Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Post-release)

Alrighty.

I've been itching to get to a computer and break this down since I saw it last night... but even as I type this, forces are trying to drag me away.

But I wanna get down my initial reaction, much like I did with TFA...

So first off, reading these threads and other site threads, I'm reading a lot of "Some of you will never be happy!" so just to clarify...

ESB is my favorite...

TFA is my second favorite...

ANH CLOSE third...

ROTJ

Ewoks Caravan of Courage

Ewoks Battle for Endor

The Holiday Special

Revenge of the Sith

Attack of the clones

Phantom Menace.

So that's to say I LOVED TFA... a lot... So I CAN be happy with new Star Wars.

NOW, all this said... I think I hated Rogue One.

And that pains the hell out of me. But doesn't surprise me. Since day one people have been asking if I'm excited for this flick (cuz I'm known amongst my friends as the Star Wars guy) and I kept saying "not really"

"WHY?!! It looks bad ass!!!"

"Cuz Star Wars is wizards and knights and princesses and lightsabers and spirituality and and and.... NOT Full Metal Jacket. It's fantasy in space."

Anyway, I did like things in it, and I don't want to spew hyperbole... like maybe "I hated it" is too harsh.... there IS good in it...

But I love dissecting story, so here's my break down!


So the flick starts with "A long time ago..." - at this point I'm all "LET'S DO THIIIIIS!!!"

Then it gets going... and I'm thinking "Neat! I ringed planet... have we seen that before?"

Then we see the scenes with Jyn and her family and BLUE MILK - Okay so anyone complaining about blatant fan service in TFA but has no problems with the fan service in this? You can shuttup now.

So everything looks dark and drab... I took my 3D glasses off to see if maybe it's just the 3D being dark (which is why I hate 3D) and it was... so figured "eh... I'll just see it in 2D later"

Then the title "Rogue One" came up and I got a little teary... and then thought "Oh man... they have so much freedom in this... freedom JJ didn't have. Maybe this WILL be better than TFA... I mean so far, no... TFA had a way cooler first sequence, but still..."

20 minutes later and I'm like,

"I have a bad feeling about this...."


-----------------------

CRAP, my wife is making me do stuff.

To be continued.
 
Funky Jedi said:
You know...I can actually buy your theory! Do you mind if I use it going forward?
Click to expand...

By all means, go ahead. It's not a theory so much as just one possible in-universe explanation of the fight lethargy in ANH and nowhere else. The real reason, I think, was explained up-thread (sorry, can't remember who said it), in that Lucas originally thought of the sabers as being heavy weapons that didn't allow nimble flinging around. That would explain the mostly two-handed use during the fight, too. But that's all an out-of-universe reason. I just tried to come up with a potential in-universe reason.
 
astroboy said:
I think we saw those camels briefly in TFA on the starkiller base
Click to expand...

I think you're talking about the Walkers seen around the base (top right of this image):
latest?cb=20150811001647.png


Not the stormtrooper creature-mounts that were supposed to be in R1 though.
 
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AJ Hamler said:
Been thinking about Vader's lethargic lightsaber fighting in ANH and came up with a theory that could explain it.

All the other saber fighting we've seen with Vader occurs either before or after ANH. But the saber fight in ANH occurs with what could arguably be the two most powerful Jedis there are. Is it possible that the Force was so strong between the two that it slowed both down physically? Hence the rather lethargic physical aspect of their fight. They could have been exerting tons of Force at each other, perhaps more or less cancelling each other's Force out, and that's maybe why what they were doing physically was affected. Add to that the fact that each was a couple decades older physically.

You might counter by saying that Vader and Kenobi fought very energetically in ROTS, so where did that go? Well, they were both physically much younger then, and neither was as strong with the Force then. Other saber fights we've seen throughout the series, including Luke and Vader, were nearly always between combatants with more unequal levels of Force ability.

No real proof of any of this, of course. Just something I came up with that could explain it.

A.J.
Click to expand...
Or ... Vader was just toying with his old master.

I always remembered when Vader used to talk about "rebel spies" and "trechary" I used to think he was kinda harsh about the peace-loving hippie rebels. But this film makes me see how rebels can be ruthless. His disdain makes even more sense. I love how the universe isn't black and white anymore.
 
Before I discuss Rogue One I will quickly talk TFA, as some people want to compare/contrast the two non-Lucas Star Wars films. I went in to TFA with low expectations and was quite surprised and pleased. I understand why people can hate it, but for me it was a fun ride in a familiar universe and I was brought back into the OT style of the films.
Enter Rogue one. The initial information regarding the film didn't thrill me but the early trailers did. Talking to those in the know got my hopes up quite far. Okay, infantry type Star Wars movie, let's go.
I was at the premiere in Hollywood. The wife and I had lousy seats and the Pantages theater is not really the best for theatrical sound. We had a hard time hearing dialogue. When it ended we looked at each other and said that we had enjoyed TFA more as an overall film experience. It certainly didn't suck but we weren't as wowed as I thought we might be, and some of it seemed a bit confusing. (Again, the sound)
Knowing full well the theatrical experience affected our viewing I wanted to see it again and be completely fair.
At the end my wife and I turned to each other and.......wow, we really liked it far more the second time.
Yes, it has problems that many have mentioned. Some of the editing is a bit suspect, especially for about fifteen minutes after the title card. The music which had underwhelmed me at the premiere was far more effective and having purchased both the TFA and R1 soundtracks I will say that overall R1 is better for me to listen to despite the short time Giacchino had to compose it. (Although Rey's theme is really something special)
As interested as I am in the version before the re-shoot I believe that the fixes helped this film. I have heard from those in the know that it wasn't to avoid a disaster, it mostly boiled down to fixing pacing and making the ending better. I am sure we will find out someday.
Some shots or things weren't needed such as Jyn in her cell (in between visits to two planets, choppy editing) Saw's truth creature (no payoff) and as much as I liked Chirrut as a character his take down of the stormtroopers looked like a bad chop socky one at a time we will get attack and get beat up flick. However, these types of things are minor quibbles.
I enjoyed the cameos by the minor characters, K2SO was very real (although did nearly every line have to be a joke?) Tarkin had a couple of weak renders but overall I bought it (the wife didn't have a clue how he was in the movie) and I thought Leia was effective.
I enjoyed visiting Vader's castle on Mustafar, and of course his boarding of the rebel ship was show stopping.
The movie was OT Star Wars to me. I can understand those who view it otherwise, but my giving it a second chance really helped me shape a far more positive opinion. I said before the movie opened that it wasn't a happy film, you aren't walking out with a medal ceremony memory of the good guys winning, but boy do you want to immediately start episode 4.
 
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Estimated 71 million Friday and 29 I think Thursday which maybe a record for thusrday, it is gonna rake it in and I think it will have tremoundous legs.

I will see it next week at least 2 more times
 
Really loved it ! Curiously the only gripe I have is Tarkin's CGI... I liked his role, but to me he looked like he was out of high-end video game cut scene. Something about how the light hit him, and his face movements... He seemed stiff also, almost like he was entirely CGI without body double. Would have been fine for a short time, like Leia, who didnt actually shock me at all or way less than Tarkin ! It did take me out of the film for a brief moment. A+ for effort, bit they're still work to do reach that sweat spot.
Also, +1 for more Vader action, but maybe not focused on him alone. Something like Obi-wan's early days of hiding, before he went full hermit, coupled with Vader's hunt of the remaining Jedis, almost running into each other but never meeting would indeed great !
 
Left my initial comments earlier...have seen it only once so far but must go back soon!

Next big event will be to watch it 2D English...the pre-premiere shows here all were 3D German :-( ...and the 3D really sucked.
I wonder is we will se an extended version this time when the DVD/BR gets re-leased. I was missing a couple of good scenes from the trailers. "This is a rebellion, isn't it?....I REBEL!" for example..I really liked this scene in the trailers. What was the story in the sub way we saw earlier this year...it was completely missing. I really wish for a 3+ hours version. Remember "Das Boot"? It was great in the movies but it became epic when they released the three part TV version!

thanks
Uwe
 
glunark said:
Speaking of Bodhi, he is the only one we don't see die in person, but the other thing that strikes me is how effective those grenades are, one grenade takes out the entire ship, and Luke's grenade in empire takes out the entire ATAT.

These things are so damn effective, why arent they using them all the time?
Click to expand...

It's implied that Bodhi dies because we know he's in the ship trying to get the plans transmitted, then we see the grenade get tossed in, Bodhi about to say something along the lines of "oh, ****," and then we see the ship blow up. So it's implied that he didn't have time to get off the ship.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
cayman shen said:
Is the absence of Geonosians or their role contrasted with Erso's dealt with on Caralyst or some other media?
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In one Rebels mission they go to Geonosis. There is a lot of debris around the planet that seems like they were building something but then it was moved. They can't find any life signs on the planet. A theory arising from that episode is the Empire wiped the Geonosians out once they moved the construction from there to keep it a secret
 
cayman shen said:
Is the absence of Geonosians or their role contrasted with Erso's dealt with on Caralyst or some other media?
Click to expand...
Since they included some Gungans, it would've been nice to acknowledge the Geonosians. But, at least according to Wiki, the Geonosian are only responsible for the Death Star architecture.
 
My biggest issue with it all was that I got a headache right as the movie started. That was annoying. But I liked it. The beginning was a bit slow, but the end made up for any of that.
 
We just got home from seeing it and both the hubby and I thought it was great. To me, Star Wars works best when it's a setting for a story rather than the whole of the story (if that makes sense). This was a war/spy movie set in the Star Wars universe (much as the book Kenobi is a spaghetti western set in the SW Universe) and it worked beautifully, in my mind.

I'm hoping that the Han Solo anthology film will be a full-on heist film, like an Italian Job or Ocean's 11 set in Star Wars. THAT will be a lot of fun!
 
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