delericho
Legend
I just saw the new trailer for Rogue One, and I'm excited. The film looks good. Heck, it may be better than The Force Awakens.
Star Wars Rogue One
I do like the direction of the new films, but....I feel that they haven't nailed it.
...
Although I don't want to go back to the atmosphere of the prequels, I'm thinking, "Where's the WONDER?"
At the moment, they're playing it safe. There was a huge backlash against the prequels, and there was the potential for an even bigger one here (because Disney bought the series and then they produced this?). So for "The Force Awakens" they went for "Star Wars Greatest Hits", and produced something that was much like the old trilogy, remixed. And for "Rogue One" they are revisiting the original trilogy directly, filling in the gaps around how the Rebels stole the Death Star plans.
I'd expect Episode VIII to take a few more risks, and then for the other anthology films to go still further afield. And I think that's a good strategy - build a solid foundation on which to work, and then expand. Just like they did "Iron Man" and "Captain America: the First Avenger", long before "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Ant Man" - people enjoyed the latter two films, but the first two were the easier sell.