Gets better with every viewing

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2017)

I have seen the film 3 times since it came out. Twice on standard screens of varying quality and once on IMAX in 3D. As expected the IMAX experience was the best by far and enhances the film even more but the main thing that has come out of the multiple viewings is that my estimation of the film is far greater. This is my first review on IMDb and sitting during the thrilling climax it came to mind to do it. I am going to try to get across what i had in my mind at that time to make me want to take this step and do the review.
I am a Star Wars fan for sure. Not an obsessed one but it's purely down to seeing the first film at 10 and then growing up with the films in those impressionable years. I wasn't particularly bothered about episodes 1-3 and didn't even see Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith in the cinema, but The Force Awakens was a superbly constructed episode. I was intrigued when i heard about Rogue One when i heard about it, and once the main story line was announced we knew the point of the film, but it was all about how they told the story.
In the end we get a film of 2 hours 13 minutes and to me they couldn't of dispensed with any of that time in order to do it properly. The pacing is great and the film builds and builds to the fantastic climax which shows the director knows a bit about the elements which make Star Wars films so great. Not that it's not evident in the whole film, but that climax is outstanding, with snappy editing so we go through swooping fighters in space, to gritty battles on the ground. Some people have likened it to a war film, going from battle to battle and I can see what they mean for sure.
I don't agree with people saying the middle bit is hard going, and not sure why people sometimes just say things for the sake of saying something when reviewing films. I suppose there are bits which don't match up to the rest of the film but films need those bits for the overall story. All the best films in history have suffered the same.
I won't go into detailed views of the cast and performances but a shout out to the portrayal of K-2SO by Alan Tudyk. A classic Star Wars robot character. Donnie Yen as Chirrut Imwe is also excellent, and Ben Mendelsohn plays a nasty Krennic well. Also a mention about the score. Not John Williams this time but Michael Giacchino's music is brilliant and every now and then pulls in some of those classic themes from the old movies.
During that final 30 minutes the emotions were stirring inside of me. Some tears and a few deep intakes of breathe. Then I realized that on each viewing i had been pulled in the same way each time and it takes a good film to stir the emotions two more times when you know what's going to happen. It's at that point that i decided i needed to review it, and i hope this makes many more people want to see it. Don't go in expecting it to be up there with your favorite film of the other seven, but give it a chance.