Rogue One - Thumbs Up

I went to the first local showing of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I didn't want any spoilers to come my way and I knew that they would be coming at me if I waited for the weekend when I usually go to the movies. Paying the premium and ahead of time was a good decision.

So I'm not going to ruin it for anyone else with important spoilers but I will say:

Yes, some familiar characters make appearances. Technology is almost there where you can believe you are looking at the same person you saw almost 40 years ago. 

A lot of the scenes in trailers were not in the movie. I would be interested in how many changes were made--how the story evolved during production.

Now that I've seen how people have have rated this against other Star Wars movies, I would have to disagree with them. I would place this in the middle of the pack. From favorite to least:

• The Empire Strikes Back
• A New Hope
• Return of the Jedi
• Rogue One
• The Force Awakens
• Revenge of the Sith
• The Phantom Menace
• Attack of the Clones