I don’t know what this says about me, but I feel like TFA - while a little too fast-paced - consistently entertained me throughout its running time whereas Rogue One didn’t pick up for me at all until they reached Eadu. Like I said back in December the projection truly sucked at the theater I saw it at (first and last time I’ll ever go there) so maybe that had something to do with it. I’ll definitely rewatch it eventually, but not any time soon.

As for the corporation vs auteur debate, Rogue One is pretty much the definition of “art by committee” whereas TFA is a J.J. Abrams film through and through. It probably sounds naive of me to say that, especially when we know there was a tug of war between Abrams and Kennedy over the script and the trajectory of the franchise, but it certainly seems like the director’s vision (such as it is) won out on TFA while Rogue One ended up co-directed by Tony Gilroy.