Very Entertaining, Very Star Wars

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2016)

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this movie. We get to see a well fleshed out story line on how the plans went from the bad guys to the good guys. We get plenty of Star Wars feel to it beginning to end. Emotionally there are scenes to make you laugh, cry, cheer, and hold your breath. Truly entertaining! Old fans and new will enjoy at all ages I have no doubt. Now for a few specifics (no spoilery details) without giving away anything really.
We get a dry humor droid that just about steals the show. If you read other reviews, K-2SO (is that a zero?) is probably in them, and he is just plain great.
Vader exists as a background character who is not to be trifled with. We get a ridiculous, ridiculous action scene with Vader... it is short but dear God it literally had my adrenaline flowing and heart pounding! I felt like a kid again seeing the old Vader scenes. I could give the movie a 10/10 just for that scene, but I'm older and will rate the entire movie fairly (why, I don't know!).
A very nice ensemble cast, but I'd like to mention the support guys here. I felt the main new bad guy, Krennic, really pulled off his part well and acted exactly as you'd expect... bouncing from sleazy sweet talking to raging anger. Krennic is a man driven by and seeking for more power. Whittaker is always great and doesn't disappoint. You get the feeling he's really torn up over what he's been through, and you feel he has seen and done a lot. Yet there is still his very soft human side at the core of his being. Finally let me quickly mention how much I enjoyed Jiang and Yen's characters. Those force worshippers (guardians?) are just cool dudes.
Now for the quick gripes: Two CGI scenes were less than perfect, but that is 90% of movies I see these days. Overall it was fine. I perhaps would have changed the ending, but I have other people who would feel the opposite so it depends on the viewer as you'd expect. That's about it! In conclusion, I recommend this movie to any Star Wars fan or sci-fi fan without a blink of the eye. For those who don't follow Star Wars at all, you will be fine and should see it; you don't need to know anything and you will still enjoy it a lot.