they easily could have cut Cassian and Bodhi’s first scenes which would have really simplified it.
With my fanediting hat on, that definitely occurred to me at first but then later in the movie you realise that the Cassian scene (where he murders an informant) was really needed to make the audience believe that he was a killer fully capable of assassinating Galen if he’d chosen to do so. Bodhi’s intro was less essential.
Just thinking, this is the fourth Star Wars prequel and the first that doesn’t manage to totally fuck up any aspect of the continuity.
Too true. There was nothing that made me feel like it wasn’t what could have happened before ANH.
Only thing I can think of is Vader saying “beamed” though I’m sure there’s an explanation.
You mean he says “beamed” in ANH but it’s not beamed in R1? I forget what exactly happened in the chaos of the battle. Jyn “beamed” the plans to the fleet and then it was later on a disc.