It was alright

Rating: 8/10 (20 December 2016)

If you love Star Wars you probably will enjoy this film too, as did I. It tells a great and exciting story that fills the gap between Episodes III and IV and it's much darker than before. It shows what the rebellion against the empire really was before things started to go their way, and it feels more realistic in some ways. As always with Star Wars the effects are good.
But still there are some moments that draws my score down:
1. As it tells a great story, it's really not that well executed in my opinion. It's quite messy from the start and you kind of feel like you're thrown into the middle of a story where you're missing some key plot points from some earlier installation.
2. The acting is lame. It's got plenty of great actors but they seem like they don't really believe in what they're doing at times.
3. It doesn't feel like a Star Wars movie but rather like a crossing between Star Trek and Mad Max.
4. There are way too many cameos and nods to the other movies. They're trying too much to tie the movie into the original Star Wars instead of letting this one stand on its own.
5. What is with the CGI-actors? One thing that annoyed me throughout the whole movie is the appearance of CGI Grand Moff Tarkin. It's quite obvious why he's in the story, but why would anyone care so much about him looking exactly like he did in Star Wars that they make a CGI version of the late Peter Cushing that just looks awful? The actor died over 20 years ago!! It would make much more sense to recast the character with a lookalike instead. The same goes for Princess Leia. A badly made CGI version of young Carrie Fisher could have been skipped. We know where the plans end up already, no need to show EXACTLY how they got there.
6. John Williams did not compose the score.
Still, the Blu-ray version will probably find its place on my movie-shelf between Episode III and IV. Just because I'm one of those who have to own the complete set.. It's the nerd in me.