What Tycho is saying here is so maddeningly true:
There is a lot to like about Rogue One, but it’s true; you can’t actually talk about Rogue One. Not meaningfully; it’s very Fight Club. Unless you and the person you’re talking to have seen it, virtually everything is a spoiler. I’ve heard it said that this is the first movie to take the franchise heritage as a document of War seriously, but that’s what you write when you want to “start a conversation.” In truth, this movie isn’t even in the same genre as the tentpole Star Wars films, which explains practically everything about the change in tone.
I’m shocked by how well people have been managing to keep out the details from this movie; possibly last year’s donnybrook over The Force Awakens spoilers taught some valuable lessons. Which is frankly bizarre to contemplate, but there you are. I figure that I ought to let people who have scheduled Christmas break to go see the film go see it, but sometime next week there WILL be a spoiler-laden post on the subject. Fair warning.