My wife and I were sitting in Chipotle after seeing Rogue One yesterday, and a funny thing happened: We didn't really have much to talk about. This is becoming an increasing problem generally, of course, but it was still surprising. In many ways I liked Rogue One better than The Force Awakens, but we had a lot more to say about the latter (she liked it a lot more than I did).
The best way I can summarize my thoughts on Rogue One is that it was a better story than The Force Awakens, but I had a lot less fun watching it. Character development was non-existent, but at the same time it felt like the stakes were much more real. I don't know as this was intentional, but the fact that the story ended up ultimately being a bunch of generics who all had to do stuff in order to win the day was, to me, a better depiction of war than we usually get. This was overall the first movie in the franchise that was actually about the Wars part.
The Force Awakens was so mind-bogglingly safe that I kind of regret seeing it, even if I had a decent amount of fun during the movie itself. The characters were charming, but there was no real sense of danger once it became clear that the needs of the story would alter characters' abilities. We go from the Force being something that you have to work really hard at to something that just sort of happens to you. They also made far too many references to the original trilogy while at the same time having a weird offshoot villian (and faction) that made no sense. You can feel the stakes a lot more in Rogue One, and they did a good job of showing the rebellion as being outgunned. That to me is where the emotional core came from, not from the main character's relationship with her dad, which was completely vapid. The references to the original trilogy were far fewer and shorter, even if they were often just as unnecessary. Also, CGI Peter Cushing was every bit as bad as I had heard. He deserved a lot better (although at least the shoes fit).
But back to Rogue One. Overall, the first hour or so was pretty dull, but there were some interesting things happening towards the end that started to work for me. So I don't know. One of the reviews I saw after the fact said that you can't really do anything with Star Wars anymore, and I've become increasingly convinced that this is the case. I don't know what the fan community is really like in terms of a tolerance for straying away from the originals, although given the popularity of the now-non-canon Extended Universe I expect it's higher than people think. Honestly if they'd done movies of The Thrawn Trilogy, I think we'd be much happier with the results. But Rogue One feels like a first tentative toe in the water, finally leaving the entirely safe place that was Episode VII.
So should you see it? Honestly, if it weren't for the boycott by white supremacists and Trump suppoters, I would say no. But with this kind of recommendation, how can we say no?
Saw it. Liked it. Left satisfied and felt like it corrected some good plot holes/questions/quibbles from the original film. I hope now, that we've had our darker and grittier Star Wars film, fans will be satisfied and stop asking for a fark, gritty Star Wars depiction.
My wife joked that this was the only reason they made it.ome good plot holes/questions/quibbles from the original film
I loved the action setup at the end...even though I was underwhelmed by the movie as a whole, that last bit was one of my favorite moments in the whole Star Wars franchise. In a way, the lack of characterization that I've complained about elsewhere kind of helped it. I really liked the fact that we saw lots of people all doing their little part, and the fact that they were all fairly generic and forgettable is kind of interesting in the context of a war movie.
I actually found myself in tears at several moments in this film. I've seen it twice now and the second time it was much better than the first. I'd give this film a 9/10. Force Awakens an 8/10. A non Star Wars fan may not like it as much as I did, but I thought it was stellar. You're right regarding character development though. It's more about plot development. The way the story unfolds and ties right in to A New Hope is amazing See itnot from the main character's relationship with her dad, which was completely vapid.
-interesting. I actually thought that the longing between them seemed palpable. The scene where she sees his hologram and she buckles with emotion, was very well done. I was in tears.
(Spoilers follow.) I thought that scene was well-acted (and about the only time Felicity Jones really gets to do anything), but it wasn't enough for me to really feel the relationship. I can get it on an intellectual level, of course, but it wasn't enough to make me as invested as I'd like to be, especially since we have no idea who Jyn actually was. We're just supposed to take it on faith that she had an emotional bond to her father, which again i can get on some very generic level, but the movie just asks us to take its word for it. (The scene was also hurt by its close proximity to Forest Whittaker's character's truly bizarre decision to commit suicide for no reason.) As for the end, I found it tied too well into A New Hope. This is why prequels almost never truly work: they always try so hard to connect perfectly to everything that they end up shrinking the universe they're a part of. And here it felt a little shoehorned. Why was Leia's ship docked in the flagship to begin with? Why did they just let her ship go without even firing a shot at it? It felt like they had this setpiece at the end that they wanted to do and then realized they needed to connect it to Episode IV. I would've been happier if they'd left that part more vague instead.
Spoilers: The beginning of the film, Galen tells her that everything he does, he does for her. Given his trajectory this must have confused her wildly. Then, his explanation of his actions is such an amazing moment for her. This film leaves a lot for the viewer to color in. Whereas, TFA spoonfeeds us but leaves a couple huge mysteries. Both are great films but are two different types of story telling. As a father, I don't think it takes a huge leap of faith to assume that Jin and Galen have a strong bond. I was moved by their storyline. I'm not sure why they didn't fire at Leia's ship. Could be it was marked as a diplomatic ship and therefore would have been problematic for the empire to outright destroy. You'll recall that in episode 4, they're supposed to be on a "diplomatic mission." -Who knows.... a small criticism in what I thought was a solid storyline and a criticism that it "tied too well" in to episode 4 seems harsh. It's like saying "you did too good of a job." Damned if you do and damned if you don't. The characters weren't super well developed but their interactions with one another were such that I was able to color in the backstory. You don't need to know about the guardians of the kyber temple and their history to know that Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malays have a long and solid history of friendship and comraderie. Like brothers. I was able to connect with every character in this film, with the exception of some of the rebel leaders. My biggest criticism of the film is the scene when the rebels are deciding what to do after Jin brings back te info re the deakthstar. Pretty rushed and unconvincing deliberations. -Had they nailed that, it would have been a 10/10. I loved it. Obviously. :)
Re: tying things together too well, what I mean is basically that...this single event at the end of Rogue One dovetailed too precisely with the beginning of Episode IV. Real life is far more chaotic than that, and things don't really line up that succinctly most of the time. It just feels contrived to me. The relationship thing was surprising to me too, to be honest...I'm the father of a daughter myself, so I expected it to resonate, but it just fell flat emotionally for me. I generally enjoy movies that trust the audience enough not to spoon-feed us everything, but Rogue One for me went too far the other way, and didn't give us enough little details. I was also just plain bored for the first hour or so, and I think this is part of why. It relied too heavily for my taste on our filling in the blanks and just assuming things about the characters without doing enough to establish them. This also meant that the completely bizarre decisions a couple of the characters make (thinking specifically of Forest Whittaker's guy and Jyn's mom shooting first when that was obviously not going to do any good) stand out that much more, because there's so little to contrast them. I didn't dislike it, and as I said I think it's better overall than Episode VII. I'm glad they're at least tepidly attempting some new storylines and new ideas within the universe, and I hope this represents the beginning of a trend. They just haven't quite gotten there yet for me.
Agreed to the end of leaving it off so close to the beginning of A New Hope it left a lot to be nit-picked. On the whole, seeing how the protagonists were left in the end, I felt there was so much room to stray from the usual trope of American films with regards to her father. To end the film in a way which allowed the completion of the tale regarding the rebellion retrieving the information of the Death Star was brilliantly done, in my opinion. I guess I'm just dissatisfied with how relationships could have played out (spoiler) like her getting more time with her father given the end result. It would have landed a lot more to the emotion of the relationship, which I didn't see much of either. I can also agree with the seemingly obligatory callbacks being a bit cheesy (but enjoyable for sure) given the scenes' context the pair from the Cantina on Jehda (who I realized must have been a different pair, given the ending scenes on Jehda). :( . Guess I'm more giving my final rant here rather than a full on comment, but what did you guys think of the costume's allusions to modern day people, events and battles? Specifically, the rebel army's WWII/Vietnam Era helmets and allusions to storming a beach and the rebels on Jehda's distinct middle eastern freedom fighter garb? I wasn't sure whether that made sense in the universe. Then again, perhaps I'm letting details getting in the way of storytelling.
These actually made it feel more real to me, because it brought to mind current things which the story could then piggy-back on. It was jarring in a couple places (one Rebel soldier's helmet was too much of a copy of a U.S. military helmet, complete with the chinstrap dangling on either side), but overall didn't bug me. It was also nice to see competent weapon handling for a change.but what did you guys think of the costume's allusions to modern day people, events and battles?