Meh!

Rating: 5/10 (18 December 2016)

Seen the movie on opening night and had great expectations from all the reviews! The Bad- The movie took too long to get moving, I did like the casting of the main girl, she seemed natural in acting and likable, as for the other characters very forgettable. Forest Whitaker was absolutely horrible in this movie, very brutal to watch him act. Comic relief was the new robot which made the movie somewhat enjoyable. A Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher CGI replacement looked very bad! I would have liked to of seen a stand in or look a like. Peter resembled a video game! Most of the cool action scenes were in the trailer and not much more added. The Good- The 5 minutes of Darth Vader, new creatures, Familiar old faces, AT AT beach battle and the tie in to A New Hope 1977. Half to 3/4 of this film was very dry and slightly boring. The space battle was very predictable and seen before. They did a good job on the retro costume design and technology. For me this is a one time watch. The charm, humor and magic is not here. I believe a lot of people expected this formula. Even though this story is meant to be a downer and everyone dies at the end, there should still be something good to take away with this film but there's not. Even the Empire Strikes Back was a downer as but it sure had a big impact on you, Rogue One doesn't. I watched a New Hope last night to see how well the 2 tied into each other, the space scenes were believable but the Empires mountainous locations and Vaders castle did not seem to work for me in the Star Wars universe. Maybe because its never been seen or mentioned in prior movies. If mention in the books or comics I wouldn't know. This would be my honest review being a life long Star Wars fan! Didn't love and didn't hate it!