't have the "Episode" in its title in some format. This qualifies and it's a great movie.
When I heard they were reshooting scenes, it made me think of that disappointing "Suicide Squad" movie. Even with the editing, it still came out bad, so I'm glad to know it actually worked here. I was afraid of J. J. Abrams not working on it, but it was great. I do feel kind of bad seeing as how I don't remember many of these new characters' names. At the time, this has a higher rating than last year's "Star Wars" movie. We are going to have one theatrically released movie in this series for a long time. I personally don't find it as good, but it's easily better than all the other spin off movies combined.
I remember watching "Revenge Of The Sith" and realizing that they were going to have to kill off all the characters that don't appear in the original trilogy. Yep, this killed off every single one of them, but dang, did we have fun with these guys. I have no clue if any of these characters were from Expanded Universe material. Will the HK-47 ever appear? Anyway, what I love about this movie is how beautiful it looks. We get all of these wonderful locations that are so unique. Some complained about the film being too long and I will admit that it is a fault. Darth Vader looks great and it's great to see him again.
It's weird to see Carrie Fisher being shown so young and find out that in real life, she might die. RIP Kenny Baker. The action scenes are great. This might be the first time they directly mention something from the prequels. They mention the Clone Wars, but I think those were briefly mentioned in the original trilogy too. Anyway, it's amazing how they build up to directly the scene before the original movie. It must be seen to be believed! The beginning is wonderfully subtle too. It's great to see behind the story of the canon. I have no idea whether any of my reviews will be liked, but vote however you want. See it! ***1/2