Watched it yesterday. Lots of pro's and cons for me:
Pros:
- Good story
- Good characters
- Moves things forward
Cons:
- Awful start - slow pacing, jumping from location to location, introducing new characters at a ridiculous pace. I kid you not, after 10 mins I was sat there with my eyes closed thinking 'God, they've fucked it up AGAIN!'
- Failure to give context to setting for non SW fans
Overall. After a dodgy start for me, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think it could have been a lot better - I don't think it will stay with new viewers in the same way the originals did for many of us. But by heavens this was a
huge leap forward from the prequels and from TFA (which for me was a pretty awful concept).
My biggest crit though, is simply that they didn't give anywhere near enough context. I went with a group of 8 made up of 1 male adult proper SW fan(me), one general male adult casual sci fi fan, one female adult who watched SW years ago and likes them but isn't what you would call a knowledgeable fan, one female adult who just about remembers a bit from watching SW but isn't really a big sci fi fan, two 13 year old boys who watched SW a few years ago but aren't ardent fans and 2 girls (11 and 16) who again, have watched the films a year or two ago and aren't core fans but do like them.
Out of that group of stragglers, I was the only one who understood the context and had to explain to the other 7 what the hell was going. Once I did, they got it, but all wished the film had explained it.
So, in that small snapshot, I can only come to the conclusion that unless you know quite a bit about SW lore, you will likely get a bit confused about what's going on. With a bit of context, that confusion just goes away. Schoolboy error IMO. Luckily, the film grows into itself and despite that lack of context, is still very enjoyable in its own right.
I am very happy to have a decent SW film out there after all these years and I'm also happy that JJ Abrams has been shown up for the fraud he is because Rogue one is far, far better than TFA. Well done to all involved.