Requiem for Rogue One

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2016)

Before I drop my personal opinion of this film, I'd like to preface it by saying that I'm 54 yrs old and I was around for the original 1977 release of Star Wars (before it was even "Episode IV"). I'm a fanboy, albeit a realistic one. I saw "Episode IV" in the theaters 33 times plus countless other times on DVD, along with the ESB and ROTJ (the prequels were, ::aherm::, not as appealing or "repeat- worthy"). I have huge emotional attachment to the original series and especially to ROTJ (though I don't think it was the best of the 3) because I was with the original "Vader fans" and his heroics in disposing of Palpatine left me with a fantastic sense of "redemption" , triumph and vindication.
Having said all that, I'm only going to address one criticism of this film, which even I had before stopping to think about it: Character development/fleshing out. I'm not going to counter the criticism, just offer an optional "spin" on it.
When I left the theater, after watching RO, I told my wife, "Too bad we didn't get more back story on these new guys". But on the drive home I was thinking, "These were total nobodies, why would we know, or be told, that much about them?" Did Edwards intentionally give us so few details about the lives of these rogue rebels? Honestly, I don't think it was intentional. It was probably the classic case of too much for one movie.
However, when I stopped to think about it, what Edwards did give us was a very somber "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier(s)". These rebels made the ultimate sacrifice in complete ANONYMITY. No mention of them in the saga (that I can remember), other than a brief, "Don't act so surprised your highnessSeveral transmissions were beamed to this ship by 'rebel spies'."that's it. Hell, even the "bothans" got a shout-out in ROTJ. Not this groupNo fame, no glory, no name- droppingjust "rebel spies". Then it sunk in: how tragic! They laid down the foundation for Luke, Leia and Han's heroics, fame and glory and paid with their livesand all that history would remember them by is "some rebel spies".
This made me love the characters even more and actually left gaping feeling of regret for not getting to know them better and admiration for their selflessness. The way that Edwards managed to rip emotions out of me (even if it was unintentional) was awesome. Only now, at the end, do I understand. ;)
To sum it all up: even though my heart wants to hang on to the original (untouched) trilogy as the pinnacle of Star Wars drama, my mind says, "Dude, this was at least as good as ROTJpossibly a notch above." It was Empire-Strikes-Back-esque. There it is, I said it.
Look, you're gonna find your mandatory elitists and purists looking for some soul-inspiring moral story in a freakin' sci-fi flick or projecting what "should've been" onto movies because it didn't match their personal vision of how things are supposed to go or how they would've done it. You know the ones: pretending to know exactly what the director and/or writers intended and how miserably they failed to deliver. They elevate themselves above us ignorant plebeians by bringing down the movie with their artificial critique only because "Hey look, it's got an 85% review on Rotten Tomatoes. Let me put myself in the 'upper' 15% crowd and bash this movie". It's their opinion. There are more than entitled to it. That doesn't exempt it from stinking just as bad as the opinion of the 85% crowd, mine included.
After letting the hype of the movie wane and letting it sink in, I say: Long live Rogue One!