Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Solution! I'm going to see it tonight to judge for myself. Family is going out to look at Christmas lights without me.

"*Heavy Sigh*... OK, i'll take one for the team. I'll go see the Star Wars movie on opening night. Anything for my family."

[stevew]

Still don't get the whole thing where it takes 30 years to build a death Star and 4 years to build a second one

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by stevew

Still don't get the whole thing where it takes 30 years to build a death Star and 4 years to build a second one

Because the infrastructure and knowledge are already there. Part of building something that unique and big would be building the shipyards, construction vessels and more. Plus you'll have set backs, cost overruns, kinks in teh systems that have to be worked out and more. But once you have that infrastructure, knowledge, and everything set up, then you are good togo.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

"*Heavy Sigh*... OK, i'll take one for the team. I'll go see the Star Wars movie on opening night. Anything for my family."

[Ned Doolittle]

I'm going off my memory here but I don't think the 2nd Death Star was fully completed the 2nd time. It looked like it might've been like 70% done.

[Kodos]

I'm pretty sure you're right.

[Neon_Chaos]

I thought the last 10-15 minutes of Rogue One was as close as we've ever come to any sort of "star war" in the entire film universe of Star Wars. Hands down probably the best space battle in Star Wars.

That being said, the first 30 minutes took forever to gain steam, and most of the characters were forgettable. The only character whose name I can remember off the top of my head is K2SO, and that's just because he stole every scene he was in.

[cougarfreak]

I thought the film was fantastic. It ranks up there with #5 for me, and that's my favorite. Characters were good, story did take a bit to get going, but man, did that movie fill in some gaps and add quite a bit to the story. Great film!

[Abe Sargent]

I think part of the differed reactions by some folks out there is due to the marketing of Disney. It's like Fight Club. Who do you market Fight Club to? It was marketed as a fighting film to the WWE shows and stuff like that. That's not what Fight Club is. It's a different genre. The same is true of RO.

The mainline film series is a mythic galactic space opera. It has the same basic structure, with the same basic plots elements taken from a y mythic source with those conventions. For example, of the conventions of the mythic source is that your main character's mentor and tutor has to die, so that the main character can make that transition. So you have Gandalf, Dumbledore, Merlin, Obi Won, Qui Gonn, Yoda, etc either dying or heading off screen for something else. That's part of this myth that the main franchise of SW taps into. And there are many, many more. But that's not Rogue One. It's not a mythic galactic space opera. I would argue it's war film with science fiction trappings. In fact, I'd say its more in the military sci-fi genre. It follows the war film conventions very closely, and does not hit the SW nearly as much. Sure, some of the characters and details and locations will cross over. And I think the ads sort of showed us a fun group of people heading to take on the big bad, and will emerge from it battered but successful. Tha'ts not this film. This is not a film with clear with clear white and black hats, the good guy dropping his lightsaber so as to allow the bad guy to kill him if he wants sort of mythic elements. Everybody's hands are dirty. This is a war film genre, and it follows those conventions instead.

[Ned Doolittle]

Spoiler alert below*****





I think deep down we all knew these characters were going to die only because we would have asked "where were they for Episodes 4-6?" when they were showing the trailers. Still, I didn't think the writers would go there. I too was expecting the last second rescue but the first time they escaped a planet about to explode kinda showed us they weren't going to go to that well a 2nd time, or else the audience would've said "oh great another last second rescue before the planet blew up...where did I see that before?". Great movie all around.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Ned Doolittle

Spoiler alert below*****





I think deep down we all knew these characters were going to die only because we would have asked "where were they for Episodes 4-6?" when they were showing the trailers. Still, I didn't think the writers would go there. I too was expecting the last second rescue but the first time they escaped a planet about to explode kinda showed us they weren't going to go to that well a 2nd time, or else the audience would've said "oh great another last second rescue before the planet blew up...where did I see that before?". Great movie all around.

I tried explaining that to my 10 year old daughter who balled. Didn't take so well.

[law90026]

Actually enjoyed this more than Force Awakens tbh.

It's not a perfect movie by any means and I had issues in the middle when control for the military operations were seemingly given over to Gyn but the movie felt like it had real weight. Someone mentioned that this was like a real war movie and I think that feels about right.

[ISiddiqui]

I saw it based on the strength of the reviews. I really enjoyed it, but yes, it's a war movie in the SW universe. It doesn't have the magic of the Force (aside from the one martial art guy... and what, even a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, it's East Asian looking guys that develop martial arts?! ), so I think in the long run it'll be fairly forgettable, but definitely an entertaining couple of hours.

Though I will say that CGI Tarken kept taking me out of the film a bit. Couldn't they have hologrammed him instead (it would alleviate the uncanny valley aspect).

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I thought the film was fantastic. It ranks up there with #5 for me, and that's my favorite. Characters were good, story did take a bit to get going, but man, did that movie fill in some gaps and add quite a bit to the story. Great film!

Im in this line. Particularly enjoyed the Captain Cassian Andor character. My criticisms are mostly minor:

Spoiler

• I feel like other than the scene where she was rescued from the prison wagon, Jyn Urso had no real spunkiness or rebelliousness. Where was the amazing line from the trailer? "Isn't this a rebellion? That's what I do...rebel." The actress still did a fine job, but especially compared to the deft and quick character development of Cassian her character felt a little like an archetype who did not get fully fleshed out. I think part of this criticism may simply be that she was standing next to Cassian, whose character development I thought was phenomenal.
• It felt far too easy to go from "Well they said no" to "we've stolen a ship and now everyone is coming to the rescue." I appreciated and enjoyed that they put the scene with the rebel alliance leaders in, and it helped illustrate the fragility of said alliance that there were fractious ideas and support...But it felt like an unfinished idea. I think a slightly greater set of consequences for the team stealing the ship and infiltrating the Empire base (greater than Mon Mothma smiling) was in order.

There was far more than enough to offset those flaws though. Excellent movie that I would rate up there with Empire and Hope in my top three.

[Ned Doolittle]

Return of the Jedi was on TV and I watched a little of it. The early movies are heightened in many ppl's eyes due to wearing rose colored glasses and youth. I thoroughly enjoyed these two most recent movies. A lot of the wooden acting from the early films are not present. And CGI certainly does have its place, when done right, and there's no comparing to some of the crappy costumes the early films had. The Ewoks the I enjoyed as a kid looked incredibly stupid when I watched now. Princess Leia's acting was bad, like Prequels bad. It's ok to say the newer films are better. Prior to Rogue One I would've said Force Awakens was my fave film of the series.

One of my only complaints in Rogue One was surprisingly Darth Vader. I felt James Earl Jones' voice was just not as potent as it used to be, he couldn't do it justice. He sounded like Darth Vader who was just coming off a fever and regaining his energy back, if that makes any sense. They needed to augment his voice in post-production. Also I really wanted to see Darth Vader at the height of his powers, and the end scene when he fights the rebel soldiers by himself didn't feel like "OMG these guys are screwed, Darth Vader is a powerful Sith Lord". Aside from the typical light saber deflecting shots and lifting ppl up I didn't get the sense that he was unleashing his full power. I would've loved to see him force grab a soldier and throw them violently against the walls or at other soldiers. I don't think I'm explaining myself good but not once have I seen an epic Darth Vader fight scene where he was unstoppable with the Dark Side. Count Dooku (the Sith Lord done by the actor who was Saruman in LOTR, peter lee I think his name is) seemed more badass fighting anakin and obi wan by himself and even in his figh with Yoda.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Ned Doolittle

Return of the Jedi was on TV and I watched a little of it. The early movies are heightened in many ppl's eyes due to wearing rose colored glasses and youth.

Agreed.

Also I really wanted to see Darth Vader at the height of his powers, and the end scene when he fights the rebel soldiers by himself didn't feel like "OMG these guys are screwed, Darth Vader is a powerful Sith Lord". Aside from the typical light saber deflecting shots and lifting ppl up I didn't get the sense that he was unleashing his full power. I would've loved to see him force grab a soldier and throw them violently against the walls or at other soldiers. I don't think I'm explaining myself good but not once have I seen an epic Darth Vader fight scene where he was unstoppable with the Dark Side.

Disagreed. Darth Vader destroying those soldiers was, to be, absolutely badass. He was not just deflecting blasts, but lifting people up and then using those people as weapons, while at the same time slicing up people. It was insane!

And Palpatine and Yoda are far stronger with the Force (Anakin may have had the potential to be so, but then he had like 3 limbs lopped off on Mustafar... where apparently he has his lair 30 years later), so of course they are super powerful.

[Butter]

I thought it was solid, but far from great. HOLY COW was the first 20-30 minutes following the opening scene clunky. The jumping from location to location, the characters we don't know spewing large chunks of exposition... yikes. Once it settled in, it was pretty good.

[Draft Dodger]

I definitely think the trailer did WAY more to set up Jyn's character than the movie did. All those deleted scenes were definitely in my brain when I watched the movie. Rogue One Deleted Scenes | POPSUGAR Entertainment (PS a shame that Tie Fighter shot never made it in). I see what they were trying to do with her backstory, but they didn't pull it off very well. Why is she in prison? Why is she so rebellious? Why is it important anyway?

Good movie. Better than TFA (the 2nd half of that movie kind of sucked). Definitely some issues here and there - that jumpy beginning, of course. And a giant tape drive? Seriously?

I did not love the music, but that's kind of tough to criticize.

Having seen bits and pieces of all 6 over the last few weeks on TNT, it was definitely noticeable how solid the dialogue was in this movie was compared to almost all the other movies.

I really liked how the look and feel gelled really well with A New Hope - it's clear they put a great deal of effort into making the movie look retro but not dated.

I also liked that they didn't Lucas it up by cramming waaaay to many references to the other movies. It was just the right amount (asshole from Mos Eisley cantina was a great touch). If Lucas had made this movie, Jar Jar's nephew would have handed off the plans to an Ewok flying the Falcon to Dagobah. All the references here fit and weren't forced.

I was uncomfortable with the rebels as terrorists connotation. I get it and it makes sense. But some of that - particularly the bombs - were kind of hard to watch.

Oh, and seriously? Resisting arrest? Listing off that rap sheet had to be one of the lamest things ever. OMG she's such a ROGUE. SHE RESISTED ARREST ONCE

[stevew]

Agreed about the Vader voice. Was not as good as it could have been.

Read an article about how the movie missed a golden opportunity to redeem Jar Jar by making him an influential senator in the rebellion in one of the Yavin sequences. Or they could have at least killed him off in battle or something.

[Edward64]

Watched it tonight and enjoyed it. I could forgive pretty much everything except for that thing pushing the destroyers together. That was too hokey.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I also liked that they didn't Lucas it up by cramming waaaay to many references to the other movies. It was just the right amount (asshole from Mos Eisley cantina was a great touch). If Lucas had made this movie, Jar Jar's nephew would have handed off the plans to an Ewok flying the Falcon to Dagobah. All the references here fit and weren't forced.

I actually thought they did too much fan service in it even if it was less than TFA. Why not just tell a totally unique story in the universe without the wink and nods along the way?

I thought the movie was decent I guess. Kind of hoped they'd step outside the box on this one and try something unique. Despite the talk about how it's not your typical Star Wars movie, it did feel generic and like filler till the next big one. Characters had no charm or reason to care about them. I did enjoy the space fights though a lot. Whoever cast Felicity Jones did a bad job. She just didn't fit in with the character in this one.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on it. Just hoped this would try harder to be special instead of your generic blockbuster that tries to cater to the broadest audience. Theater was packed so they know what they are doing.

[ISiddiqui]

Yeah, I was also struck by they didn't cram too many references comment. I thought it was chock full of references and fan service left and right. (OTOH, some of the references were to the Star Wars Rebels show, ie, General Syndulla being paged randomly twice in the movie, so if you hadn't seen that it may not have registered).

[Vince, Pt. II]

I think it's not so much the quantity of references, but the subtlety. They aren't smashing you over the head with them.

[ISiddiqui]

I mean, it wasn't Force Awakens bad, but it was pretty obvious though.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I think it's not so much the quantity of references, but the subtlety. They aren't smashing you over the head with them.

yeah, definitely what I was trying to say. They were there. They just seemed to fit much more than TFA or the prequels.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

(asshole from Mos Eisley cantina was a great touch)

Spoiler

Mrs. A made a good point. We must have seen them right before they boarded a ship to leave because that city was destroyed shortly after we saw them.

[larrymcg421]

I didn't mind the references. Most of them fit in well for me. It makes sense to include R2 and C3P0, since they're crucial to the beginning of ANH. The Mos Eisley Cantina duo was really the only one that felt superfluous to me, but it was still funny and it hilariously validated the Robot Chicken sketch about those two.

[Jughead Spock]

Some spoilers





Liked it. Lot of the same points listed already; thought Vader was great, but voice was not. Idea of Tarkin was better than execution, but only by a few percentage points.

Was kinda... nice is the wrong word... 'refreshing'? that they killed all of them. Built up some pretty interesting backstories for such a short time. That helped offset a lot of the false drama towards the end. We *know* they're going to get the plans, etc. Didn't need so many 'oh nooooo' problems in their final pursuit.

But overall, good. Definitely worthy. I have zero impulse to see it again, though. Not because it wasn't good, just wasn't really much to be missed/seen again.

[SackAttack]

I was mostly just taken aback by

Spoiler

what appeared to be the use of the Death Star as a precision targeting weapon.

ANH we see it get used to friggin' DESTROY ALDERAAN and in Rogue One it's being used to destroy specific planetary targets.

I mean, I get it, the idea is that ANH is supposed to be the Death Star's coming-out party, so they couldn't go TOO nuts with it in Rogue One, but come the fuck ON.

If the Death Star has those capabilities, why would you destroy the infrastructure of an entire PLANET instead of simply blasting Aldera to smithereens as an object lesson?

That seems wasteful.

[Ned Doolittle]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Agreed.



Disagreed. Darth Vader destroying those soldiers was, to be, absolutely badass. He was not just deflecting blasts, but lifting people up and then using those people as weapons, while at the same time slicing up people. It was insane!

And Palpatine and Yoda are far stronger with the Force (Anakin may have had the potential to be so, but then he had like 3 limbs lopped off on Mustafar... where apparently he has his lair 30 years later), so of course they are super powerful.

The thing with Vader is in the minds of pretty much everyone who grew up pre-prequels he was made up to be this big badass villain. Powerful lord of the dark side. But he's never had a badass moment. He couldn't beat the crap out of Luke in Empire Strikes Back, while Luke didn't have nearly the command of the Force as he would later. Dooku fought off 2 Jedi by himself. He beat Yoda (albeit not strictly in a hand to hand sense). Vader against a bunch of soldiers should have been a slaughter (as much of a slaughter as a PG-13 movie can be). What would have been awesome was him deflecting all their shots with the saber, they pause to see their shots had no effect and he then he, in a "are you finished? Good...now it's my turn" type of move Force chokes every soldier at the same time. The soldier with the plans would have fallen over and in a last ditch effort reached for the opening in the door where the soldier on the other side would have grabbed the plans out of his dying hand. That would have been more of a badass scene.

[ISiddiqui]

::shrug::

I don't see how that would be any more badass than what actually happened in the movie.

[Atocep]

I thought Vader looked pretty bad ass.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Ned Doolittle

The thing with Vader is in the minds of pretty much everyone who grew up pre-prequels he was made up to be this big badass villain. Powerful lord of the dark side. But he's never had a badass moment. He couldn't beat the crap out of Luke in Empire Strikes Back, while Luke didn't have nearly the command of the Force as he would later. Dooku fought off 2 Jedi by himself. He beat Yoda (albeit not strictly in a hand to hand sense). Vader against a bunch of soldiers should have been a slaughter (as much of a slaughter as a PG-13 movie can be). What would have been awesome was him deflecting all their shots with the saber, they pause to see their shots had no effect and he then he, in a "are you finished? Good...now it's my turn" type of move Force chokes every soldier at the same time. The soldier with the plans would have fallen over and in a last ditch effort reached for the opening in the door where the soldier on the other side would have grabbed the plans out of his dying hand. That would have been more of a badass scene.

To further bolster my point, here is what the Verge had to say about it:

Can we talk about that final Darth Vader scene in Rogue One? - The Verge

Regardless of how he’s marketed, Darth Vader is supposed to be a frightening character. The trouble is, unless you’ve dug deeper into Star Wars lore than the average fan, you’ve probably never seen why Vader is such a heart-stopping terror. Even when he’s Force choking Imperial peons or fighting his son, he’s holding something back. Which is why I’m still trying to pick my jaw off the floor after seeing a truly demonic Vader cut down Rebel fighters in Rogue One.

I mean, did you see that scene? Vader ignites his red lightsaber in a pitch black hallway, and calmly tears through nearly everyone in the room. People die, and they die horribly. He even cuts a dude he levitates to the ceiling in half! I’ve watched that scene in theaters twice now, and both times I found myself recoiling out of both awe and horror, saying, “Oh shit!” over and over again.

[Chief Rum]

Count me as another who thought Vader was quite badass in that scene.

[Edward64]

TBH, the Darth Vader outfit looks funny now. Helmet seems a little too big for the body. Sure it was intimidating back then but now just seems a little goofy. Don't hate me ...

[Ned Doolittle]

Perhaps I need to rewatch that scene. Maybe it was because he was so calmly and methodically handling the soldiers that it didn't look as impressive. Also I had my 8 yr old son with me who hasn't mastered the art or not talking during movies so perhaps I didn't pay good enough attention. The saver turning on in the dark was pretty cool.

[Ned Doolittle]

Originally Posted by Edward64

TBH, the Darth Vader outfit looks funny now. Helmet seems a little too big for the body. Sure it was intimidating back then but now just seems a little goofy. Don't hate me ...

I think if I remember correctly something did seem a little off to me about the helmet. I enjoyed other parts of the movie, Vader was one of the parts I wasn't as impressed with.

[ColtCrazy]

I will miss K2SO. We need more droids in Star Wars like that. Reminded me of the sarcastic droid from KOTOR.

[Jughead Spock]

Originally Posted by Ned Doolittle

Perhaps I need to rewatch that scene. Maybe it was because he was so calmly and methodically handling the soldiers that it didn't look as impressive. Also I had my 8 yr old son with me who hasn't mastered the art or not talking during movies so perhaps I didn't pay good enough attention. The saver turning on in the dark was pretty cool.

Yeah, when I read your first comment on Vader, was like, '... Did you blink? Leave early?' He did a lot of what you mentioned, force chokes, throwing guys around, cutting em in half. Seem to remember the plans passed hands a couple times as they tried to get it through the door (and get away from Vader), and dude dying as the guy on the other side takes it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

K-2SO really does steal this one for me, though I'll give credit to Chirrut Îmwe for being an above average character too.

The subtlety of the callbacks was pretty good, I thought the end sequence on the ship felt pretty seamless too.

The stories were kinda eh to me, the dialogue not great, the leads just so-so ... but they did enough with other elements that I came away feeling like matinee pricing was certainly fair value.

[Eaglesfan27]

Not reading this thread because I don't want spoilers, so I apologize if this has already been addressed:

Is this movie ok for a kid? I saw Star Wars when I was 7 or 8, but I read one site that said it was a bit violent for kids younger than 11... my daughter is 8 and she really wants to go see it with me. Do people who saw it think it is ok for an 8 year old? How violent is it?

[JPhillips]

Depends on your child. My eleven year old daughter was fine, but she did think there was too much death.

There isn't a lot of graphic violence, but there is an emotional toll for viewers.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Not reading this thread because I don't want spoilers, so I apologize if this has already been addressed:

Is this movie ok for a kid? I saw Star Wars when I was 7 or 8, but I read one site that said it was a bit violent for kids younger than 11... my daughter is 8 and she really wants to go see it with me. Do people who saw it think it is ok for an 8 year old? How violent is it?

I just saw it this afternoon. My 7 year old was scared during a lot of it but afterwards said she liked it. I did notice her laugh at one point too (might have been because I was). My 10 year old I don't think was scared, but not sure she really enjoyed it much. Neither kid could follow what was going on, I had to explain halfway through what was happening. Again, all kid-dependent I'm sure.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JAG

Again, all kid-dependent I'm sure.

I'll co-sign this, based on noticing one 10'ish year old kid in the theater today who was enjoying the jokes pretty much at the same level I was. He was the 3rd of three generations who were watching the movie together (best I could figure) so I suspect he might have had a decent amount of experience with the universe before today. He just seemed to "get" most everything that was happening.

So, kid-dependent is +1 here.

[Ironhead]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Not reading this thread because I don't want spoilers, so I apologize if this has already been addressed:

Is this movie ok for a kid? I saw Star Wars when I was 7 or 8, but I read one site that said it was a bit violent for kids younger than 11... my daughter is 8 and she really wants to go see it with me. Do people who saw it think it is ok for an 8 year old? How violent is it?

Think of it as a war movie set in the Star Wars universe. There isn't a lot of graphic violence in the movie. That said as a war film it includes a pretty steady stream of people shooting at and killing one another from the start of the movie to the end. Lots of grenades and explosions. I would suspect the movie would be a little hard to actually follow for young kids - especially the first 30-45 minutes of the movie. But kid dependent.

[Kodos]

I didn't bring my 7 year old daughter, and I think that was the right choice for her.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Not reading this thread because I don't want spoilers, so I apologize if this has already been addressed:

Is this movie ok for a kid? I saw Star Wars when I was 7 or 8, but I read one site that said it was a bit violent for kids younger than 11... my daughter is 8 and she really wants to go see it with me. Do people who saw it think it is ok for an 8 year old? How violent is it?

My brother brought his 8 year old daughter and 3 year old son. They both loved it, but, then again, I think they've been exposed to a wider variety of films and TV shows than most kids their age.

[Ned Doolittle]

If the kid can watch LOTR then Rogue One is fine.

[EagleFan]

Watched it today with the family. Mixed views.

SPOILER WARNING

This is the prequel; forget about that other crap they used as a money grab.

Once I saw how close this was to the original in time frame I knew they had to kill off the characters (that weren't in the original). It would leave too many what happened to them questions.

Not a fan of the Vader voice; not his fault as he is 40 years older now but it didn't quite seem to have the same impact and at times seemed more like him on TBBT than him as Vader.

Why is the initial order to kill the father, especially once they have seen that the weapon was already used. That seemed like an odd move. Especially with their theory that "they are baiting us into a trap." If they have this weapon that can destroy a planet, they don't need to bait you into a trap.

Where did that ledge come from that the rebel landed on after getting the tape from the giant tape drive? I thought when we first saw how precarious that climb was there was nothing to break a fall for stories.

Huge tape drive?

Loved the droid. As was mentioned earlier, definitely reminded me of the one from KOTOR.


Definitely have some minor issues with it but it feels much more like a prequel than that other drivel.

[Marc Vaughan]

Huge tape drive?

Probably a micro drive and a caddy for protective purposes I presumed? - I've seen similar setups before, bit like putting papers into a secure protective folder with a lock ....