[spoilers] Another thing I haven't seen mentioned about why the film works so well...

We actually experience the Death Star from the surface of a planet being destroyed by it. We've not experienced that before in Star Wars.We saw Alderaan get destroyed, but it was just a planet from far away. In Rogue One, we see the destructive force from the perspective of those in its path: Not once, but twice.It helps with that whole idea of this movie being from the perspective of the regular people in the Star Wars universe, and it makes the destruction of Alderaan that much more agonizing when you see it happen.We know how devastating the Death Star is now, because we've been among its victims and have a real emotional connection to people it's killed. It makes Ep. IV that much higher stakes.Dammit I loved this movie. via /r/StarWars http://ift.tt/2i6yti0