He likes the classic good vs. evil. "Rogue One" had heroes who openly admitted that they'd done some terrible things for their cause (assassination, sabotage, etc.). There's a bad guy who is actually a good guy (Jyn's father) who is working both for and against the Empire. read more
Too early to tell. The Empire Strikes Back got a lot of criticism for being slow in large parts, but it’s grown in esteem to become the de facto best Star Wars movie. We’ll see what happens with Rogue One. A discussion with friends today revealed that two of them, at least one who calls himself a Star Wars fan, utterly hated it. read more
The end of The Empire Strikes Back and death of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are a few examples from a long list. Fortunately Rogue One: A Star Wars Story understands this, and is a film that hits everything supposed to be Star Wars. read more
Granted, comparing a Star Wars movie to Empire Strikes Back has started to become a generic compliment that basically just means "we're trying to make this as good as possible." (Adam Driver recently compared Episode VIII to ESB as well). read more