Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Post-release)
- Thread starter Vivek
- Start date
I took it as his obsession with healing himself. He thought he could will the Force into making him whole again.
I just figured a Vader lacky.
I have many thoughts after seeing this last night. I'm glad I'm not alone in my feeling that, while good, something was... off...
I'll agree with the pacing comments. The opening scene felt about right. I felt they should have skipped the planet callouts. Leave that for the novel or comic adaptation for the interested. Go back and watch the original film. Tatooine is never referred to by name in dialogue. Some of the intercutting did feel unnecessary. Galen's hologram message was too long and talky, and he was trying to get the message to Saw, not Jyn, so the sappy stuff directed toward her kept jarring me out. Likewise, the first meeting in the Yavin temple between Jyn, Mon Mothma, and the General -- waaaay too talky, with distracting intercutting to try to break up what might otherwise have been a Prequel-worthy medium shot of people standing in a semicircle talking. I'll also chime in that the maguffin of the shield blocking the transmission, and the technobabble/bad video game level solution, was painful (climb to the top of the tower, manually align the dish befroe the transmission can go out, link the shuttle coms with the base coms, which you need a cable for, then someone has to flip the master switch... *sigh*) All of that took run time away from stuff that could have been shown, and not told.
One continuity issue I definitely noticed. Artoo and Threepio are on the ground in the Yavin hangar commenting on everyone going to Scarif... But they kinda need to be on one of those ships leaving for Scarif. Unless Leia was there and hadn't left yet, and Bail left on a different ship, and... Hmf. I can rationalize it, but I shouldn't have to. Heck, one extra moment of Artoo tweetling a response to Threepio's horror at the fleet leaving or Scarif, and then Threepio says "What? We are, too? Oh, dear!" and Captain Antilles rushes past and says "Come on, you two."
I still don't get the Imperial tank crew. As much as I love the armor. We saw Stormtrooper armored-vehicle drivers in this approximate time period. In Empire. Driving the AT-ATs. Were these crowd-control troopers or some such? That I could handle.
I don't know if the sound balance was off at my theater or what, butBUMtheDUMmusicDADADAoverDUMDUMwhelmedDAeverythingDAAAHelse. All the dialogue and sound effects were no problem, but by the end the music was making my head hurt. It was so distracting. Most of the score I liked, but I felt they should have just gone with the Star Wars theme for that bit of the main theme (and its repitition later in the film), as the changes made to keep it from being the Star Wars theme jolted me out each time.
Loved seeing the Ghost. On the ground on Yavin (and heard them page "General Syndulla"), forming up with the fleet at Scarif, flying past the Admiral's observation deck...
I liked the brief mention of the Whills being the reason for the Force traditions on Jedha (maybe a location that will come into play in Episode VIII or IX?). I liked that the Stormtroopers seemed more competent in this outing. I liked the two patrolling troopers mentioning the finally-obsolescent T-15. I love the U-Wing and the TIE Striker (and that one-off Striker variant the Deathtroopers used as a landing craft that I'd not seen anywhere leading up to the film). With the inclusion of the Ghost and the Hammerhead Corvettes, I was hoping we'd see some A-Wings, too. But alas. And now that I've seen the film, I know why the TFA landing craft set was there. They just used that as a stock troop-transport interior for the Cargo Shuttle and the TIE landing craft. So now I have to revise my notion that the First Order were just using a decades-old landing craft design. And I didn't like that Red 5 got blown up. Luke was given a much-weathered ship and helmet in ANH -- the pilot was just unable to fly, not his ship. And not gonna get into costume stuff here.
And the characters... I liked most of them more than I thought I would. Including the CG ones. I was iffy on Felicity Jones, and more underwhelmed now. I like her well enough, but not as Jyn. I'd've been happier, I think, with Anna Popplewell (if we're going with Jyn-as-late-20s) or Dakota Richards (if we're going with Jyn-as-early-20s, and my personal dream casting). I think I would have felt more satisfied if some or most of the team had survived. Like, a badly-wounded Baze drags Chirrut's body back to the not-blown-up shuttle, and they and Bodhi barely escape the blast wave. Or Jyn and Cassian are trapped in the records vault as seen, but can transmit the plans no problem from there. And, because of how heavily protected that module is, it gets blown clear and they're battered but not dead. *shrug* Also wouldn't have minded one of them mentioning "Hammertong" while perusing project names. Saw Gerrera deserved a little more on what he was like back in the day, so we could see him in a bit more action here and see how far he's fallen. Not much more, but a little more. He was just going to be a new-for-this-movie character anyway until someone recognized the personality traits he shared with the animated character. And I definitely agree they need to find someone younger to do Vader's voice. I dearly love James Earl, but Vader needs more heat in his delivery, especially at this stage in his character arc.
I liked how they got around the Death Star test in ANH with the low-powered "single reactor" shots in R1. That ties in nicely with ANH-Tarkin's line "[...] we will test this station's full destructive power [...]".
On the other hand, the ending was clunky. Vader's lines "several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies" and "I have traced the Rebel spies to her" needed to have been kept more in mind. Things like why was Leia's ship there if she's maintaining her public face as an upstanding member of the Imperial Senate -- albeit one too concerned with the welfare of the downtrodden? Some consistency with the ialogue in the earlier film(s) needs to be worked through. I had the same issue (but worse) with Obi-Wan's reflections on Anakin and Leia's memories of her birth mother being pretty mangled by the Prequels... But like...
*thinks*
Okay, try this. It's an Imperial-occupied world. Low population, easily pacified. They have a high-security records vault all on its own island/continent. The Rebellion shows up in force for its first direct toe-to-toe engagement with the Empire, albeit a smallish picket fleet protecting a low-risk world. Troops are landed. Part of the team is a SpecOps group looking for a specific thing. Can come up with why Vader's there or arrives there if I try (not hard), he senses something (Imwe?) and realizes the attack, while real, is also a diversion, "traces the Rebel spies", but not in time to prevent them from getting what they're after. Leia "blunders" into the middle of it on a relief mission for the maltreated indigenes, gets turned back by the Imperial blockade. Our Heroes (or at least the few survivors) escape with Vader hot on their track. They know they can't make it, so they make several transmissions to Leia's ship before they're disabled. Accompanied by the brazen Rebel Fanfare that heralded its first appearance onscreen in ANH, the Tantive IV makes the jump to lightspeed. Wipe to end credits. The ancillary material can cover Vader making for his Star Destroyer, alerting them to track Leia's course and make ready to pursue as soon as he's aboard, and leaving the disabled Rebel ship for others to mop up, so Our surviving Heroes may yet be back someday.
I think that's my biggest thing... With a few little tweaks, this would be perfect as the episode right before ANH. As in, episode number, opening crawl, the whole deal. The whole inspiration for Star Wars was Saturday-morning movie serials, where you'd be left on a cliffhanger (or something close to one) each week, to be resolved at the opening of the next episode. This sets up Star Wars in exactly that way, and having it be out of the numbered sequence is silly. Many people who watch these films on home video will likely go through in story order. So make of that what you will. This and the Kenobi movie really need to be given numbers, and the numbers of the subsequent movies be adjusted accordingly. Maybe even allow room for one or five more installments to fill in the 19-year gap between ROTS and ANH. We can do it without taking away from the other films. We're supposed to not get introduced to Luke until ANH anyway, so...
That's my takeaway. I like it, a lot. I'm going to see it at least a couple more times in the theater. I'm going to buy it on home video. I want Finemolds to get their model kit license back so I can get 1:72 scale models of the TIE Striker and U-Wing. But it also felt like it could so easily, with so little effort, been so much more.
--Jonah
I'll agree with the pacing comments. The opening scene felt about right. I felt they should have skipped the planet callouts. Leave that for the novel or comic adaptation for the interested. Go back and watch the original film. Tatooine is never referred to by name in dialogue. Some of the intercutting did feel unnecessary. Galen's hologram message was too long and talky, and he was trying to get the message to Saw, not Jyn, so the sappy stuff directed toward her kept jarring me out. Likewise, the first meeting in the Yavin temple between Jyn, Mon Mothma, and the General -- waaaay too talky, with distracting intercutting to try to break up what might otherwise have been a Prequel-worthy medium shot of people standing in a semicircle talking. I'll also chime in that the maguffin of the shield blocking the transmission, and the technobabble/bad video game level solution, was painful (climb to the top of the tower, manually align the dish befroe the transmission can go out, link the shuttle coms with the base coms, which you need a cable for, then someone has to flip the master switch... *sigh*) All of that took run time away from stuff that could have been shown, and not told.
One continuity issue I definitely noticed. Artoo and Threepio are on the ground in the Yavin hangar commenting on everyone going to Scarif... But they kinda need to be on one of those ships leaving for Scarif. Unless Leia was there and hadn't left yet, and Bail left on a different ship, and... Hmf. I can rationalize it, but I shouldn't have to. Heck, one extra moment of Artoo tweetling a response to Threepio's horror at the fleet leaving or Scarif, and then Threepio says "What? We are, too? Oh, dear!" and Captain Antilles rushes past and says "Come on, you two."
I still don't get the Imperial tank crew. As much as I love the armor. We saw Stormtrooper armored-vehicle drivers in this approximate time period. In Empire. Driving the AT-ATs. Were these crowd-control troopers or some such? That I could handle.
I don't know if the sound balance was off at my theater or what, butBUMtheDUMmusicDADADAoverDUMDUMwhelmedDAeverythingDAAAHelse. All the dialogue and sound effects were no problem, but by the end the music was making my head hurt. It was so distracting. Most of the score I liked, but I felt they should have just gone with the Star Wars theme for that bit of the main theme (and its repitition later in the film), as the changes made to keep it from being the Star Wars theme jolted me out each time.
Loved seeing the Ghost. On the ground on Yavin (and heard them page "General Syndulla"), forming up with the fleet at Scarif, flying past the Admiral's observation deck...
I liked the brief mention of the Whills being the reason for the Force traditions on Jedha (maybe a location that will come into play in Episode VIII or IX?). I liked that the Stormtroopers seemed more competent in this outing. I liked the two patrolling troopers mentioning the finally-obsolescent T-15. I love the U-Wing and the TIE Striker (and that one-off Striker variant the Deathtroopers used as a landing craft that I'd not seen anywhere leading up to the film). With the inclusion of the Ghost and the Hammerhead Corvettes, I was hoping we'd see some A-Wings, too. But alas. And now that I've seen the film, I know why the TFA landing craft set was there. They just used that as a stock troop-transport interior for the Cargo Shuttle and the TIE landing craft. So now I have to revise my notion that the First Order were just using a decades-old landing craft design. And I didn't like that Red 5 got blown up. Luke was given a much-weathered ship and helmet in ANH -- the pilot was just unable to fly, not his ship. And not gonna get into costume stuff here.And the characters... I liked most of them more than I thought I would. Including the CG ones. I was iffy on Felicity Jones, and more underwhelmed now. I like her well enough, but not as Jyn. I'd've been happier, I think, with Anna Popplewell (if we're going with Jyn-as-late-20s) or Dakota Richards (if we're going with Jyn-as-early-20s, and my personal dream casting). I think I would have felt more satisfied if some or most of the team had survived. Like, a badly-wounded Baze drags Chirrut's body back to the not-blown-up shuttle, and they and Bodhi barely escape the blast wave. Or Jyn and Cassian are trapped in the records vault as seen, but can transmit the plans no problem from there. And, because of how heavily protected that module is, it gets blown clear and they're battered but not dead. *shrug* Also wouldn't have minded one of them mentioning "Hammertong" while perusing project names.
Saw Gerrera deserved a little more on what he was like back in the day, so we could see him in a bit more action here and see how far he's fallen. Not much more, but a little more. He was just going to be a new-for-this-movie character anyway until someone recognized the personality traits he shared with the animated character. And I definitely agree they need to find someone younger to do Vader's voice. I dearly love James Earl, but Vader needs more heat in his delivery, especially at this stage in his character arc.I liked how they got around the Death Star test in ANH with the low-powered "single reactor" shots in R1. That ties in nicely with ANH-Tarkin's line "[...] we will test this station's full destructive power [...]".
On the other hand, the ending was clunky. Vader's lines "several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies" and "I have traced the Rebel spies to her" needed to have been kept more in mind. Things like why was Leia's ship there if she's maintaining her public face as an upstanding member of the Imperial Senate -- albeit one too concerned with the welfare of the downtrodden? Some consistency with the ialogue in the earlier film(s) needs to be worked through. I had the same issue (but worse) with Obi-Wan's reflections on Anakin and Leia's memories of her birth mother being pretty mangled by the Prequels... But like...
*thinks*
Okay, try this. It's an Imperial-occupied world. Low population, easily pacified. They have a high-security records vault all on its own island/continent. The Rebellion shows up in force for its first direct toe-to-toe engagement with the Empire, albeit a smallish picket fleet protecting a low-risk world. Troops are landed. Part of the team is a SpecOps group looking for a specific thing. Can come up with why Vader's there or arrives there if I try (not hard), he senses something (Imwe?) and realizes the attack, while real, is also a diversion, "traces the Rebel spies", but not in time to prevent them from getting what they're after. Leia "blunders" into the middle of it on a relief mission for the maltreated indigenes, gets turned back by the Imperial blockade. Our Heroes (or at least the few survivors) escape with Vader hot on their track. They know they can't make it, so they make several transmissions to Leia's ship before they're disabled. Accompanied by the brazen Rebel Fanfare that heralded its first appearance onscreen in ANH, the Tantive IV makes the jump to lightspeed. Wipe to end credits. The ancillary material can cover Vader making for his Star Destroyer, alerting them to track Leia's course and make ready to pursue as soon as he's aboard, and leaving the disabled Rebel ship for others to mop up, so Our surviving Heroes may yet be back someday.
I think that's my biggest thing... With a few little tweaks, this would be perfect as the episode right before ANH. As in, episode number, opening crawl, the whole deal. The whole inspiration for Star Wars was Saturday-morning movie serials, where you'd be left on a cliffhanger (or something close to one) each week, to be resolved at the opening of the next episode. This sets up Star Wars in exactly that way, and having it be out of the numbered sequence is silly. Many people who watch these films on home video will likely go through in story order. So make of that what you will. This and the Kenobi movie really need to be given numbers, and the numbers of the subsequent movies be adjusted accordingly. Maybe even allow room for one or five more installments to fill in the 19-year gap between ROTS and ANH. We can do it without taking away from the other films. We're supposed to not get introduced to Luke until ANH anyway, so...
That's my takeaway. I like it, a lot. I'm going to see it at least a couple more times in the theater. I'm going to buy it on home video. I want Finemolds to get their model kit license back so I can get 1:72 scale models of the TIE Striker and U-Wing. But it also felt like it could so easily, with so little effort, been so much more.
--Jonah
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Eyes Only
Sr Member
AJ Hamler
Active Member
Yeah, of all the scenes from the trailers, I think I was expecting this one the most. It seemed to hint at something really good, and I was kinda disappointed that it never happened
A.J.
A.J.
SmilingOtter
Master Member
There was some discussion back around page 5 about deleted scenes and re-writes.
Mr Mold Maker
Master Member
Rogue One: Everybody dies! This was an awesome movie. While the pacing could have been better I think, it actually felt like a WAR was taking place. The movie worked for me, and I really really enjoyed the ride.
The only thing that stuck out to me was Vader making choking puns. I was half expecting a "ba dum tiss" drum fill to go along with it.
I have to watch it at least a few more times before delving into the nit picky obsessive compulsive level, but the over all feel leaving the theater was very positive. As a Star Wars fan (but not as hardcore as most folks here) it was exactly what I wanted it to be and I can't look any more forward to other anthology films.
The only thing that stuck out to me was Vader making choking puns. I was half expecting a "ba dum tiss" drum fill to go along with it.
I have to watch it at least a few more times before delving into the nit picky obsessive compulsive level, but the over all feel leaving the theater was very positive. As a Star Wars fan (but not as hardcore as most folks here) it was exactly what I wanted it to be and I can't look any more forward to other anthology films.
mattycsi
Master Member
That's what I'm figuring now.
When he first appeared in the trailer there was a lot of conjecture over who it might have been. Then it appears to be no one at all.
Just wondered if anyone with EU knowledge might have known more.
annanake
Sr Member
not only Does the ending make the princesses comments about being on a diplomatic mission not make sense but the fact ( I always thought a bit strange ) that they let the pod with the droids on it escape saying it was a malfunction even more ridiculous. I always assumed it was more like a traffic stop situation where Vader surmised she would have the plans. they literally just chased them down from a battle looking for stolen plans and an escape pod leaves and these Nimrods just watch it go .
Still I have to love a movie where all the rebal scum die horrible deaths for a frivolous cause.
LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR !
Still I have to love a movie where all the rebal scum die horrible deaths for a frivolous cause.
LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR !
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I'm so happy it didn't turn into a love story at the end. I feel Hollywood has made that mistake so many times. I also enjoyed how this movie runs right into a New Hope, like minutes after the Scariff battle
i was thinking in the middle of the movie if we would see any of the Rogue One characters in future films but then they started getting blown up one after another lol
i was thinking in the middle of the movie if we would see any of the Rogue One characters in future films but then they started getting blown up one after another lol
jhazard
Sr Member
Going to have to pay more attention on my next viewing, I had a similar reaction to that.
But, in EP IV, Vader does say something like " several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebels spies..." He knew she had the plans.
The events depicting the Tantive were hard to follow, at least at my first view.
Loved it it, overall though.
But, in EP IV, Vader does say something like " several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebels spies..." He knew she had the plans.
The events depicting the Tantive were hard to follow, at least at my first view.
Loved it it, overall though.
Outside the Yavin hanger in the scene where the communications officer is running to tell Mon that the attack was happening on Skarif, you can see him lower left of frame rolling out of the shot.
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