Not a stand alone movie

Rating: 6/10 (9 January 2017)

Rogue One is NOT a stand alone movie.
SPOILERS
It is a direct prequel to Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The ending directly links straight into the beginning of that film. It sets it up.
Really the numbering of the whole movie series should be changed. Rogue One should be Star Wars Episode IV, and the others after it should be incremented by 1. For example New Hope should be V and so on.
As for the movie itself I didn't really like any of the characters. While the sarcastic robot made me laugh, he still can't hold a candle to R2 or C3PO. For this reason the fact that...
:MASSIVE SPOILER:
literally everyone dies didn't worry me too much.
The plot narrative became quite confusing at times and was hard to follow.
Ben Mendelson's character was a really weak villain.
The action scenes were solid CGI fests.
The final act, with the appearance of Vader, joining right into the start of A New Hope gave me chills though. That was a great pay off. Also the scene with the two main characters holding each before they died had some emotion. Having said that they could have milked it for a lot more. Sacrificing themselves, not knowing if it was in vain, could have been focused on. I guess it's a family movie and you can't make it too gut wrenching.
If this was indeed a stand alone sci-fi movie I would probably give it a 4. It was a turgid mess with no engaging characters. It's because it does add to the movie series story that it's worth watching.