Almost as bad as the prequels

Rating: 6/10 (26 December 2016)

If you are a true Star Wars fan (if your benchmarks are A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back), don't even bother going to see this one in the theatre. It's basically just a bunch of explosions and fight scenes, and of course, the end is a foregone conclusion.
My biggest beef with Rogue One is that it lacks the "mystery" that we've come to expect from the really good Star Wars movies. Part of this is due to the fact that you already know what's going to happen. But part of it is also because the scriptwriters did a lousy job of keeping us guessing and entertained throughout the whole movie.
As was shown in the previews, Rogue One features the return of Darth Vader. One detail about his appearance here made me angry. Disney did not use Darth Vader's original mask design from the early episodes. As fans will remember, Vader's mask originally had sharp angles and spikes that made him look somewhat alien. When Lucas did the prequels, he decided to change the mask design to give him more "rounded" features. The end result was that Lord Vader's face looked decidedly smaller.
After all the criticism that was directed at the prequels, the fact that Disney chose to use the new mask design just baffles me. For Star Wars to work, the audiences need to be scared when they see Lord Vader. I find he looks silly with the new face, and if Vader looks silly, then the whole premise of the movie just falls apart.
It's too bad, because the acting and the directing are stellar (no pun intended) in Rogue One. But my general feeling of emptiness when I left the theatre reminded me of how I felt after watching the prequels.
Hopefully the upcoming Episode VIII will bring the franchise back to its original greatness.