Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

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Sledgehama
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by Sledgehama »

Overall I had a great time with this film. I also agree that the score was a bit disappointing and lacking - perfectly serviceable but we want more than that from our Star Wars movies.

The space battle at the end was fantastic and i nearly jumped for joy when Red Leader and Gold Leader appeared - that sort of smart cool cameo was just the sort of peppering with established Star Wars that I wanted from this film.

The story itself didn't have much in the way of surprises I felt - the pre-title sequence played out almost exactly as I expected from having seen the trailers for example - but not in a manner that left me feeling unsatisfied. I came in expecting (and in a weird way almost wanting) our new characters to make the ultimate sacrifice during the course of the film but when each one did die, it felt right and earned and I was legitimately sorry to see them die. I don't know that it really needed to jut right up to the opening of Episode IV as much as it did - having the Tantive IV escape at the end as it did seemed a smidge close to crossing that line, but the good of it clearly outweighed the potentially negative - but the cameos and easter eggs came across as more fun than a hindrance to the film.

Krennic felt a little under-developed in terms of his ultimate storyline - something more about his hubris creating the means of his own downfall might have just brought that out a bit more, but he was a serviceable villain. Tarkin (who looked almost too vivid, too detailed too... juicy?) was interestingly placed as a foil and it was nice to see the character's return - even if the results from an FX perspective are not quite 100%, it was an ambitious attempt and had some chilling moments as a result. Vader did steal the show, especially the last few minutes. I felt the actor(s) in the suit itself didn't quite nail the physical performance but it was close enough that it wasn't overly distracting (even if i felt the flatness of his cape around his shoulder was for some reason). The new troopers looked cool but didn't do especially much beyond the cool visuals and given that there were plenty of regular Stormtroopers on Scarif, I'm going to call them just Shoretroopers rather than Scarif Stormtroopers from her on out.

As for the Rebels, Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso was good. It felt like there were a couple of times she was supposed to be speechifying up a good rousing thing but the dialogue didn't give her enough material to work with. Diego Luna's Cassian Andor was good too, though there were a couple of times I felt he didn't quite get enough explanation behind his character to justify his actions - shooting the random member of Saw's Rebels on Jedha for instance seemed out of left field and didn't have a real follow-through on it other than oblique references to doing bad things for good reasons in his speech prior to heading to Scarif. Chirrut Îmwe was great - Force based belief without full-on Jedi powers was very refreshing and his taking down multiple troopers with a stick was just plain fun to watch. He and Baze Malbus made a great double-act and even the notion of them as former guardians of a Jedi temple was interesting and gave them some great backstory as well as the fun camaraderie between them with interesting differences in character while still working well together. Bhodi Rook was good but again felt like there could have been a little bit more done with him to push him over the edge into a great character - the aftermath of his encounter with the telepathic monster seemed a little easily forgotten when it was supposed to drive him mad - they could have worked that up more as a story arc with him regaining himself over the course of the film only to sacrifice himself for the cause at the end - they got kinda 2/3 of that storyline in there and it works okay but could have been stronger. The real scene stealer for the Rebels is K-2SO with his HK-47-lite dialogue - Alan Tudyk was always going to be great and he lived up to expectations, including possibly the noblest of deaths for the whole team. Mon Mothma was great to see living up to the potential of her casting from Episode III and Bail Organa added some more weight in there too, though it's sad to think we saw him just days before Alderaan was destroyed along with him. Saw Guerrera was interesting as a 'Rebel who's too hardcore for the Rebellion' and we saw some good levels of that though I didn't like the resignation to death once the Death Star fired. Admiral Raddus was so much fun that I wish we could see more of him and plenty of the other Rebellion leaders were an interesting watch. I hope we might see more of them at least in further spinoffs.

As far as series conventions, I was very glad they retained the 'A long time ago' title card and don't bemoan the lack of a text crawl, but dangit we need a Lucasfilm fanfare - the silent logo alone just isn't cutting it for me to help get in the mood. Get John Williams to do it while he's scoring Ep VIII or something, please! The location titles was interesting - letting us know the planet name and a brief blurb rather than just arriving and having the name mentioned in dialogue or in expanded universe materials. Interestingly there was no such title for the location of Vader's castle which seems an odd choice to be the only one left out. Is it Mustafar or some other lava planet? I presume they left it out so as to preserve the surprise that it was Vader's place, but it just seemed odd that it would go unnamed - wonder where and when we'll get the official word on that? The new hardware were fine - the AT-ACT made a good level of sense as re-purposed assets to aid in the ground battle, the U-Wing looked very cool in action (though I still haven't nailed down exactly when it needs to have the wings swung) and the TIE Strikers looked good though I'm not entirely sure exactly what their purpose is. There was another TIE Striker-like vehicle in that I'm going to have to look into as I don't think we got to see exactly what the purpose of that variant was. But seeing the classics in action like proper Star Destroyers (and getting totaled in such imaginative action!) was great and was so satisfying.

Overall, this was a great bit of backstory filling that was a side story that didn't need to be told to understand the saga but does add quite a bit of breadth, scale and a more personal understanding of the cost. This was the first real chance to go back to the original trilogy and it was as satisfying as we could ever have hoped. I'm sure that this will show that there is certainly the appetite for well-made standalone Star Wars movies but I do rather hope that the future ones will feel a little bit freer to use the SW universe as a backdrop rather than feeling too much need to have something to tie into the main saga events. We've seen that these new characters can be as vibrant as any in the central saga installments - now it's time to let them breath a bit more and stretch their wings further rather than feel they need to act almost as an Episode 3.9. Definitely worth watching - well worth your time and money and I'm sure a lot of people will gladly add this to their marathons prior to ANH.

My two cents anyway :)
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suburban_ennui
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by suburban_ennui »

Sledgehama wrote:There was another TIE Striker-like vehicle in that I'm going to have to look into as I don't think we got to see exactly what the purpose of that variant was. But seeing the classics in action like proper Star Destroyers (and getting totaled in such imaginative action!) was great and was so satisfying.
I noticed that ship too ... it was like a TIE shuttle that flew with a Striker flanking it on either side, right? Maybe it was just the continuity of shots, but I felt like that was the ship the Deathtroopers emerged from?

One thing I really liked was Ben Mendelsohn retaining is Australian accent. I was expecting him to have the typically "posh" accent typical of the ANH Imperials ... I guess keeping the accent (and his costume) played up the fact that he was something of an outsider in the Empire. I really rated his performance.

Was also wondering about Vader's castle / planet. I looked kinda like Mustafar -but assume they wanted to keep it deliberately ambiguous, hence the lack of on-screen text.

I was going to re-watch it today but after only a few hours sleep I assumed I'd probably fall asleep in the cinema, so will leave it for another day or so in the hopes that I'll pick up more stuff when I'm fully awake.
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by Sledgehama »

suburban_ennui wrote:I noticed that ship too ... it was like a TIE shuttle that flew with a Striker flanking it on either side, right? Maybe it was just the continuity of shots, but I felt like that was the ship the Deathtroopers emerged from?
Ah yes, I think that was it. Thanks for the memory jog!
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by suburban_ennui »

I'm still not convinced that Saw Gerrera (surely that name is a riff on Che Guevara) was as good a character as he could have been. I couldn't get past the "huffing" ... reminded me waaaaaaaay to much of Dennis Hopper's extremely creepy character in Blue Velvet.
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by farmboynz »

i loved it, was so amazing

noticed there was some off with Darth's Helmet, just the base of it looked a bit off for some reason

loved all the little subtle references, like Bail comments about Leia and Obi,
loved how it ended
K2 SO stole the show for me, some awesome lines and the right clever comedy that Jar Jar never had

and loved what they did for Tarkin, first shot seemed a little off but then it just worked so amazingly
loved seeing some of the character from esp IV, and yes as soon as Red 5 said his call sign you knew he was gone
bring on rogue one, episode 8 and what ever else they have in stall for us :D
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by Fairtex »

Went into the movie after reading all the rave reviews and was super pumped. But I disagree that this the best Star Wars movie as some critics posted.

It's right up there but it's not the best. I still think Force Awakens was better and definitely not better than the original trilogy. But it's always going to be hard to beat nostalgia I suppose.

For me, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen and K2 stole the show and off course Vader. The rest of the characters were forgettable. Jyn is ok but she is no Daisy (Rey). I think Daisy was so much better as an actress.

Loved the easter eggs and the cameos. But I think only hardcore fans will pick those up. I doubt the average movie goer or party time fan will spot those.

Found it a bit slow to start with but the end battle scenes made up for it. Fantastic battles. Loved every minute of it until Donnie and Jiang dies.

Didn't have the same edge of the seat feeling like Force Awakens.

And the score was nothing memorable. Force Awakens soundtrack was so much better.

So for me, after the original trilogy's, I rank Rogue One 5th after Force Awakens.

But in saying the above, it's still a good movie. I will probably go see it again cause it's Star Wars :)

Great time to be a Star Wars fan.
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by ZY-Fighter »

suburban_ennui wrote:
Sledgehama wrote:There was another TIE Striker-like vehicle in that I'm going to have to look into as I don't think we got to see exactly what the purpose of that variant was.
I noticed that ship too ... it was like a TIE shuttle that flew with a Striker flanking it on either side, right? Maybe it was just the continuity of shots, but I felt like that was the ship the Deathtroopers emerged from?
My first thought was that it was a Striker Bomber, given the close escort, but I think s_u may be right. Unfortunately Wookieepedia seems embargoed because the film's page hasn't got much detail yet.

So much to talk about, I think I need to see it again to contribute properly. That Hammerhead v SD bit was brilliant!
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by MattG »

Groan. When NZHerald's review starts off with "Inspired by the throwaway line, 'Many Bothans died to bring us this information,' Rogue One's destiny was only ever to kill a buttload of Bothans", you know it's gonna miss the point.
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by oota goota »

ok finally got to the theatre!

Rogue One is a fantastic addition to the SW universe I really enjoyed the ride. There was a great deal I loved about the film and a few moments that were really stand out. I totally nearly f-bombed the whole cinema when Tarkin turned around. I got halfway through but realised I was sitting next to my daughter I managed to pull it back in (a bit).

I thought there was just the right amount of fan service, they paid a lot of attention to keeping it in the right period. The art and costume departments did an outstanding job I though the Rebels especially looked amazing very real world and a nice blend of the old and the new. Really liked the U wing makes total sense

The pacing was great and with a few small exceptions the story worked really, it's a simple story at it's core and it totally had a 'dirty dozen" feel to it at times.

The cameo's were great; red and gold leaders especially. I liked the way the director decided to re-use old footage in an attempt to tie itself to ANH. I mean you could tell it was old footage but it still totally worked right? My eyes knew the difference but my brain didn't care because it made sense in the story.

Ok I could go on and on.....and on. wonderful to see X and Y wings kick ass, Swarms of TIE fighters yes! I though those AT AT's went down a bit too easily until I realised they weren't AT ATs but an earlier and presumably weaker version of the walker so great that totally works.

The bits that didn't work for me were mainly in the start. It was very clunky for me till they first got to Yavin then it settled down for a cool movie.

I'd have preferred to not have the opening scene in this film. I think it would have been more interesting to let Jyn's story unfold during the course of events. A few more questions as to why the rebels were so interested in her would have made her more interesting rather than dumbing down the opening. Much in the same way the OT reveals who luke is, darth is, what Jabba is etc etc.

ok that'll do for now I'm off tomorrow for another watch!
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Re: Rogue One Post-Release Discussion *SPOILERS*

Post by ZY-Fighter »

MattG wrote:Groan. When NZHerald's review starts off with "Inspired by the throwaway line, 'Many Bothans died to bring us this information,' Rogue One's destiny was only ever to kill a buttload of Bothans", you know it's gonna miss the point.
I've tweeted at him pointing out "wrong Death Star" and "what Bothans?", will update if he replies.
oota goota wrote: I liked the way the director decided to re-use old footage in an attempt to tie itself to ANH. I mean you could tell it was old footage but it still totally worked right?
I saw someone else mention this - it really worked on me as I've no clue what you guys are on about!
Zac in Whanganui
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