Saw it again yesterday. In 2D this time. Still loved it.

Vader's mask still bugged me, still feels like a not quite there cosplay of Vader instead of OHSHITTHATSFUCKINGDARTHFUCKINGVADER. So eh, that end scene was still super badass.

As for Tarkin, there was two-ish shots that NAILED it, that I looked at and went I literally can't tell that's not a real human being. That said, those two shots were ones where he's reacting to something else or only has a word or two to say. Any time he starts speaking the uncanny valley kicks RIGHT in hardcore.

Leia, the effect is good, but more than anything the performance is just really awkward which doesn't help anything. She has the really bizarre turn and stare for a second or two before saying anything. That more than the effect killed it for me. And yeah, there's just something off about the face model, her face seems far too round... like, Carrie Fisher had a bit of baby face going on in ANH, but not THAT much.

Do they not mean Leia??

So I saw it, finally.   A friend had warned me it was awful and I figured that had to be an exaggeration, but I texted her afterward to say she'd been right.   It's not the worst movie I saw this year, but a definite disappointment.

    Now I really regret that DiF the podcast is over, because it'd be fun to autopsy this one.  I had my fix mostly figured out before the end credits were over -  the whole movie should have been the third act.  Start the movie with the Rebels deciding all is lost, and then one ship of wacky misfits says fuck it, there's one thing that might work and we're gonna try for it.  What little back story we needed could have been covered on the flight over - guess what, my dad designed the death star and it's got a weakness, if we can just get hold of the plans.  And off we go.   

Bonus: little to no robo-Tarkin, Vader only at the very end when he was being a badass, and none of whatever was supposed to be happening with Forest Whittaker or any of that other filler in the first hour which didn't affect a single thing that happened afterward.

    It's kinda like how Aliens was a near-perfect movie, and then years later there was a special edition where we found out Ripley used to have a whole dead-daughter back story - that the movie hadn't needed and so we never missed it.   If only Rogue One had had somebody in the room early on who said "guys, the mission is the good part - let's just lose everything before that."  Because once they set out on the REAL mission, Rogue One is actually pretty darn good, and of course I LOVE that every blessed one of 'em died.  That was awesome.   But that first hour... yeeesh.