No, I really mean that. As Roger Ebert once said, a film is only as good as its villain(s), and while for my money Ma-Rey Sue is a far worse character than Space Katniss, I'll just break down the villains and show you what I mean.
I'll try to avoid spoilers for the second half of Rogue One.
See, both films have an unholy triumvirate of evil, namely, a Sith Lord, a Guy Who Runs The Big Murdersphere, and their CGI boss.*
*Sidebar, totally irrelevant to this, but an additional reason why I find Zombie Tarkin so unnerving: in the three years leading up to A New Hope, it was common practice on Doctor Who to have a human collaborate with this month's alien invaders. This allowed someone to act opposite the Doctor without distracting the audience with really cheap effects. You'll notice that, deliberately or not, Tarkin fills this role in A New Hope (he only encounters one hero, Princess Leia, and in the scene that he does, notice that he is the only Imperial character who has any lines once she enters - even Vader buttons up!), but come Rogue One, suddenly he's the distracting effect.
Now, I have some massive quibbles with the way Vader's little meeting with Krennic goes down. Darth Vader is a g*ddamn Sith Lord. He should not be given political-intrigue lines like "there is no Death Star." Vader is not an infodump character dammit! But Vader's brief appearance reminds you that Kylo Ren is nothing but a sad, sorry knockoff. And as ridiculous as infodumping political intrigue is, Vader never crouches down on his haunches to talk to a captive. I mean come on. As for the "choke" pun, come on guys, Vader's dry sense of humor was on display in the OT ("Apology accepted, Captain Needa," etc.).
Krennic... it's like somebody realized how pathetic General Hux was (arguably the fault of a tragically miscast Domhnall Gleeson, but it's not like he was given much to go on beyond "Sorority Girl version of Tarkin on quadruple espresso") and decided to actually make that character work. Orson Krennic has a no good very bad day, and while his shuttle does magically travel at the speed of, and navigate entirely in accordance with the demands of, plot, it is entertaining to watch his character just suffer a massive breakdown.
As for Tarkin vs. Snoke, no contest. We already know who Tarkin is, so the movie's cheating a little bit there. But we know what his motivations are - he wants to crrrush the rrrebellion with one swift strrroke, and he knows that he's the man for the job. Snoke is the leader of the Dark Side Club and wants to haze Kyle Ren by making him kill his parents. Sure, whatever.
So you might think the characters of The Force Awakens are better than the ones in Rogue One. You know, if you're stupid.
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