Not sure why, but it just "felt" like Star Wars again, and helped get the bad TLJ taste out of my mouth. I think I like Rogue One better, but they were both good/entertaining/etc in my eyes.
Rogue One definitely felt more like
SW to me, but it was like watching a big budget fan film. kinda cool, with several really good scenes and lots of filler. it's def better than the
ST films. i've seen it several times now, rented by friends and family, and tbh it gets worse every time i see it. Cassian's character annoys me so much and the scene where he shoots an unknown guy constantly getting held up as this great western style storytelling is a little annoying bc his characterization is not that strong. they play up "he's extreme and even the good guys kill" and yet he goes on a mission to kill Mads and he... doesn't do it, for some reason, it is never explained. and then their friends swoop in and kill the guy anyways! like, huh? what? what was the plan here? then he never betrays or kills anyone, he's a good guy the rest of the film. why even bring that up? its a bit of a mess.
but the new characters were fun, i like the force guys, it was a non Jedi approach, which still builds on the lore of the force. IMO that's the best path they have going forward. Jyn and Mads both had great acting & looked cool & stuff but the story & much of the dialog was just so dumb i couldn't start to think about it. deadpan robot ruled. Vader's lines were weak af tho, even if the fan service scenes (both, ive wanted that castle for a long time, tho there were no golden gargoyles) was a lot of fun. on the Vader hallway scene, i kinda can go both ways, it feels different than the Vader of
ANH, yet it is so cool and pulp, and that shot of him on the ramp in space w his cape floating behind him, that is some classic iconography, i'm glad they did it. i'm even fine with CGI Young Leia, it's like the movie suddenly turned into a SW comic book in all the right ways. tbh they should just get the hacks who shot the last 20 mins of
RO (entirely wo the main director LOL) to make a movie and ditch these bad auteurs.
OG
SW has simple, archetypal stories, the new stuff really feels like they are trying all these things, they don't have a clear direction to go in, and this is by design. the ST directors in particular have all this pressure placed on them, they feel like they have something to prove, it ends up harming the end product. you get a bunch of egos all saying different stuff. they need a new Lucas.