A few months ago, before Rogue One was released, I published a post on Facebook detailing my apprehensions about the upcoming film. Now that the movie has been released, I've decided to repost my original thoughts here. Here are (were) my concerns:
1.) Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) has a huge attitude problem. In the 
trailer, Mon Mothma describes Jyn as "reckless, aggressive, and 
undisciplined", to which Jyn shoots back an impudent "This is a 
rebellion isn't it? I rebel." Later, in response to a question from what
 looks like a superior officer, Jyn gives a very surly and disrespectful
 "Yes, sir". Maybe it was just the way the trailer was cut, but I don't 
think so. That being said, I have zero interest in seeing a movie about a
 lone-wolf heroine who thinks she's too cool for the Rebel Alliance and 
was only recruited because the Rebellion is desperate. Even if she ends 
up having a character arc in which she discovers that there are things 
more important than herself, we've already seen that in Han Solo (who 
was much more likeable from the start). I'd much rather see a movie 
about a heroic group of individuals who are willing to put their lives 
on the line to stand up and fight against tyranny for the good of the 
galaxy, in total alignment with Rebellion ideals.
2.) The tone is
 too dark. Star Wars is known to be dark on occasion (Empire Strikes 
Back, The Force Awakens) but it is always, ALWAYS, balanced by a sense 
of wide-eyed wonderment at getting to experience such a huge universe. 
(If you don't believe me, go rewatch the asteroid belt sequence from 
Empire or Finn and Rey's escape from Jakku in The Force Awakens.) 
Conversely, this movie feels like it's trying to mimic the tone of The 
Dark Knight, just like Star Trek Into Darkness tried to mimic it in 
2013. I kept expecting to hear Benedict Cumberbatch doing a voiceover 
"Darkness is coming... you think your world is safe..." and to see the 
Millennium Falcon crashing to the ground trailing black smoke. There was
 also a scene with beach warfare that looked more like Saving Private 
Ryan than Star Wars. This Russian poster (http://tinyurl.com/jew3rtv), accompanied by the headline "This Russian Rogue One Poster Puts the War in Star Wars", really says it all.
3.) No John Williams. Rogue One will be the first live-action Star Wars
 movie to not be scored by John Williams. Instead, the music for this 
movie is being composed by some guy named Alexandre Desplat. Not only 
does his name sound like a tablespoon of mayonnaise hitting the sidewalk
 but, judging from what we've heard so far, he's not even trying to come
 up with anything original or innovative. Even after the huge success of
 the original Star Wars soundtrack in 1977, John Williams didn't rest on
 his laurels. He went on to compose the instantly classic Imperial March
 for Empire Strikes Back and then other instantly recognizable tunes 
such as Kylo Ren's theme from Episode VII, Duel of the Fates from 
Episode I, or Across the Stars from Episode II. Mr. Desplat, on the 
other hand, appears to have opted for re-orchestrated covers of already 
established John Williams themes. They sound pretty much like the 
originals except, you guessed it, *darker*. (And occasionally mixed with
 a blaring siren, for good measure.)
4.) Fan Service. The most 
recent (I think) trailer ends with a shot of Darth Vader activating his 
light saber in slow motion. This shot lasts for a full 15 seconds. 15 
seconds. Of Darth Vader activating a light saber. I don't mind Darth 
Vader being in the movie, but only if he contributes to the plot in a 
meaningful way. I'm worried that Darth Vader will be crammed into a 
movie where he doesn't belong just because the filmmakers decided "Oh, 
we *have* to put in Vader!". We've all seen what happens when a new 
movie sacrifices originality in order to cram in as many needless 
references as possible to older (and better) subject matter. (I'm 
looking at you Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Hobbit trilogy).
5.) Mr. Miyagi. The trailer shows a scene (twice) that features an 
oriental-looking man, wearing what looks like a karate gi, beating up 
stormtroopers ninja-style with a wooden staff. Now, I have nothing 
against ninjas, but they have no place in a Star Wars movie. That's why 
we have Jedi. Who knows, maybe he is a Jedi and he just didn't have a 
light saber. For whatever reason, the fact that he didn't have a light 
saber really bothered me. Call me crazy. To be fair, he could be using a
 fighting style found in the (now apocryphal) EU that hasn't yet been 
seen on the main screen. However, to be more fair, I don't really care 
about the EU, and 95% of the audience won't either. The EU gets pretty 
weird guys. Shots fired, I know. Crucify me later. Finally, to be 
completely fair, Kylo Ren's "cross-guard saber" really bothered me too 
when I first saw the Star Wars VII teaser, but I ended up loving that 
movie.

