OK, those of you who have seen Rogue One... thoughts? If you haven't seen it, I suggest stop reading now unless spoilers don't bother you.
My thoughts...
DS and I saw it at 12:45 today. Theater was ~75% full. I was disappointed they didn't do the "words flying through space" bit with the Star Wars theme music.
I liked the story (actually much better than Force Awakens).
About 3/4 of the way through I realized the final battle had to be a suicide mission (yes, I'm a little slow sometimes). Anyone who survived would have been a part of the rebel alliance in Episode 4.
Two plot holes for me... when did C3PO and R2D2 (seen on Yavin 4) get onto Leia's ship?
And, once Leia's ship escaped by going into hyperspace, why didn't they jump into hyperspace at the beginning of Episode 4?
I did think they did a good job bringing a young Leia back (I'm assuming CGI).
Anyone else?
They didn't do the words because they wanted to separate the "Star Wars Story" films from the "Episodes." However, as they passed through the rings at the beginning, I thought it did actually look like the scroll, but we were on the wrong plane to read the words. I don't know if that was intentional or not
There are a lot of hidden references in the movie. It really is a movie for Star Wars Geeks. While on Yavin IV, a couple people are hailed over the speakers. One of them is Captain Antilles, so I think it implies that the Tantive IV was at Yavin IV, so the droids would have boarded at the same time as their master. If you watch the animated show Rebels, they also call General Syndulla, which is believed to be a reference to Hera Syndulla, also the Ghost is in the battle of Scarif, and Chopper, her droid, is seen in a couple shots at Yavin IV.
The second plot point, I will assume that they pursued by Vader long enough that their hyperdrive was damaged before we join the battle in Episode 4 and they were no longer able to jump to hyperspace.
Not only young Leia, but Tarkin were done using motion capture actors with CGI overlays so we "see" Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher. I assume you also noticed that Red Leader and Gold Leader were also in the final battle, the same actors who appear in Episode 4. We think they used the same shots as from A New Hope with some new dialog. They seemed to do the same trick as the pre-show on Tower of Terror, where we would see them say certain words, then they would cut away for the new dialog.
I liked the movie, I think, more than Force Awakens too. I like the secondary characters more, the flow of the plot, the seriousness while still being funny. My biggest complaint about TFA is that it was too much action, that the movie never had time to "breathe." In this one, I think the balance was better. The exception is that I like Rey more than Jyn. For all the talk of her being a tough female character, I felt like she was a more annoying Rey. But it sounds like all the reshoots changed her character the most.
My plot annoyances were 1. that while the trick of having the Tantive IV docked to the Mon Cal ship was "cute," in actuality, I don't think Leia would have been in such a close position to the battle for what they would have believed was a suicide mission. I believe the ship might have been at Scarif, but farther away, watching and able to report, and escape. Plus, in Episode 4 Vader talks about the ship receiving a transmission, and here, they handed off a data card. So IMO, I think the corvette that was docked should have been destroyed, and then cut to a scene of the Tantive 4 farther away confirming that the received the transmission. But that's just me. Second, why the heck does Emperor Palpatine not have a spy who follows Bail Organa wherever he goes? He was a major political leader and other powerful people like to spy on those type of people. Then the Empire would have learned where the rebellion was headquartered sooner.
But I did really like that they made a movie more for fans than the general public.
