As good as people wanted.

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2016)

"These Star Wars movies are pretty much the same story each time nowadays. This one has new names for basically the same characters, played by different actors...the same bad guys. How many times can they make the same movie and get people to pay?" read a review in Rotten Tomatoes. This is the exact opposite from the truth, and shows that the critic didn't even bother to watch it. While The Force Awakens felt overly repetitive and disappointing moments after I left the theatre, Rogue One completely outperformed my expectations.
I thought it would be just a mish-mash of poorly connected CGI battle scenes and overly choreographed, ridiculous jedi combat scenes, with a recycled, overly simplistic, uninteresting plot.
Instead the movie delivers a simple-yet-captivating plot with its fair share of well placed, well made twists, a fair share of good CGI mixed with action scenes, and characters with sufficient depth. It has lots of action, comedy, drama (the good kind) and tragedy. It also provides good answers to one of the most recurring questions of the Star Wars universe regarding the Death Star.
And speaking about the Death Star, after the underwhelming superweapon from TFA and knowing it will be destroyed in A New Hope (and again in Return of the Jedi), I stopped seeing it as threatening. This movie surprised me showing it in all its terrifying glory, bringing a sense of dread that A New Hope and Return of the Jedi didn't have (also taking advantage of the obvious improvements in CGI to make it look truly awesome). You probably read about how they brought back Peter Cushing, and it's not just his face, it's all about him, including his technological terror.
As obvious as it is that this movie draws its inspiration and ovrall soul from The Empire Strikes Back, it's not just a recycled plot (like TFA), but a new movie, with its own story and a new set of heroes and villains, rightfully taking its place as the prequel to all Star Wars movies (because they never managed to make episodes I, II and II, and nothing you say is gonna make me think otherwise).