Star Wars Rogue One Discussion FULL OF SPOILERS SPOILER THREAD
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
in Movies & TV
Things I loved:
- The movie
- It
- More realistic, less idealistic
- We knew they would all die in the end AND THEY DID.
- TIL Death Star can fire weakly
- Vader going ham at the end
- CGI actors getting almost perfect. Uncanny valley has been solved
- K-2SO
- Movie ends RIGHT at the point of going into New Hope.
Things I made a face at:
- Imperial architecture and engineering MAKES NO SENSE. Hey let's put a control for the antenna four fucking miles in the air on a platform jutting out 300 meters for some reason, right guys?
- Too much Tarkin screen time. CGI mouth still not perfect. They overutilized the tech
- Hey guys, let's put the master switch for the comms on a platform in the middle of a field? For some reason?
- Maybe the Empire needs to stop offing their engineers so they can fix their ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE UI
- Data banks need to be accessed PHYSICALLY by a set of weird robot arms? For some reason?
Things I actively disliked:
- The icon of all icons, the music and the opening crawl RIP
- Too much CGI ships, not enough practical effects like VII had
- VADER MAKING A PUN? FUCK OFF, THAT IS SO OUT OF CHARACTER IT'S RIDICULOUS
- Retcon "bothans". Many.... something... died to bring us this information. They never mentioned Bothans once. RIP lore
All in all I loved the movie. It was great to see the fleshing out of the story that we all sort of knew. Villains were appropriately Imperial and the movie does a great job of nailing the period of time when the Empire was just coming into the full blush of their power. I'm SUPER glad they didn't shy away from the obvious, look, they all die. You know it, I know it, they did it. If they had figured out some kind of bullshit way to shoehorn a happy ending in there it would have sucked.
Vader making a pun was straight-up cringey awful. Fuck that. WHY DID THEY DO THAT WHY.
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Comments
I think the Bothans dying was only mentioned in episode 6
Saw it with @UPSHitman tonight and man, what an absolute blast. Blew me away and exceeded my expectations. I want to say I place it in the top 5, maybe top 3 Star Wars films for myself, I liked it that much. I loved the darker, gritty, realistic tone it took, and I love that they didn't feel the need to shove all the typical (yet awesome) Star Wars tropes into it. The Force, lightsabers, the philosophy, most of that stuff took a back seat to "real" people dealing with "real" problems.
At the end of the movie, Andy and I were talking about it and we realized - how on Earth have we lived with Star Wars films for so long without Rogue One in that mix? Rogue One does so much to lift up both Episodes III and IV, and it does it so well that it feels like it was written 30 years ago right along with the other films.
Hell, even the look and feel of the film hit the points of the era when A New Hope came out. Look at Vader in Rogue One and notice how he's lacking a neck, or that his suit looks cheaply made. That's because in IV, that's how Vader looked because the suit was legitimately cheaply made! And Admiral Raddus (the Mon Calamari leading the final battle) was entirely CG, but was animated and rendered in a way that made him look like a puppet/suit on a person. Really neat and smart details.
Few points on what I was diggin'
TIL the Death Star was powered by the same Kyber crystals used in lightsaber construction. don't know if we knew that before, but a really neat detail regardless.
Seeing the true tyranny of the Empire like never before. It puts weight to EVERYTHING in all of the other films. You really feel the repercussions of the Empire running the Galaxy in this film.
Orson Krennic is an incredible villain. Dude is ruthless and intense.
Rogue 5 dies in the battle of Scarif (because the chubby pilots always die), making room for a young Luke Skywalker to take the seat. Neat.
The throwbacks and references didn't feel forced (which I felt they were in VII). For the most part, if you knew, you knew. And that was awesome.
CGI Tarkin didn't bother me too much, but I do agree they probably should have toned down the shots a little bit. We're close, but not quite there yet.
The entire ending sequence was incredible. A constant crescendo that just doesn't let up. The massive fight, everyone going down, massive death star demolition derby, Jyn dying in a death star blast, escape thwarted by Vader's star destroyer, Vader crushing LITERALLY EVERYONE IN THE MOST BRUTAL SITH BEATDOWN, then right to effing Tantive IV and Leia herself... my heart was pounding, it was so intense and I LOVE that they didn't cool down the ending until the credits hit.
One interesting aside - lots of the first trailer scenes were completely missing. I'm assuming this is due to the last minute re-shoots of scenes we read about, but it was really weird to not have Jyn vs. TIE Fighter towards the end (my theory was the original ending had Krennic in the TIE fighter as a last ditch attempt to stop Jyn, but him dying on the platform while starring down his own super weapon was WAY more awesome).
Saw it and loved almost every second. The only thing that pulled me out at all was Tarkin. I still found him off-putting with the CGI. Civil War did a way better job with this when creating young Tony Stark.
I really liked the connections to other films. It was great to see Jimmy Smits back as Bail Organa. I also loved that they got Genevieve O’Reilly back for Mon Mothma, despite being mostly cut from Ep.III. Running into the 2 guys that got in a fight with Luke in the Cantina was funny, though seemed a bit too coincidental and lingered just a bit too long.
They also did a great job with the technology. It didn’t look out of place for today’s tech level, but definitely fit right up to Ep. IV. And K-2SO was amazing. He added that bit of levity that was needed to make this movie a bit lighter.
With Donnie Yen’s blind character that can sense everything (likely force attunement?), I was really expecting him to suddenly reveal his staff had a lightsaber built in and he was a Jedi the whole time. Especially during his walk to the master switch. I am so happy they didn’t do that. While it would have been fun to see another Jedi, I would have felt cheated.
Speaking of Jedi, though. I would be remiss not to mention what has already been mentioned multiple times. Vader wrecking his way through rebels at the end was incredible. I can’t imagine the terror that must have been going through them while he was there. It makes Leia standing up to him in Ep. IV all the more impressive.
Overall, very pleased. Great customer service. Would buy from this seller again!
Yeah, Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan were shoe-horned and annoying. Let's see..... they're in Jehda right before it explodes and then decided to leave and go straight to Tatooine for some reason?
DAE notice they used a couple of clips from Episode 4 during the final battle scene?
I also really enjoyed Michael Giacchino's score. I was nervous not having John Williams, but Giacchino did a great job.
Losing the fanfare at the start was a bit sad, but I had to remind myself that this is Rogue One, A Star Wars story, not Star Wars, Rogue One.
Reviews are coming in. I've seen three reviews now that talk about how "dark" and "not fun" this movie is.
LOL! It's a fuckin' war movie! It's not SUPPOSED to be fun!
All I get from those sorts of reviews is "I didn't even make any effort to understand what this movie was going to be about or where it fits in the timeline." Similar to those who thought Deadpool was going to be a typical comic book movie. Even with tons of warnings.
Anyway, I don't usually comment on these things, but I loved the movie. The darker feel really made it for me. It reminded me of playing Halo: Reach. You knew it wasn't going to end well for most everyone, but how badass were they going to be when they went out?
Things I loved:
The realism
Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus (The only point at which I cried)
K-2SO
Everyone died
Things I liked
All the fighting! Great effects!
Things I made a face at
Too much of Tarkin
Orson Krennic, mehhh
I loved K-2SO, but he also didn't really make sense to me. He's so much more technologically advanced than any of the robots you see in the original trilogy-- or really, even the dumb prequels. He doesn't fit the rest of the universe.
Things I actively disliked:
The mom's death in the beginning. It felt so shoehorned and obvious. "Hey, we need Jyn to be an orphan, so we have to kill of her mom somehow." Like, there wasn't a less dumb way she could have died?
Sew Gerrera's last lines. Something like "I have to face this" or "I'm done running!" Like what, he couldn't just say that he literally couldn't do the running and would have just slowed them down? It felt over-dramatic and unnecessary.
Galen dying in Jyn's arms. Incredibly predictable.
I overall liked the Force Awakens better than this movie, I think because Force Awakens is more character driven. In general, I prefer stories that are more character related, when this one was all plot and movement. I wish they had taken more time to explore the characters a little more. Jyn and Cassian are the biggest characters in the movie, and I kind of shrugged when they kicked the bucket.
@GnomeQueen A lot of character story took place in a book leading up to the movie. https://www.amazon.com/Catalyst-Star-Wars-Rogue-Novel/dp/0345511492
I didn't read it, but Charity did. She linked me a quick rundown and told me a few things before the movie. There's considerably more backstory on Krennic, Erso, Tarkin, Saw, etc. Granted, maybe not the characters you're looking for.
These aren't the Rogues she's looking for
To a certain degree, it kinda makes sense to me that they kept the character development as limited as they did. This ragged crew are more or less unsung heroes in the war against the Empire. They fought and died for the rebellion, but the results of their deed were remembered more than the crew.
Almost feels like if they had made a bigger deal about the characters, it would have been a little weird considering none of these characters are even mentioned in the films following Rogue One.
I like the idea that these are unsung heroes that die an inglorious death, with the hope that some day their lives will have bought the downfall of the empire. Knowing the future of the story makes it awesome.
Coworker mentioned a ship from Star Wars Rebels (the kids animated show, canon BTW) and a reference to the pilot heard over a PA. I noticed them but never watched Rebels to put 2+2.
Loved it! Ended up seeing it twice the first night because why not
Pretty much echo everyone here -
Seriously impressed on the CGI for Tarkin, made me start looking for who else might be CGI in the movie when I saw it the second time around.
I was fine with the amount of Tarkin given his importance.
K2SO was great
Did notice some of the EP4 shots. I think when they show Red Leader the first time (awesome) that first shot is direct from IV?
Vader was great. I was ok with the Pun
Thought the overall story was great, realism, feel of the movie etc. Just overall really well done.
Thought the movie was a bit clunky at the beginning. I guess that's the price for getting all the character introductions done so quickly.
They all died, which was great. I was kind of hoping Vader would do it though, although that might have been cheesy...
Liked Krennic overall.
I definitely liked it more than the Force Awakens.
I was completely on board with the movie the entire time UNTIL the stupid controls to point the dish... Really? AND there is a slot to put the data disk into? And point it where?
I gave them the benefit of the doubt with getting the plans manually. Prevents hackers, who knows. The communication master certainly pushed me but I let it go. Calling it a "master" was wrong. Manual bypass, etc would have been better.
Critical question:
Machete Order 2016?
R1 4 5 2 3 6
OR
4 5 2 3 R1 6
4 5 2 3 R1 6 7 imo
I enjoyed the movie. The early part of the movie where they're trying to blend in on Jeddhu and the locals ambush a platoon of storm troopers with an IED was pretty believable but pretty much every other major engagement left me wondering just who was running this army? I had a hard time believing that when the shuttle pads started blowing up why they immediately jumped to "Rebel attack!" instead of getting confused and disrupted. Believing themselves under attack, their failure to respond promptly with overwhelming force allowed the situation to get out-of-hand in a hurry. We saw very little of the much-vaunted Star Destroyer weaponry being employed on the Rebel fleet either.
This is also a thing: http://terminallance.com/2016/10/rogue-one-scene-id-like-see/
Just got back and trying to process all the comments.
I loved it and will contribute my overall thoughts shortly.
Are we saying the "try not to choke on your aspirations" is a pun? If that is the one you all got a weird sense of humor.
Also if you thought Bothans were part of "A New Hope" nerd card revoked until further notice.
Yea the Bothans died bringing the plans for the 2nd death star.
All teasing aside, this is a great discussion, Icrontic never disappoints.
I think a bad habit of many Star Wars fans is going to be that natural comparative analysis to other films and how they all rank for them... let us not do that. Empire is Empire, The Force Awakens is The Force Awakens, Rogue One is Rogue One... This is the beauty of Star Wars as we know it today. The mythology is so rich, so much can be done with it, every story is a unique opportunity. Judge the film on it's own merits, don't compare it to other installments.
Rogue One is the unsung blue collar workers of the rebellion movie. It's about the underdog, the kid that spits in the face of authority even though he / she knows in the end nobody is really buying what they are selling, and ultimately things will not end well for them. They do it because they know it's right, and that is heroic as anything in the mythology, even more so than a Jedi who is endowed with a special power, these are the grunts, the working mans hero and for me me the characters connected.
When Chirrut Imwe dies and Baze connects with him, it is a beautiful moment. The force is not about midi-chlorian counts or choking the shit out of someone with your thoughts, it's about a fundamental belief in something that is bigger than yourself. Chirrut in a way understands the force better than any character in the mythology has. That moment, him praying as he walks across the blaster fire, it's perfect.
Vader in the bacta tank!! I don't know why I love that so much, just something about that old monster movie connection, I think Lucas probably smiled at that.
That action, all that beautiful action. The dogfights, the ground battles, every bit of it is thrilling.
I think Jyn and Cassian had a fantastic arc. In war, the environment of constant distrust, double agents, differing opinions on how to solve very dangerous problems, two people that are shades of gray, obviously good, heroic, but they both can see how the ends sometimes justify the means, and seeing them butt heads because they are so alike, and it isn't until late in the film that they both understand that about one another. Their death had weight for me. There has to be a cost to war, and sometimes Star Wars as a kid friendly fantasy glosses over that.
@primesuspect the fact that they store data on giant hard drives in a pillar that requires a robot arm for access is awesome. It's so cool visually, I love that they didn't allow the rules of our world dictate how to tell the story. Suspend disbelief, it's not science fiction, it's a fantasy film. (@Thrax will disagree but he is wrong)
Okay..... there is only one thing that I can complain about, and it's CGI and where it belongs and how much. Leia in the end for four seconds, totally cool with it. First she is alive and can be like, oh yeah guys, that's cool, do that, second, it's only for a few seconds for a nice transition scene (which is another awesome thing how they bridge right to "A New Hope", brilliantly done). Peter Cushing however has been dead for over twenty years... Let the man rest in peace. First, the CGI looks bad, even on Carrie Fisher, it does not look human. If it were a video game, my God yes, all day long, it would look amazing, an animated film, sign me up... but next to human actors, it's Jar Jar Binks level insanity. I'm not saying exclude Tarkin, he is a very important character, but, re cast him, don't insult my intelligence as a viewer. Rachel Dawes was played by two women, Albus Dumbledore was played by two men, Clarice Starling was played by different women along side a consistent Hannibal Lecter, you call the man Tarkin, we get it, a different man is playing him because the one you would have liked is either disinterested or dead. A human actor would have delivered something far better. I appreciate the technical effort, I truly do, I know some extremely brilliant people worked their ass off to pull that off... still, it's the wrong approach. Some other kid is going to play young Han Solo, I'm fine with it. Harrison Ford will die one day, we all will, life goes on. Peter Cushing back from the dead for that much screen time, it is as bad as a dancing Michael Jackson hologram.
That all said, don't let that rant on CGI faces derail what is a remarkable film.
I am one with the force and the force is with me...
See Rogue One at least twice or you are a fundamentally bad person.
On the matter of Vader using puns.
Vader has always enjoyed being sarcastic, even if he hasn't used an actual pun before.
He chokes Captain Needa to death and then says "Apology accepted, Captain Needa."
He sets a trap for Han and crew on Cloud City and welcomes them with "We would be honored if you would join us."
Anakin and Obi Wan would bust each others chops a little bit. Anakin understands sarcasm.
Anakin makes witty humor all the time in the clone wars. I liked the pun.
I was not thrown off by tarkin, and didn't know he was CGI till this discussion. Huh.
Loved the movie.
This proves the prediction I made at work on Friday! That it was good enough that if someone didn't know Peter Cushing was dead, they might not notice it!
I just thought Peter Cushing had been aged down and had a really bad cold, thus the off-colour shading under his cheekbones.
I was actually really sad to learn he had passed away, loved him in Star Wars and the 1968 Sherlock Holmes tv show, still watch it with my dad.
I'm kinda surprised about the didn't knows. It was uncanny valley level CGI for me. I think less screen time, or more Vader time instead would have worked well. Overall, still really enjoyed it. Neatly packaged up and met with A New Hope perfectly. A lot of characters in a short time, but I think I agree with others who stated that these were part of the nuts and bolts of the Rebellion. Those who got the work done, rather than the leaders, and they wouldn't be known.
Honestly, the mouths were the only truly almost-there parts for me. Tarkin, when he spoke, had a little too fluid movement in his lips, and Leia's upper lip didn't match well enough. Everything else I could easily look past - they did an absolutely fantastic job. We've come so damn far.
Ironically, Vader's voice sounded to me like they went and got somebody who could do a good Vader/James Earl Jones accent, but apparently that was actually him, so... that was interesting to me. Did he sound different to anybody else?
James Earl Jones is a lot older
I had tears of joy in the way when Leah come on so couldn't get a good read on the CGI.