A decent companion piece to the star wars saga that just falls short of it's true potential.

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2016)

First off I've got to say this film looks and feels amazing - the world building, the sets, the costumes, and vfx work together to create an authentic feeling Star Wars story. At the same time it also manages to show a different side to the Star Wars universe without straying too far from the source material. Welcome to a dark underworld of desperate survival under the oppression of the empire; congratulations to the writers for not giving the film a happier Disney-esque ending as well.
Unfortunately the film does seem more concerned with filling itself with references and cameos rather than spending time with our collection of main characters. Cameos are like penises, if you're going to have one on screen you better have a good reason for it. (That's not my quote by the way I stole it.) The limited interactions our characters DO have are mostly pretty great, but the dialogue can sometimes be a little insulting to your intelligence. You can clearly see what the character is thinking and feeling so why does it need to be said out loud?
So yeh this film has a great vibe with great action and some great performances. Unfortunately it isn't quite able to have the emotional punch it could have if we spent more time with our main characters. With that said Vaders presence WAS appreciated, as he has some of the best scenes in the movie; perhaps he should have been the main antagonist instead of Krennic? Just a thought...