I actually think this should have been two films. I think all the exposition they tried to cram in to get you backstory in the first 45 minutes should have been in a separate film, allowing us to jump off with the rescue mission of Erso and the trip to Jedha. Jyn’s childhood just didn’t fit in the film and I think it made it seem like they couldn’t find a better way to tell you how the Erso’s got to this point.
Gee…I wonder how they could have gotten that exposition done. What would have been a better way to tell you the backstory you needed to know before a Star Wars movie started? 😃
Yeah, something along the lines of:
A galaxy in terror! The Empire’s grip on the galaxy has never been tighter. Those who stand opposed to their tyranny, the Rebel Alliance, have learned the Empire has developed a new super weapon under the guidance of scientist GALEN ERSO.
.In a race against time, the Rebellion must find Erso’s lost daughter in hopes she has information on his work. Following the murder of her mother by DIRECTOR KRENNIC, the young ERSO was raised by the extremist SAW GUERRERA.
.The Rebellion have sent their best spy to track her down to rejoin her with GUERRERA and her father as she may be their LAST HOPE…
would have allowed them to cut out those earlier scenes. They weren’t bad but like people have said, it felt like they knew they had to tell that part of the story but didn’t have a clean way of doing it. So, we get a bunch of quick cuts to other worlds that felt out of place.