Non-Spoiler response but space just in case.
























I very much enjoyed the particular attention to detail in making sure the costumes, foodstuff, and technology echoed that viewed in the source material (particularly the Return of the Jedi) which is rather 'quaint' today but when kept in place like this really lends gravitas to the whole shared universe theme.

Some of the scenes were very nice homages to the earlier films, perhaps a little too much by the end - less is more?

The concepts for the main protagonists were well done, and there were some interesting folk it would be good to discover more about, but there wasn't enough fleshing out of their motivations and some of their choices and actions seemed forced rather than natural.

Most of the acting was good - there was some lousy dialogue and bit parts by one or two side characters - but not enough to detract from the main.

I also felt some of the main character's actions and dialogue were a little bit mary-sue-ish but I'd have to spoil to explain further. And it's no different to many of the earlier films in that regard really.

The final battle seemed a tad too long.

And not really a spoiler, but Stormtroopers are still lousy shots.


Slightly more spoilerish:



















I'm very much over the Death Star - it's become an overused McGuffin - particularly I felt so in the Force Awakens. Its use here (and I don't think it's a spoiler to say it appears in the film? but just in case) is important though, and supplies an answer to an important question from the very first film.

All up though it was an enjoyable way to re-visit the Star Wars mythos. The tie-ins to established content were well done and it fleshed out the whole universe a bit more.

I think I'm going to enjoy seeing more of these stand-alone films.