A good movie, an average Star Wars movie

Rating: 6/10 (18 April 2017)

This film had a lot of hype which had me thinking it would make up for the rather "rinse & repeat" story that was used for episode 7. But I don't think it was as good as episode 7.
I love aerial dogfights & ones in space are even better. So with a title with a homage to Rogue Squadron I was hoping for a lot of spaceship on spaceship action.
Sadly, there was only one big ship fight at the end (which was quite good but nothing better than what's been in other Star Wars films before) & a hit & run strike attack by some X-wings on an Imperial base. Some what lackluster given the title of the film.
Most of the characters were interesting enough but I only felt bad at the death of K-2SO.
However the two lead characters weren't as iconic as I would have hoped. Cassian just felt like a poor mans Han Solo & we were told about how awesome Jyn was & were just expected to like her. It's hard to love a character when you only hear about their actions & all their on screen actions are bland & uninteresting.
The final fight between the Alliance & the Empire had its moments, but it was mostly just duck & cover generic blaster fighting. No one/moment particular stood out.
Vader's appearance at the end was a welcome change of pace & a much needed refresher of just how badass of a character he is. Outside of videogames, we've never seen Vader be so brutal & ruthless in a combat scenario.
But again, this one 20 second scene just reminded me why made Star Wars stands out from all the other generic scifi films there are out there. I'm not saying Star Wars can't have a good story without the force, lightsabers, Jedi, Sith etc. But rather that a story needs great characters for it to be truly memorable & I feel Rogue one did not live up to those standards.
Overall the film was good. But for a Star Wars film I would expect much better.