One thing ksuw and I can agree on pretty fully. It felt like for me it took a while for the movie to get it's legs under it, but once it did (basically from the landing on the planet with the storms and all the scientist on), it sure as hell did. I just think it took long to establish itself, but at least the foundation ended being a good one.
I liked it a lot more than the 7th movie. Which feels more and more too rehashed from the original star wars, as if it wasn't already. At least this story was surprisingly open minded while having to fit within the constraints of leading into a new hope. Which honestly seems to be the opposite of the The Force Awakens, which seemed incredibly closed and tight except for the end after they offed Han and got Rey to Luke which opens the table up for a lot of new things (hopefully), when they could have done totally new, like not needing to destroy an even bigger "death star" etc. etc.
Agreed mostly with the Forest Whitaker part, I think there is something to be said of there being more than one set of rebels, and some are more extreme than others, but really, it was a small part, and his part in the film really doesn't end up having a lot of bearing on the direction of the story, it's more of a side track.
Solidly the best Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi.
