Never mind the quality, feel the width. This just about sums up Zack Snyder's bash at building a Star Wars universe that can't sit still, but also can't go forward as it has no real direction.
This fantasy space-saga is what Rick Astley is to pop music. Perfectly fine in short bursts, but the pre-rendered element of it forces too many cracks in the genre to call it anything other than a generic and uninspired cash grab.
I really wanted to love this. I was ready for a new opera of blasters and freedom fighters and this does indeed look the part, with some imaginative friends and foes as well as beautifully rendered worlds on which this all takes place, but the whole thing smacks of Snyder loving the genre so much that he was inspired to do it himself, but really in reality, doesn't have the cajones for it, despite his best slow motion, lens-flared efforts.
So, a bit disappointing, but still bearable and I sat through the entire thing, which I will do again when part two comes to our screens next year, but not because it's great, but because I love the genre. What he lacks here is a huge soulless hole, cosily embraced by an equally huge budget that flatters to deceive. Shame, as this could have been quite something.
In the hurry to get it out there for everyone to marvel at, there is reason to ask for calm, to slow down, to do it properly. I wonder how much more satisfying this would have been if Netflix had commissioned eight episodes instead of two movies?