Fast Paced...for a Reason

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2016)

Rogue One tells the story of what's effectively the birth of the Rebellion - it was dark, and it was dirty, and it happened very quickly.
The story is told effectively from the viewpoint of Jyn Erzo; we learn some of her backstory, but not the entirety of it - just enough to understand who she is, and why she'd be selected by the Rebels for the initial mission.
However, we don't get a whole lot of time to cozy up to the other characters for a huge reason - Jyn didn't. The entire Rogue One team, in some respects, didn't know each other all that well, aside from individuals who had met before meeting Jyn. So in essence, we know them about as well as Jyn did.
The entire pacing of the movie is at Jyn's pace - we experience her role within the rise of the Rebellion as she does, and that is more worthwhile than any exposition, in my opinion...it made it more real for this moment.
A lack of exposition about all the characters leaves open the opportunity for Extended Universe writers to come in and flesh out the new written EU. We can find out about these characters' backgrounds prior to their time in Rogue One in new books, something that has delighted Star Wars fans previously. Their histories were never meant to be in this story - this was about this moment in time, not what was before it.