As good as candy...

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2016)

Rogue one is a fun movie. It has fantastic action scenes, a great cast of secondary characters (Donnie!!!) and plays on the nostalgia of all the vehicles & sets of the original trilogy beautifully. It is so cool to see the original stormtroopers, AT-AT and other AT-ST.
It also features probably the grimmest war scene of any Star Wars movie. Almost reminiscent of Private Ryan in certain aspects; it is violent -definitely not for kids- and very well made. This scene makes the movie.
It's hard to point out what's wrong with the movie. It is like candy because, even though it is good, it lacks a point or purpose? Yes, it is a spin off and about the extended universe. But would one enjoy Rogue one without being familiar with anything from the franchise?
It does lack some elements that make Star Wars great: - the characters don't really fit in the bigger picture... so why do you really care? - the music is clearly not John Williams, that's a pretty big letdown. - the main characters are ... not as good as the ones from Episode 7
So yes, good movie, great visuals, fun times... but "Empire Strikes Back" it is not!