Had very little interest in TFA to begin with. I always thought SW Saga is good as a 6 part story about Anakin Skywalker but since Disney loves money... Saw TFA on the opening day and I thought it was dreadful.
It tried so hard to get to the Original Trilogy fans, trying to tickle the nostalgia bits but failed with it's "oh you liked those old movies, well here is a reference to them and here is another" way of trying to forcefully shove references down your throat. Not only this but also being ANH 2.0 is what bothered me the most. They played it way too safe and just made a soft-boot out of the franchise. None of the prequel films left me a bad taste when I walked out from the theatre, TFA did.
Rogue One on the other hand ties Prequels and Original trilogy very nicely and it's way to get to your nostalgic feels is more subtle, noticeable but not intrusive. Rogue One seemed to do very little wrong which to me is an amazing feat. No, it isnt perfect but it is one of the better Star Wars films. Rogue One managed to take me back to my childhood years when we played Star Wars as characters themselfs or with the toys, played excellent games like Rogue Squadron, Dark Forces or Shadows of the Empire and read a whole bunch of comics. This was that Star Wars that I am most familiar with, rebels fighting the empire during a time when the Jedi are no more.
All those times you could have spotted the biggest grin on my face while watching this film... is immeasurable.
