discussion Rogue One !!Spoilers!! Discussion Thread

[LystAP]

Vader's pun was pretty awful.

That whole scene was unnecessary.

 

The character of Saw was also transparently an attempt to add moral ambiguity to the film, a redundancy. They couldn't put a torturer in the Alliance so they made him a Rebel apart from the Rebels. The part where they for some reason needed to take the message to him rather than just the Rebels proper was weird. It would have made more sense for them to intercept the transport pilot, kidnap him and interrogate him themselves. 

 

A general issue that's somewhat understandable. We're in a era where the line between 'rebels' and 'terrorists' are somewhat blurred. Especially since irl, the 'good guys' are often the ones with the overpowering army, and the 'bad guys' are the underdog.  

 

Also note, this is Disney. They expect children to watch this show, although parts were graphic, it was always somewhat clear who the bad guys were and who the good guys were. I think they cut-out the hammerhead blowing up with the Star Destroyers to avoid the whole suicide ramming trigger. We also probably wouldn't see the A-wing crashing into the Super Star Destroyer bridge in this era.

[Aya]

I enjoyed it!  I felt less enthused about the film than I did during the high points of my first watching of Awakens, but it held up its end of the bargain to the very end, and my post-viewing judgement has been much gentler on Rogue One than on Awakens.

 

Overall I think it fits a little below Episode II, and the original trilogy on my Star Wars list.

 

Some thoughts...

 

The first is that its simply not a good movie.  Its charm is entirely in its relationship to a canon established through the original trilogy.  Anyone watching this movie on its own would have, literally, no clue what or why.  It cannot serve as a prequel, and that's a bit of a shame. 

 

The non-stop action allowed for no denouement.  Some of this is due to the film literally moving immediately into A New Hope.  Fair enough, but nonetheless I spent the entire film run wishing I could just take a moment to catch my breath.  Not my usual type of film.

 

The character's actually held together pretty well.  None of them had any real depth, except perhaps the monk and the mercenary (or whatever he was), but one could only sense their depth while gazing in wonder at their easy scene-stealing manner.  This contrasts starkly from Awakens, were literally no new character made any sense whatsoever.

 

It was a tidy little plot that plugged holes left by A New Hopes opening.  I do earnestly like how the Death Star's weakness is now covered.  It makes sense as intentional sabotage.  That didn't save Galen's character from being horribly lame.  But, oh well.

 

I never understood Cassien.  Wasn't he supposed to be the audience stand-in in this one?  I felt so at least, Jyn was clearly too wounded and different by her front-and-center upbringing.  She was the chosen one.  Cassien was... us.  But what the heck man?  I found him pretty much obnoxious and underwhelming throughout.  He was definitely no Han Solo. 

 

The Rebel fleet appearing en masse was -amazing-!. I actually exclaimed in the theater at the sight of it.  There's just nothing like an entire fleet dropping suddenly out of Hyperspace right on top of the enemy... especially when its the good guys!

 

The entire final space battle was terrific.  The ground battle felt, I don't know, incredibly silly?  For such an important installation it sure was poorly defended (where were the fixed defenses?  why was there only like a company of storm troopers?  Why did they abandon exactly what it was they were supposed to be defending in order to fight on... entirely pointless beaches?  I mean entirely pointless. These guys all have SPACE SHIPS, they don't need beaches.  And why are there Storm Troopers with Beach Camo?  Its like someone thought a remake of Saving Private Ryan starring Storm Troopers would be a really cool idea.

 

 I also don't get the whole "go right to the dish to use it" thing. They haven't discovered network cable or something?

 

Speaking of Private Ryan, why aren't there more tanks in Star Wars?  Seems like one of those would have stopped the rebel soldier dudes pretty fast.

 

I like seeing the lesser force-sensitive characters.  I wish Force Awakens had taken this route rather than the Super Hero route it took.  The Force is with me.  I am with the Force.  A little hint of faith in the Force as a spiritual religion.  More plausible and believable than most any other approach to the Force we've seen, yay!

 

I read the comments about the wasted use of Vader (among many weird and out-of-place scenes in this film), and I couldn't agree more.  Like Kylo Renn taking his helmet off early: WHYYYYYYYYYYY?  Sometimes waiting is better. 

 

I feel like they should either have shown the entire construction of the Death Star, or skipped it entirely. Showing only the ray-crater thing being shoved into place was pretty pointless. And is that thing really supposed to be one giant piece?  This isn't a lego set, and I'm just not buying it.  That'd be a hunk of metal the size of a small continent that just happened to fit perfectly into place without need for adjustment or welding.  Not even with Space Magic am I buying that!

 

Taaarkiiiiiiin.. yeeees!

 

Leiaaaa! Yessss!

 

Mon Mooothma, and all these other cameos, YES!

 

I loved the Droid, but he wasn't believable as a droid. Maybe that's just me though...

 

Yo Imperial Guys who join the Rebels (I'm looking at you Mr. Droid, and Bodhi).  AT LEAST REMOVE YOUR IMPERIAL INSIGNIA.  And why did he wear his safety goggles for the entire movie?  Were they afraid we wouldn't recognize him if he took them off?

 

But, really, other than it being a pure-action movie and thus not really up my alley, I enjoyed this film and look forward to seeing it again

[Verad]

Excellent final third of a film, but getting to that third was a hell of a slog.

[Steel Wolf]

About the only low point of the movie for me was Vader punning. Otherwise, I had a great time. Outstanding entry in to the Star Wars canon.

 

That said, ep. VII showed that the new guard can tell awesome stories too, even if that story hit the same old notes. It's time for Star Wars to stop staring mistily at eps. 4-6 and move forward.

[Berrod Armstrong]

I LIKED THE PUN, YOU CURMUDGEONS!!! GIVE THE MAN HIS DAD JOKE

[Dreams of Priapia]

I LIKED THE PUN, YOU CURMUDGEONS!!! GIVE THE MAN HIS DAD JOKE

This. 

 

Also, why are people acting like this is something new? This is what Vader is practically known for in terms of dialogue. Witty, mocking humor that makes his peers and rivals look like little more than the pawns they are. 

 

"Apology accepted, Captain Needa." <--- That line has the exact same sarcastic and dark humor that Vader always shows, and that was definitely captured perfectly in Rogue One. For me, he wasn't Vader until her gave that line. That line made me go: Holy shit, this isn't just an imitation. This is the real thing.

 

09MMbCSwhac

 

 

Also, with great sadness, let us all take a moment to salute the wonderful Carrie Fisher, may she be with the Force.

 

[Seriphyn]

RIP Carrie Fisher.

 

A subtle touch throughout the film was the amount of unnamed bit players and extras who contributed to the overall effort, all the way up to that last crewmember downloading the Death Star plans before Vader could waste them. It was an underlining of the 'regular heroes' over 'superheroes' theme of the movie.

 

Did anyone else think the Hammerhead corvette was a nod to KOTOR? They may have thrown that into the non-canon 'Legends' brand, but Rakata Prime is still canon as it at least comes up in some TFA book stuff.

 

Anyway, I am all for Disney giving Star Wars the MCU treatment. Not sure what people expect otherwise. Watch the same six movies forever?

[Aya]

Also, why are people acting like this is something new? This is what Vader is practically known for in terms of dialogue. Witty, mocking humor that makes his peers and rivals look like little more than the pawns they are. 

 

"Apology accepted, Captain Needa." <--- That line has the exact same sarcastic and dark humor that Vader always shows, and that was definitely captured perfectly in Rogue One. For me, he wasn't Vader until her gave that line. That line made me go: Holy shit, this isn't just an imitation. This is the real thing.

I like this

[Kage]

Did anyone else think the Hammerhead corvette was a nod to KOTOR?

Direct nod on starwars.com regarding the Hammerheads and Princess Leia seen in Star Wars: Rebels. http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-rebels/a-princess-on-lothal-trivia-gallery

 

AFAIK they may be throwing out KOTOR but they're using Rebels as canon since Saw is in there too etc.

[Valence]

Alright, so the host is pretty annoying, but those old interviews are gold:

 

[Aya]

Can I interview a young Harrison Ford please?

 

And Mark Hamill was just adorable!  Thanks for sharing

[Caspar]

The more I think about it, the more that horrible joke makes sense for Vader. But that scene still didn't need to be in the movie. It really detracted from the hallway sequence at the end IMO. I wanted him to be a big surprise. Perhaps a more effective way of doing it would be have Vader obscured by the blinding light he came out of for most of the sequence, or appear as an indistinct black shadow. There's no sense of mystery to maintain for us as viewers because we know the character, but it would be great at reflecting how Vader appears to those in the setting, much like that last sequence.

[LiadansWhisper]

I finally saw this. I absolutely loved it.

 

Just...gosh. So many feels. :cry:

[Tyndles]

I really enjoyed the movie after the first 20 minutes. the exposition there was jumpy and weak. but after that I was absolutely glued to my seat.

 

Other than that, the only real complaint I have about the movie is that CGI people aren't ready to replace real actors. Tarkin was distracting and weird lookin.

[LiadansWhisper]

I really enjoyed the movie after the first 20 minutes. the exposition there was jumpy and weak. but after that I was absolutely glued to my seat.

 

Other than that, the only real complaint I have about the movie is that CGI people aren't ready to replace real actors. Tarkin was distracting and weird lookin.

 

Yeah, it was major uncanny valley.

[Nako Vesh]

I liked the movie because I'm a huge SW fangirl, but I'm really, really disappointed in the lack of backstory and character development. They should have cut more than half the characters out to make room for more development imo. The movie left me feeling a little empty because I wanted to get to know the characters more, form more of an attachment to them.

 

BUT a friend did point out that maybe they wanted you leaving the movie feeling that way. That war leaves you with a feeling of emptiness and lost potential. Lives are cut short before they can even really begin. Maybe. Still, I'd rather have more backstory because it makes the loss have that much more impact.

[Valence]

I found that the story carried a lot of the main cast very well, for what it's worth. Even if I wouldn't definitely have minded more character development... Sometimes a lot of things didn't even need to be said out loud, which I appreciated.

[Martiallais]

Way late to the party on this but while folks didn't seem to enjoy Saw, having followed the Clone Wars series it was great seeing that connection to the main film for me. I kind of hope Rebels doesn't drop the ball on him veering off into 'extremism'. I'd also like to see what happened to leave him all part-machine-ish.

 

To skip rehashing a lot of what others have said I'll ask this, was anyone else hoping that final scene/scenes would be our 'main characters' hopelessly facing off against Vader as he just cut them down one by one? Maybe I'm just a terrible and dark person like that. >_>

 

/incoming that guy moment

And while it doesn't save the places the film dropped the ball, it is worth adding that the book does add a good bit of depth to a number of the characters. I'm currently at the point where the 'Rogue One' ship takes off to get the plans and I enjoyed the added character thoughts/info/etc. So if you liked the movie, I'd say it's worth giving it a try. It reads pretty quickly.

[Kage]

The character development or lack thereof didn't really bother me cause I wasn't expecting much. Rewatch A New Hope and tell me how much more it does.

[Valence]

I initially thought the same but... It does actually. There is a lot more back and forth between characters. Lots of witty (or dumb) lines. Especially the triangle in the Death Star at the end.

[Aya]

I really enjoyed the movie after the first 20 minutes.  the exposition there was jumpy and weak.  but after that I was absolutely glued to my seat.

 

Other than that, the only real complaint I have about the movie is that CGI people aren't ready to replace real actors.  Tarkin was distracting and weird lookin.

I agree with the first point, although I actually liked the opening scene as hard as it was to jump right into, I liked the aesthetic and it did a better job of establishing the regular menace of the Empire than anything in the original trilogy.

 

But I don't agree with the second.  Yes, its obviously not perfect, but I thought that having Tarkin (a wonderful character) added so much continuity and power to this film that a little suspension of disbelief was warranted in terms of accepting his CGIed stand in.   Totally worth it!

 

But I really do like, "What's a Moff?" Tarkin. (Peter Cushing added so much gravitas to A New Hope, and to the Empire itself.  It could not have been the same franchise without him).

[Nako Vesh]

The character development or lack thereof didn't really bother me cause I wasn't expecting much. Rewatch A New Hope and tell me how much more it does.

 

Eh? There's tons more development in A New Hope. I don't really like using examples from RedLetterMedia, but Plinkett's comparison of action scenes has merit. You learn a lot about the characters in A New Hope from just a few lines and actions. Even in Force Awakens we learn so much about Rey in her first twenty minutes, and she barely has any dialogue in her introduction (of course part of that is entirely on the shoulders of Daisy Ridley, who is brilliant). But I also realize Rouge One is an entirely different movie, and my preference for more fleshed out character development is personal.

 

I guess I just wanted to see more of Jyn's life between her rescue and imprisonment. I felt like there was a really good story there. I wanted to be more invested in her. But there's always the novelization for that, I suppose. It's even written by a former Bioware writer!

 

Side note: Even though CGI Leia looked... hokey, I still immediately burst into tears upon seeing her. lmao