Now this is good use of the franchise

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2016)

After seeing SW7 I nearly walked out of the cinema when the Darth Vader wannabee hit the screen - what a joke. And then all the other clichÃ©s and old characters. It was a pitiful waste of the franchise.
Rogue One is essentially SW 3.9 and explains the lead up to SW4. The characters are fresh and unknown to us which is the way SW7 should have been. I suppose the ending is sort of inevitable but the events involved in getting there are not.
Story and script are solid, as is the acting, and the special effects and 3D are excellent. I sincerely hope that SW8 is a lot more like this movie and gets away from the old characters but it seems unlikely due to seeing Skywalker making a return right at the end of SW7.
All this franchise needs to survive is "the force" and futuristic tech - it needs to break away from the original characters or it will get stale very quickly. Rogue One is an excellent example of this and considering SW8 and beyond need be bound by little past and no future, they could be ground breaking movies instead of effective reruns.