Just seen this tonight for the first time. I have to say I loved the pacing, and Edwards was very good at adding tension to the action and raising the stakes. The Scarif orbital shield, Vader’s castle (I know not new) and Jeddah were all ideas pulled from the original concepts for TFA (from the art-book,) which I got super excited about the more I saw, maybe we’ll see more ideas from that book in VIII.
The space battle was thrilling, however I found it a bit odd and OP that the hammerhead could trash two star destroyers just by pushing them together.
I hated the stupid throwaway cameos (R2, 3PO, Dr Evazan), it felt worse for breaking immersion than even the CGI added to Mos Eisley in ANH.
CG Actors - The intro shot of Tarkin turning around was a dead giveaway for CG, but I think his other scenes looked convincing, I think it just depended what lighting he was in.
Leia however just looked robotic and the lingering shot was weird, maybe it was just the single word said.
The Darth Vader texas chainsaw massacre was absolutely stunning and terrifying. However the shot of him watching the Tantive IV jump to hyperspace destroys the continuity - how could Leia pretend not to be part of the rebellion when her ship had just undocked and flew out of a battle with her crew knowing that Vader witnessed them??
I do think the knowledge that the scenes and dialogue from the trailers was removed has jaded me, particularly as I went to Star Wars Celebration and the anecdote Edwards gave about recording with James Earl Jones saying ‘power’ didn’t really happen, well at least the word was said by Vader, but not with any emphasis so I really hope the original cut was trash, because I really enjoyed what we got in the theatre.
The Vader Texas Chainsaw Massacre?! What the hell? And nothing is as bad and hokey as the special edition Mos Eisley scenes in Star Wars. Well maybe the two changed musical numbers in Return Of The Jedi.