Scatterbrained initial impressions.

I still can’t believe the sense of place this movie exudes in every single frame, sometimes to the point of being downright detrimental in a few scenes (CG Tarkin and Leia, although not too bad on their own, are extremely distracting as a result).

I do wonder how much fighting it took for Edwards to convince Disney to let them let him make it AND leave it this way.

Nitpicks as far as CGI characters, pointless Hollywood amounts of exposition aside… I loved it. Didn’t even notice there was no crawl. This is how they should have rebooted Star Wars in the first place: by placing it in the hands of a talented director who has a clear vision, and is capable of staying true to the source material without copying it mindlessly for maximum marketability. And my god, did this movie feel like it took place in a real universe. This is the director’s clear forte - I love it in his movies.

It puts TFA - a mindless corporate product you have to dissect for every tiny trace of sincerity - to shame. I can only hope this movie makes enough billions of dollars to send the right message to the suits (and that it’ll be interpreted correctly, but that’s another discussion).

I am very impressed, very, very happy, and extremely grateful to Gareth Edwards for pulling it off when I really did not believe he could, or be allowed to.

Please, Disney, let Rian Johnson have as much (if not more) freedom with Ep. VIII.

Many more viewings are already scheduled and will follow.