The Least Appealing of the Star Wars Movies

Rating: 5/10 (20 March 2018)

In the Star Wars anthology series, taking place just before the very first film in 1977 (which was fourth in the actual series): Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is on a mission to disable a planet-destroying device (the Death Star) that is owned by the Galactic Empire - a device that her father was forced to create.
As could be expected, the set design and special effects are breathtaking. But in fairness, without such technical superiority, the film would be bland. The story and characters are not captivating enough and occasionally, there is too much happening for the average viewer (as opposed to a sci-fi-geek) to follow without getting confused and even bored at times.
There are many scenes in which front-line soldiers for the "bad guys" are killed off in droves with an attitude that is meant to be comical. This is an old gag that cheapens life for those that are considered to be 'nobodys'. The filmmakers could do better than this in their action scenes instead of regurgitating old crowd-pleasing techniques that have worked in the past but are now outdated.
While there were fine scenes and excitement in the beginning, these virtues were not maintained throughout the remainder of the film. There is also a very questionable use of CGI to recreate actors as they looked a long time ago (but not in a galaxy far far away). While the technology is brilliant, such usage is more than questionable.
I made the mistake of thinking that this film was the follow-up to last year's entertaining "The Force Awakens". It didn't follow that film in either sequence or in quality.