So after seeing the film for a second time I feel I can write a good review.
First things first, the story. The first time I saw it I agreed with some of you, the beginning felt a little rushed with the jump cutting to different planets, however upon second viewing it didn't bother me as much. It only lasted a few minutes and gave way to the main story fairly quickly. After that little bit of jumpy, it felt like a solid build up of pace, slowly increasing until the big final showdown. This movie definitely requires a second viewing to catch everything, especially with the radio bit at the end. I was confused as to what was going on the first time, but this time it made far more sense as I was able to pay more attention to what exactly was said. To me it seems like small transmissions, like radio, could get through the shield, but large data-files could not.
I thought Jyn's transition was fine, her already being something of a freedom fighter as it was helped. To me is was basically her turning her back for survival, but when presented with a worthy purpose she couldn't help but get involved. I thought is was nice to see a darker side of the Rebellion in the form of Cassian Andor. When he shot that rebel informant I was shocked, and when he refused to kill Galen Erso was a nice bit of development. He seemed like a war weary vet, doing what he feels necessary regardless of how he feels about it. Chirrut and Baze have some of my favorite moments in the film, and I feel that they were a nice way to bring the force into the film. He didn't need to use it, just let it guide him, and Baze finally coming around at the end was a nice moment. K-2SO stole the show, he was a terrific, the perfect comic relief for this type of movie. Overall I feel that the story was solid and fits perfectly within the established canon, while it definietly had a few things that you could make sense of on futher viewings. definitely in my top 3 Star Wars story wise.
now for the technical stuff.
The score was... okay. Yeah, okay is the best way to describe it. I won't be too terribly critical of the score since the composer did have to bang it out in 4 weeks. It had a few too many modern action movie music tropes in it, like when there is a moment of suspense it dissolves into repeating, increasing pace, base tones, where as Williams would have probably made something more dynamic. But it wasn't the worst score I've ever heard.
The camera work was very nice, classic at time, "documentary" war movie style at others. Thankfully no overuse of shaky cam as many war films do now-a-days.
Visual effects were absolutely stunning! Many of the ships looked as good as the models did in the OT, I am convinced that it was all in the lighting and the fact that things seemed less reflective than typical CGI (unless they actually decided to use models in some shots, which would surprise the heck out of me). K-2SO was equally impressive, I can honestly say that I NEVER questioned his existence on screen, probably the best Mo-Cap/CGI character I've ever seen, and Alan Tudyk's performance was terrific. I was very impressed with Tarkin, and more-so with Leia. Tarkin's facial movements were dodgy at times, but overall I was impressed (don't get the whole creepy thing some are saying, but that is just me). The practical effects are just as impressive, all the creatures were great, as well as the sets.
All the cameos were just right. Vader was used just enough and in all the right ways, as was Tarkin. I loved seeing Red and Gold Leaders, if anything that part made me smile the most.
If you couldn't tell, I really liked this movie, and even more so the second time around. It is exactly what I was hoping for with Rogue One