Official Star Wars: Rogue One thread

Just got home from seeing it.


Ho


Lee


Shit!





I have read a lot of "Empire level good" comments, and I thought that had to be way too generous. Nope, it was Empire good. Like all SW films, it had some flaws and missteps, but they were minor and ultimately inconsequential in this case.

This film raised the bar as high as it's been since 1980. Period.

Too good not to go see again
 


Start at 6:48 to skip the intro and sponsor's ad. In-depth all-spoilers analysis discussing the entire film, as a Star Wars story, as a movie, and including most major scenes and storylines.
 
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Saw it this morning and it's a hard "meh." Looked better than Force Awakens with a few exceptions...the flea market Halloween Vader costume, cartoon Tarkin, cartoon Carrie, some of the establishing shots, etc.

The OMG Vader scene at the end was pointless fan service for people with faulty imaginations.

This movie reminded me why it's hard to care about the rebellion...because they're terrible strategists and decision makers who have no business running a galaxy. And it's a good thing the galaxy is a war torn hell hole where the only industry is superweapons and orphan production...because ain't no one motivated to do nothing unless their folks die/turn evil.

I thought Force Awakens was an enjoyable enough popcorn flick. It was Star Wars flavored, but not actually 100% real Star Wars. This thing was kind of like a lovingly produced fan film. The performances by the leads in Force
Awakens were definitely more engaging (if a little zany at points). This thing was kind of a generic action thing with a Star Wars skin. They also missed an opportunity for a rollicking Star Wars heist movie.

When everything is Star Wars, do we even need Star Wars? There's some weird '70s muppet mojo missing from these new flicks. Seems like everyone is taking it all so seriously. They need to toss a maniac and some b-list actors in a hellish remote location with some spaceship models and tell them they can't come home until they do something truly strange.

A number of story elements and emotional moments in this film were profoundly silly.
 
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Saw it today.

Liked. A LOT.

MUCH better than TFA, and TFA wasn't horrible.

What I can't understand are some of the online reviews elsewhere - while there are some good, on-point reviews, there is also some very, very negative reviews that I can't understand the vitriol from whence them came.

Anyway, solidly top 3 of the franchise - hell, maybe even top 2.
 
Just saw it tonight with my 12 year old. He initially hated it because everyone died...not his thing. He already began appreciating it more overall before heading to bed tonight.

The end seen with Leia had me on verge of tears now that Carrie is gone. An inadvertent but lovely tribute to her.

The scene in Jedha with the tank was very reminiscent of current tactics in the real conflicts in the Middle East. The annihilation of Jedha and Scarif hauntingly reflect the devastation wrought by Fat Man and Little Boy...complete decimation of a city and the lives within.

This movie did not shy away from nor minimize the real horrors and losses that war brings. Further it shown a bright light on all of the horrible things that even the "good guys" do to win. The righteous do as many awful things as the evil during war...it is simply unavoidable. Anti-war sci-fi, I dig it.

Very gritty. Great acting. Tarkin CGI was off. Leia's was spot on.
 
The wife and I took the kids to see it today. The Leia scene was sad with her passing today.

My youngest, is super emotional, and as the end came, I felt bad not warning her. After it was over, I apologized and she said,"dad I knew they were all going to die or they would have been in Episode IV." She cracks me up.
 
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Notes for a better Rogue One:

First we're gonna simplify the plot(s) and motivations.

Pilot defects directly to local branch of rebellion on whatever shithole planet you like. Passes from group to group until he gets to Yavin and spills the beans about the the flaw/shows a hologram/whatever. The only copy of the plans are in the hands of the construction crew aboard the almost finished Death Star orbiting about whatever place. The scientist/whomever will only give the plans directly to a member of the rebellion...who can get access to him by delivering this pilot back to him in an attempt to collect a sizable bounty. Pilot is unhappy about being played.

Rebels are aware of the Death Star but haven't been able to do anything about it despite having a man on the inside. The Senate believes that it is just an urban legend...a conspiracy theory. This is their chance to finally do something about a looming threat.

Rebels break Jyn outta slave camp or brig belonging to smugglers/pirates/Jabba/whatever. Why?!? She's a bounty hunter, but also known not to be currently on the Imperial payroll. The rebellion offers her the bounty, plus payment and freedom if she'll provide cover by making the swap and returning with the plans. If we must have additional characters (e.g., Blind Jedi Kung Fu dude, break him out with Jyn and she's indebted to him or something).

They're off to Death Star construction site.

Empire is pissed about the security breach. Director K is a science officer, an R&D guy, a poor kid who worked his way up in the Empire through smarts and hard work. And now it's all going to hell over a pilot. He had hoped for a promotion to a proper military command vs a dead end science officer's career. But because of the leak, the Empire is sending goddamn Darth Vader to do an "audit."

Vader shows up, and after some bluster, he surprises the Director by suggesting that they might work together in some sort of power grab to keep Tarkin (WHO YOUR ARE NEVER GOING TO GODDAMN SEE IN THIS MOVIE) and his Imperial faction from taking control of the Death Star and gaining more clout in the eyes of the Emperor.

Jyn and the pilot arrive at the wherever and demand to see science traitor commander person. The pilot is hustled off to the brig. Jyn and the traitor have a talk. He explains that he doesn't exactly have the plans, but knows how to steal them. So he expects her to help with the heist and then bust him, the pilot, and the rebel's inside man out of the facility. Oh, by the way this means going up to the Death Star and doing a bunch of spy/heist movie stuff.

She's introduced to Diego Luna--who is the Rebels' man inside--and his faithful droid Sarcasm 3000. Then they hatch a plan and basically have a heist/spy/chase movie on the Death Star while Vader is lurking around choking people and basically being an asshole because of this security leak...and because he's pissed off about doing this shitwork for Tarkin's pet project.

They break the pilot out. They steal the plans. Shit happens. They are about to escape. Setback. All hell breaks loose. There's some sacrifices and Jyn alone escapes with the plans which she delivers to the rebels. They try to get her to join the rebellion or else to take a pay cut/waive her fee because they're a noble cause. She says "Fuck that...lose my number" and rides off into the sunset.

Vader reports the loss of the plans to the Emperor who is like..."You fucked up. Fix it . First place to look is prolly by shaking down known rebel allies in the senate." He's on his way to go kick in heads and Director K is like, "Hey, what about our plan..." Vader's like "nope...pack your bags for the prison colony...I'm blaming this screw up on you."

ROLL CREDITS

No one hugs while worlds explodes. No one is sad about their daddy. Jyn is a professional and is probably put off by how slapdash both the Empire and the Rebellion are about their business and how they expect causes to trump the individual...espcecially when both causes are depicted as morally gray...or grayer than in previous installments. Or something. There's plenty of room here for real characterization vs mere backstory.
 
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baimun said:
I just realized how appropriate it is that Rogue One came out in 2016....


EVERYBODY DIES

FML. :facepalm:
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I don't think you needed to hide that. Like I said in my post, my 11 year old knew going in, everyone dies or they would have been in Episode IV :grin:
 
I liked it. Gritty and dark. Takes the franchise in another direction. This is good as now we can have adult Star Wars, kids Star Wars, and actual Star Wars that tries to please everybody.

Loved badass Vader slaughtering the rebels. It's pure Vader porn for the fans and makes no sense in relation to the beginning of Episode III, but fuck it, a genuinely terrifying Vader!

My biggest complaint was the CGI humans. Might be OK on a smaller screen but I watched it on a giant laser IMAX in 3D, and the pixels showed.
 
Finally saw it last night.

TFA was better. Sorry.

By the time we actually start to care about any of the characters, they're beginning to be killed off.

They should have followed the formula of The Dirty Dozen, taken its sweet time with a light-hearted first 2/3, and then stuck the landing.

Instead, it was like Peter Jackson's Star Wars: The Battle for the Floppy Disc Drive - Director's Cut Extended Edition.

TFA got a ton of criticism for following the plot of ANH beat by beat. But that shit was smart and deliberate, because you got to know the characters and you didn't have to worry at all about midochlorians or galactic senate or trade union bullshit. Rogue One had to spend a lot of time ensuring that the audience could follow every plot line.

Will also give credit to TFA for following the original trilogy's recipe in terms of the ratios for world-building and Wagnerian mythology and mysticism to quiet conversation to humour to action-heavy set-pieces.

And, for me, the action isn't why I'm there; I'm there for everything else. Nor do I think that the actiony set-pieces in Rogue One were particularly good. If they were, then I'd be pretty delighted and happy. See: Mad Max: Fury Road

I suspect that when I rewatch Rogue One, I'll find it more and more boring.

6/10

PS - loved the droid
 
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Flamencology said:
Finally saw it last night.

TFA was better. Sorry.

By the time we actually start to care about any of the characters, they're beginning to be killed off.

They should have followed the formula of The Dirty Dozen, taken its sweet time with a light-hearted first 2/3, and then stuck the landing.

Instead, it was like Peter Jackson's Star Wars: The Battle for the Floppy Disc Drive - Director's Cut Extended Edition.

TFA got a ton of criticism for following the plot of ANH beat by beat. But that shit was smart and deliberate, because you got to know the characters and you didn't have to worry at all about midochlorians or galactic senate or trade union bullshit. Rogue One had to spend a lot of time ensuring that the audience could follow every plot line.

Will also give credit to TFA for following the original trilogy's recipe in terms of the ratios for world-building and Wagnerian mythology and mysticism to quiet conversation to humour to action-heavy set-pieces.

And, for me, the action isn't why I'm there; I'm there for everything else. Nor do I think that the actiony set-pieces in Rogue One were particularly good. If they were, then I'd be pretty delighted and happy. See: Mad Max: Fury Road

I suspect that when I rewatch Rogue One, I'll find it more and more boring.

6/10

PS - loved the droid
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I can accept this.

I will add though, that age colors your perspective somewhat. Not that your criticisms aren't valid, but the flaws are part of SW cannon at this point. They are to be expected if not embraced.

For me, it's like being taken back to being a 5 or 6 year old kid in a way, and I can imagine seeing this film before ANH. It does a great job of softening how abrupt ANH begins, and finally relieves some of the mystery of what led up to that very abrupt opening scene... which the prequels did not even begin to address. I see it like a 4 hour Directors cut of ANH that we never got... at my age, being the quintessential SW target demographic, it had me from "hello".

The droid was funny, but played out. Too similar to C3P0 in overall snarky irritating twat quotient. Like Liam Gallagher to Noel... both dicks, but there can be only one.
 
OGG said:
I can accept this.

I will add though, that age colors your perspective somewhat. Not that your criticisms aren't valid, but the flaws are part of SW cannon at this point. They are to be expected if not embraced.

For me, it's like being taken back to being a 5 or 6 year old kid in a way, and I can imagine seeing this film before ANH. It does a great job of softening how abrupt ANH begins, and finally relieves some of the mystery of what led up to that very abrupt opening scene... which the prequels did not even begin to address. I see it like a 4 hour Directors cut of ANH that we never got... at my age, being the quintessential SW target demographic, it had me from "hello".

The droid was funny, but played out. Too similar to C3P0 in overall snarky irritating twat quotient. Like Liam Gallagher to Noel... both dicks, but there can be only one.
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Its funny, when we left Rogue One, my wife said, I guess that was a 2 hour explanation of why it was so easy to blow up the Death Star :grin:
 
OGG said:
I can accept this.

I will add though, that age colors your perspective somewhat. Not that your criticisms aren't valid, but the flaws are part of SW cannon at this point. They are to be expected if not embraced.

For me, it's like being taken back to being a 5 or 6 year old kid in a way, and I can imagine seeing this film before ANH. It does a great job of softening how abrupt ANH begins, and finally relieves some of the mystery of what led up to that very abrupt opening scene... which the prequels did not even begin to address. I see it like a 4 hour Directors cut of ANH that we never got... at my age, being the quintessential SW target demographic, it had me from "hello".

The droid was funny, but played out. Too similar to C3P0 in overall snarky irritating twat quotient. Like Liam Gallagher to Noel... both dicks, but there can be only one.
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I can't see your point. I've been a Star Wars fan since childhood, which is more than a quarter-century at this point, and I really don't feel that Rogue One's formula, content, and tone are anything like that of the original trilogy's.

This was more like a lighthearted Saving Private Ryan with jokes and aliens.

Prequel trilogy fucking sucked, so of course anything will feel like a masterpiece compared to them.
 
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Finally saw it last night. Completely enthralled and entertained for a solid 2.5 (?) hours.

One question, in Episode IV Mon Mothma says many Bothan spies have their lives to get the Death Star plans. Did they get-con the Bothan species into something else? I didn't see any donkey face Bothans in the movie?

Vader tearing through the rebel soldiers at the end was worth the price of admission and the price of taking the mrs. Out to dinner first.
 
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