Star Wars

[movieartman]

Good audio review for RO with 1 person who loved Force Awakens and one who hated it.
http://oneofus.net/2016/12/highly-suspe ... rogue-one/

Chris...
TFA === 9 of 10 if I recall correctly.
RO === 8 and a half of 10.
Richard...
TFA === 3 of 10
TO === 8 and a half of 10.

[Sachi]

The people on the collider videos Jedi Council all loved it, rating it as the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy, and easily a peg above TFA. The third act apparently really delivers. I can't wait until this weekend!

[Ray]

The third act apparently really delivers

What about that controversy over the ending being changed to be a little more light-hearted? I mean judging from what I've heard and read the director originally wanted Darth Vader to kill everyone. But the studio stepped in and made the reshoots change the ending.

Without spoiling it does the ending betray the spirit of the rest of the movie? Or does it commit to its tone all the way to the end?

[movieartman]

The audio review I linked too isn't a spoiler review.
They said the likely reshoots are obvious at points, however it didn't sound like it was at the end.
They emphasized repeatedly that the film is super dark and that this is actually the most shades of grey film in the franchise.

[Sachi]

I've heard that Vader has moments of sheer horror on screen, and that the film ends on an epic high note. The movie isn't about him, but when he's on screen his presence dominates. Also that this is the first Star Wars film clearly intended for adults, rather than also being for kids.

[Gendo'sPapa]

Rogue One is alright. Movie gets almost as much right as it does wrong. First two acts are pretty tedious but it really comes alive in the last half hour when it seemed the entire crew remembered "Hey, these films can be fun too!". Sadly I felt a lot of the scale that was the really selling point of the trailer has been erased from the film with poor editing choices - i.e. cutting away from a shot too fast - & cutting out a lot of material. It's a messy movie but it works. Mostly.

If I had to rank Rogue One I'd place it far behind the original trilogy, a bit behind The Force Awakens + Revenge of the Sith & about on par with The Phantom Menace.

Will gladly discuss more once everyone else has seen it.

[Guy Nacks]

Rogue One is alright...about on par with The Phantom Menace.

I'm pretty sure "alright" isn't the term 95+% of people would use to describe The Phantom Menace.

[Sachi]

The Phantom Menace is alright. It's terrible in a lot of ways, but not nearly as cringy as Attack of the Clones. That romance though.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

"I hate sand..."

*intense smooching ensues*

[Charizard]

To change the subject, it just occurred to me that Kylo Ren is something of a cerebral deconstruction of Darth Vader fanboys and Vader's status as a beloved cultural icon - just like a lot of real-life nerds, Ren is immature, socially awkward and obsessed with Vader, but in the Star Wars universe, that obsession translates to idolizing a murderous tyrant.

And we're all obviously fans of deconstructive works here. And Kylo's a "love it or hate it" deal, just like Eva.

[NemZ]

Pretty good! the first 2/3 or so dragged a bit, with lots of different locations visited in a short amount of time but little actually happening. The droid is awesome though, and he and the blind guy's comedy bits really save the movie during this initial lull. That last third though... it's star wars portrayed as an actual war movie. Awesome, but in a saving private ryan sort of way.

[soul.assassin]

Rogue One feels a bit different. Let's just say in terms of interest, I felt as if I played Infinite Warfare.

[Chuckman]

Well that was different.

[Director Black]

Recently got out of seeing Rogue One with a few students from my school. This is the kind of movie that doesn't need to exist, but since there were obviously Star Wars sequels coming out, they had to find more ways to make money, and with it, took advantage of it.

One thing's for certain though, I am aching to find out more about the giant squid beast that mind read the pilot's mind (Then again, since RO will obviously do well, we'll most likely see more backstories for whoever the breakout character will be (Please, please be Chirrut Îmwe)).

[Chuckman]

I think it justified its own existence just fine.

That was a good story. Snyder et. al. should take note. If you want to tell a mature story about hope this is how you do it.

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Also the made Vader a frightening villain again. I was worried they'd over/underuse him but it was just right.

[Director Black]

I think it justified its own existence just fine.

Well, it does answer one pretty big plothole in why there was an obvious weakness in the Death Star.

Thinking about it more, wouldn't it be hilarious if Disney execs. came out and said that that's the only reason why Rogue One was made, whether serious or not? I mean, if it was, then at least it had other great things about it to back it up.

[Bagheera]

Well, it does answer one pretty big plothole in why there was an obvious weakness in the Death Star.

Oh? Share with the class? Going outside is deadly for me this weekend, so I won't be able to see it until next week.

[Director Black]

Oh? Share with the class? Going outside is deadly for me this weekend, so I won't be able to see it until next week.

Sent you a PM. It's a minor spoiler, but a spoiler nonetheless that's best left to the movie's explanation of it.

[Bagheera]

That . . . actually makes sense. Why has no one hit on that in the past 39 years?

[Guy Nacks]

Pretty good! the first 2/3 or so dragged a bit, with lots of different locations visited in a short amount of time but little actually happening. The droid is awesome though, and he and the blind guy's comedy bits really save the movie during this initial lull. That last third though... it's star wars portrayed as an actual war movie. Awesome, but in a saving private ryan sort of way.

I echo this sentiment.


In terms of my overall enjoyment though, I thought it was a good effort. It's easily the best of the prequels (Oh, shit, RO actually is lumped into that category now) but it's far from being the absolute best of the entire series.

In terms of comparisons to TFA, I think that TFA had better pacing, but the third act of RO blew the finale of TFA out of the water with the exception of the Rey/Ren duel. Character work was okay, especially in a film with loads of them; however I still don't know the names of the Bromantic Asian Badass Squad (BABS), although Blind Dude was a more interesting character.

Oh, and it also includes easily the best

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cinematic incarnation of Vader in my lifetime.

There were a couple of downers.

One was the music. Mikey G may be a good orchestrator, but his actual compositional skills leave a little to be desired as far as this film goes. I guess my main gripe is that he doesn't use leitmotifs nearly as often or effectively as Williams does. Aside from Krennic's theme (which I've completely forgotten by this point, mere hours after seeing the film) I could barely pick out, let alone hum, any of the music to myself after leaving the theater; whereas, with Williams' work on TFA, I could easily hum Rey's Theme and the Resistance theme even after the drive home. Mikey G's score is good for action scenes, but it's just not memorable, and when you're inheriting the mantle from the guy with the most recognizable film music in history, you gotta at least try to leave some sort of impression.

Another was the use of CGI. Specifically, the stuff involving

SPOILER: Show

Tarkin. It takes immense balls to resurrect the likeness of an actor who's been dead for decades, even moreso to give him enough screentime to give him minor character status instead of just a cameo, but I don't think they handled it the proper way; namely, they had too many shots of him close to the camera with takes that lasted more than a few seconds. The longer you do that, the greater likelihood the character slips into the uncanny valley and that portion of your brain nags at you like a Ceti eel that what you're seeing is a digital effect. They didn't even need Tarkin to be in the film for as long as he was, and if you're going to include him, have him spouting his dialogue, back to teh camera with his face reflected in a window (which they actually did for a couple shots.) That way, the fakeness of the CGI is hidden. I actually think that Leia's scene was better-executed in terms of how long her face was on screen for, but I think the shot was framed too close. Overall, I think that this sort of de-aging/actor resurrecting tool should be used more sparingly and they should get more creative with their shot design and blocking when they do use it.

And now, the ultimate test: Would I keep my TV tuned to this movie if I were flipping channels?

Yes, but only after they reach Scarif.