The Fifth Star Wars Movie

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2016)

Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead!!!!! ***** Dammit, Jim, you've been warned!!! *****
So... After watching "The Force Awakens", I said: now, I have the fourth Star Wars movie to watch all over again. Just to be clear: those atrocious insults, piles of garbage that some call the 'new trilogy' do not even classify as movies, let alone as Star Wars movies. Those are merely rubbish, waste of money and time. So, having that stated, let's see what I have to say about Rogue One: To start as simple as possible: it is a very good movie, all by itself. Excellent production value, great cast, good acting, good cinematography, excellent editing, excellent score, great sound, never-before-seen, groundbreaking, breathtaking special effects. Very, very good directing: Edwards is a FAR BETTER storyteller than Lucas, this movie is 'Empire Stikes Back'-good. It hits you in the face with straight forward, honest, decently paced storytelling, and never before seen character development, without giving away the (somewhat predictable) fates of all the lovable new characters.
And the characters... my good g*d... this movie in my opinion is the best example of perfect character development, within limited boundaries (timewise).
******* WARNING, F-ING HUUUUUGE SPOILERS AHEAD *******
After seeing all the trailers, it was absolutely clear for me, that Jyn Erso will die in this movie. I suspected, that none of the major characters would survive, it was a rather clear hint by the makers since none of the characters were present in any of the now known original canon, nor the extended universe. All of you, having thought otherwise, please do your homework...
Now, the pros & cons:
All the main characters were very cleverly created, and developed, leaving room for development (successfully) and given a very meaningful, or moving death. Yeah, all of them die, get over it. It was a very, very powerful tool to show the audience how great, and how gruesome the struggle of the Rebel Alliance was, and how important the whole cause was. Lucas had attempted to show the audience, how horribly awful the tyranny of the Empire was, and how epic, and sacrificious the struggle of the Rebels was against it... but he failed. Standing on the shoulders of the TV shows "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" (both of which have given more to the saga as any of the movies) Rogue One succeeded in depicting the horror, and desperation the whole Galaxy suffered because of the Empire. This is where this film's true strength and merit is: showing the audience, why the Rebel Alliance is such an important thing... showing, how, and why standing up for your rights is so important... showing, why too much power in too few hands is the most dangerous power in the Universe...
This movie is the very first in the Star Wars universe, that carries a really greater message, than just being a piece of excellent entertainment. The struggle, the suffering, the will to fight back, the will to be more is very much present, and pronounced, which gives the film a "larger than life" frame, and provokes thoughts far beyond the Star Wars universe...
It's not flawless, not by a long shot. The use of the Force Theme by John Williams for the first time in the film when Bail Organa appears, a character, who has absolutely no correlation with the Force, is downright stupid and insulting. Using basically unaltered cut-ins from the New Hope, in picture, and in audio, is totally over-the-top, and absolutely unnecessary, they gave me a "why? Just WHY?" feeling, more painfully so, used in the most thrilling, action packed final act of the film.
Honestly, I could go on for hours, but I think I have to come to some kind of conclusion: This is one of the best movies, that I've ever seen. Probably the best one in the Star Wars universe. This movie showed, that good casting can do wonders: Felicity Jones is beyond marvelous, her performance is absolutely outstanding. Whitaker is over the top, his character demanded the performance he gave, but it was out of place. It did not require the acting genius he possesses, and it showed. Special effects: the third breakthrough. First: New Hope. Second: Jurassic Park. Third: Rogue One. This movie has the very first completely blend-in presence of CGI characters (K2-SO was always "there" never gave a hint of being a post-production addition) and it features the very first believable, and human-like CGI human (Tarkin). It was very obvious for the keen eye (such as mine) that Tarkin was fully performance-capture-CGI, but the result was nonetheless remarkable.
A very well deserved 10 out of 10, but beware: this film is not perfect, not by a long shot. But if this was the worst movie ever made, I would be very happy indeed. An excellent piece of artistry, this is.