JEDIT: Realized what thread I’m in. Some mild Rogue One spoilers.
In many ways Cassian works better. You basically get the gist of what he’s all about in his first few scenes. He’s a spy for the Rebel alliance, going on missions and finding info for the cause. He doesn’t care what he has to do in the name of fighting the Empire, even if that means killing people in cold blood.
Jyn on the other hand, it’s a bit more confusing. We know that she loses her parents to the Empire at an early age and that Forest Whitaker takes her in (though it’s unclear at the time who this person is). Then we see her 15 years later and she’s in Imperial prison. Why? It’s kind of explained a bit later in the Yavin briefing scene, but it’s still unclear what kind of life this person is living. We don’t really get the full picture until about 30 minutes into the film or so when she finally meets up with Saw, and we get it, she used to be a rebel for him, she was abandoned, and now she’s going it alone, avoiding the fight. But then she changes her mind in the next scene. There’s a compelling character there but it’s mishandled.
It all comes down to the structure of the film being off in the first act especially. Everything jumps around so much it’s nearly impossible to figure the status quo, so that once the plot kicks in and we get moving, it’s hard for us to be invested as we can’t completely connect to the protagonist. Cassian almost works as another protagonist but not totally, because the conflict isn’t there - it’s almost just another mission for him. If more was made of the fact that Jyn was going along being a bad idea than maybe, but otherwise he’s supporting a character we can’t yet relate to.
And if it’s not a film about the characters and it’s more generally about the Rebellion, they drop that ball a bit too. Again the status quo isn’t totally there. We could see the thumb the galaxy is under and the small victories the Rebellion is gaining… and then bam now there’s a Death Star to quell that and how will the Alliance face it? There’s a way to make the Alliance itself the protagonist but the first act’s so jumbled that doesn’t work either.
Thankfully things come into focus on Jedha and the rest of the second act is very solid I think. However, the third act, even with it’s near perfect action sequences, fumbles again. Cassian’s character is never challenged beyond trusting Jyn, which as mentioned before, is not a thread that is fully developed. They could have delved further into his morality but it basically boils down to “I’ve done some fucked up shit so yeah I’m still in all the way.” It’s frustrating because it’s all staggeringly close to the main theme they want the film to have: “hope.” Problem is, just because they say it all the time doesn’t make it so, it has to come about through the text of the film. They could have done this organically through Jyn - the pieces are there, she used to be in but she lost all hope. But again they bungle it by having her do a 180 within a single scene. And they could have done it with the Rebellion as the de facto protagonist, but again without the solid foundation of the status quo, and without the feeling of a looming Death Star threatening the existence of the Alliance throughout the film (and not just in one scene where they air their thoughts), the resolution of the third act just isn’t there.
