2) Rebel Fleet To The Rescue
It’s not Star Wars without a climax revolving around a band of rebels battling against the might of the Empire, right? While The Force Awakens might have overdone the nostalgia factor in some areas, Rogue One hit the balance just right in its big climactic battle sequence.
As Rogue One are busy on Scarif, trying to retrieve the Death Star plans, the Rebel fleet engages with the Imperial forces in the skies above the planet. When Jyn needs the shield around the planet to be broken so that she can transmit the plans, the Rebels manage to use a Star Destroyer as a battering ram to save the day.
The result is a truly triumphant scene. Gareth Edwards has to be commended for doing such a terrific job at not just relying on nostalgia but infusing the action with a more modern sense of scale and grit. The awesomeness of the scene is only increased by the use of some deleted sequences from A New Hope, just to add to the feeling that this is the same group of rebels that soon after attacked the Death Star.