Director Neal Marshal's RO review is a good one:
Rogue One - Star Wars films are nothing if not divisive. Not that surprising given the legions of passionate fans that have grown up with the saga for the past 40 years. It’s a unique phenomena and is worth having a little heated debate over every now and then. If The Force Awakens was a love letter to the originals, it also had its heart firmly set on seducing a whole new generation of fans. Rogue One feels like a different animal. It’s absolutely made for us 1st generation fans, a Star Wars movie for grown ups, and no apologies necessary. Certainly it has its flaws, but so did Force Awakens. And yet despite them, I’m still suckered every time. I just love spending time in this universe. I’m now looking forward to Star Wars being a yearly Christmas tradition, like Lord of the Rings was for while. With Rogue One, Gareth Edwards has delivered a war movie, the Dirty Dozen in space, and why not? After a meandering first act it picks up the pace, and leads to one of the best finales of the entire saga - a space battle to rival Endor, a ground battle to rival Hoth, Darth Vader kicking off and finally showing us why the rebels were right to be scared ****less of him, and a resolution that is true to the story yet still manages to be triumphant. Can’t wait for the sequel…. oh wait.
