I liked this movie. I liked it so much, I wrote a poem about it:
Rogue One, Rogue One, you had a good run.
Rogue One, Rogue One, I can tell you had fun.
Rogue One, Rogue One, you wrote it so everyone died.
Rogue One, Rogue One, well at least you tried.
I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek here. I really did enjoy it. I spent a while confused about what was happening or who anyone was, but it had some cool concepts and some seriously epic action scenes, and overall I enjoyed my time in the theater today. If anything... I just feel like it tried to be too big.
In some ways, if you're doing a movie about a planet-destroying space station you've pretty much got to go big or go home. But the pace was so quick, the characters so numerous, and the exposition so heavy that I never felt the ability to connect with anything that was happening. I think more attention should have been given to a smaller cast of characters, whose backstories and motivations could then have been more sufficiently explored.
You see, what I expected was something more like this: there's a cast of characters on a variety of Imperial-controlled worlds, who witness daily injustices committed by the Empire and ultimately decide to join the Rebellion, all in their own ways. They all have their own unique skills that are vital to the cause, and all wind up on one of the most important missions the Rebellion has ever orchestrated. I expected, or at least hoped, for a film that explored more of the day-to-day realities of living in a galaxy dominated by the Empire, and an exploration of what it takes to push good, moral people to take up arms against their government and join an organized terrorist group. (This review is putting me on a watchlist, by the way.)
Instead, what we got was a lot of characters about whom we know very little, engaging in tasks that are important, but to which we only see the payoff in a movie that came out decades ago. Aside from the concepts for the characters, which are admittedly pretty cool and I'd have loved to see explored in more detail, and a few battle scenes that admittedly got my adrenaline and testosterone pumping, there's not a lot to remember about this movie, and its attempt at being as huge and fast-paced as possible ultimately brought it down.
Conclusion: Rogue One choked on its aspirations, but it's still well worth a watch.