Worth seeing because it is Star Wars, but not a triumph

Rating: 6/10 (18 December 2016)

I liked this movie. I didn't LOVE it.
The first 30 minutes or so are a clunky mishmash of forced scenes on different planets designed to get the painful process of character introductions over with as quickly as possible. The constant scene shifting and actual naming of the planets on the screen almost insults your intelligence while coming across as a lazy effort by the writers.
When then movie jumps into the action it never stops. The entire film feels like a continuous battle scene. The CGI in this film is breathtaking. Let's get that out of the way. I really felt like I was in Florida watching Imperial Walkers come onto the beach and the size and scale of it all matched perfectly. The "shield gate" in orbit was an interesting concept too. If there is anyone to be criticized for this movie, it sure as heck isn't the CGI department. They also paid homage to Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher in a manner befitting of their legacies. Bravo on that. In the earlier days of CGI such usage was painfully awful (See Han Solo and Jabba that Hut from A New Hope special edition). Also the splash of pilots from A New Hope joining the battle at Scarif is cute and nicely done.
The problem is at the end, you are left with no enduring emotional connection to anyone or anything. The only lengths the movie goes to to connect with you on an emotional level is the relationship between Jyn and her father Galen. You begin to feel something when Jyn watched a hologram of her father explaining why he stayed away and how he has sabotaged the Death Star, and later when Galen dies in Jyn's arms. With his death the only emotional ties to the characters dies with him, and there are no other ones in the film.
This is nothing like The Force Awakens where Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and to a lesser extent Poe are all fleshed out thoroughly as characters. We learn what makes them tick, why they feel the way they do, their hopes and fears, their flaws (and if you appreciate good writing and characters, you love flaws), and the story of their lives that brought them to where they are. It is a satisfying experience to connect with them emotionally. Other than the very rapid buildup for Jyn Erso, no such connection is made by the writers for the Rogue One characters.
As for the actors and their performances, top notch in my opinion. Donnie Yen steals the show for me honestly. His character is extremely well played for what little background he has to work off. Alan Tudyk hits a grand slam as the comic relief K2SO droid. Felicity Jones and Diego Luna hit the mark for me as well. Darth Vader brings back the fears of everyone who was a kid in the 80s in just the right amount thanks to national treasure James Earl Jones. Ben Mendelsohn plays a great slime ball as a ruthless power hungry Imperial Officer and ironically is probably one of the better fleshed out characters in the whole movie. Each deserves to be commended for their performances.
The problem with the film is it just left you needing more of them! The cast are all so wonderful but are given almost nothing to do other than "going through the motions" of executing the Rebel attack plans at various locations throughout the film. So when the non-stop storm trooper death scene that is the penultimate battle takes place at the Imperial archives on Scarif, and one by one the entire cast is killed, there is no emotional payoff at the end of the movie. The theater should have been in tears when Cassian and Jyn die in each other's arms. If the writers had given us something to latch onto with at least Cassian and Jyn (reallocated time from the many battle scenes into developing a romance between them?), it would have been so much more satisfying. Or to at least have Jyn escape with the plans and deliver "hope" herself in person to Princess Leia.
But the fact the writers killed off an entire cast they never even really gave us a chance to fall in love with leaves you with the profound disappointment of not feeling upset that they died. Nor do you feel the welling pride inside you that they died for the noble cause. Nor are you given the chance to feel a sense of victory that at least one person (Jyn?) escapes with their lives. Hope is the central theme of the movie and the only payoff of it is the data disk handed to Princess Leia, who, for reasons beyond my ability to fathom, is on a ship in the middle of a war zone.
The film just plays too much to the "epic battles" crowd that is happy for the adrenaline rush of two hours in a theater watching people and ships and cities blow up with only 5 minutes devoted to explaining why you should love the good guy and hate the bad guy.
Rogue One has all the potential in the world. It is like a frustrating puzzle that you know assembles into something magnificent, but the writers left all the pieces scattered on the table so they could go play video games with star destroyers and X-wings. This is nothing like the original trilogy where the battles and fighting at the perfect accompaniment in just the right amount to the character driven stories of Luke, Leia, Han, Vader and all.
It is worth seeing at least once, but does not give you that "I can't wait until my child is old enough for this so I can relive seeing it for the first time through their eyes" feeling that episodes 4, 5, 6 and even 7 give you.