Rogue One How Will/Has "Rogue One" affect/affected your viewing of "A New Hope" when watched chronologically?

IMO, even though A New Hope has some dark elements in it, it's meant to be a fun adventure with dashing heroes. It's not meant to make you think about the horrors of war and reflect upon on those horrors like Rogue One does. Rogue One, to me, is in your face and it it's dark and gritty. Don't get me wrong, I love both movies, but the tone is completely different in both movies. So for the people who are saying that A New Hope is dark as well, I just can't agree with that.

 

I think the best way to put it is that R1 and ESB both recontextualise ANH and make it darker retroactively, because you know what's going on beyond the edges of the frame. ANH on its own is fairly light and breezy, but as part of the RO-ANH-ESB series, it's got more going on under the surface.

 

Today for the first time I watched Rogue One and the 1977 Star Wars film back-to-back.

This was my fourth viewing of Rogue One, and once again I was moved by the sacrifices made by the main characters. Jyn Erso had her entire life robbed from her by the Empire. No mother. No father. No husband. No children. No future. She sacrificed everything, as did the others that helped her steal the Death Star plans.

Once Leia put the plans into R2-D2, I became fixated on R2. Where is R2? What is R2 doing? Is he OK? When Luke and Ben go into the cantina, Ben shows a serious lapse in judgment: "Hey, you vitally-important droid, just go wait outside by yourself. I'm sure you'll be all right." Um, it's not like Luke had anything whatsoever do to in the cantina. While Ben looked for a pilot, Luke ordered a drink and got in a fight. Thank you, Luke. Ben should have ordered him to stay with the droids. I always thought Ben was the only smart Jedi in the prequels. I guess he descended to their level in later years.

Later it struck me that R2 was in the hands of a bunch of screw-ups: Luke, Han, Chewie, Ben (who had seen better days), and C-3PO. Poor Jyn Erso (and Galen, and Andor, and etc.) must have been turning in their graves. It was like James Bond handing the baton over to the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Still later when our intrepid band was on the Death Star itself, Ben's final words to Luke were for him to watch over the droids. Within 30 seconds Luke decides to abandon the droids to rescue some princess whom he thought was pretty. To C-3PO's question as to what to do if they were discovered: "Lock the door." "And hope they don't have blasters." Thank you, Laurel and Hardy.

The 1977 Star Wars is still my favorite movie, and Rogue One is still my second favorite Star Wars movie. But I do not think I will be watching them back-to-back again. It made the 1977 film seem almost like a spoof to me.

 

have to hand it to lucasfilm/disney/kathleen kennedy/gareth edwards they some how improved one of the most loved movies of all time. with a fan base who will never forgive or forget if they didn't like it. well done to all involved

 

This is exactly how I felt, but it didn't bother me as I appreciate both styles.

But yeah, there are moments when ANH oddly feels like a SW spoof (oddly because it was the first SW film)! But only for a little while. I then settled into the pulpy groove of the film and was back in 1977.

However, Rogue One did contribute to my diminished opinion of TFA (which I initially loved). That film now reads like a SW spoof to me, apart from Rey's introductory scenes on Jakku and chunks of the ending (including Ahch-to). I frankly feel that SW has to add some more realism in order to stay fresh and relevant. And Edwards understood that.

 

I kind of view it as the 4 1/2 hour story of how the rebellion managed to pull off destroying the death star and causing a major turning point in the galactic civil war. One story is self contained about the retreival of the plans, the other is about how those plans got put to work and manged to be mixed up in the messiest family drama the galaxy had ever seen. Its fun watching them back to back. Especially since you now have Leia blatantly lying to Vader and these plans that people literally died for not being given the treatment they deserve. And yet they somehow make it and the Galaxy's destiny is once again forever changed. I love it.

 

Yeah, this... I wonder why though? I loved TFA when it came out...and then I brought it on Blu Ray and have only watched it once I have had RO on Blu Ray for 3 or 4 days and have already watched it twice. I think design aesthetic comes into it. TFA (especially the FO) designs feel sterile. The resistance designs are also a little...off. Other than Jakku the planets don't feel lived in. I am not scouring the background for goodies the way I have done with RO. Other than Kylo Ren there are no character designs that blow me away either... In RO there are about 30 or so background characters that could easily be "Aurra Sing-ed"

The Deathtrooper design is also miles ahead of anything we have seen since the 80's (imo) I hope TLJ steps it up...

 

I think that Rogue One greatly enhances A New Hope. It so brilliantly fixes the plot hole of the flaw in the Death Star in the original Star Wars movie and we also finally get to see the enormity of the Rebel's sacrifice in obtaining the Death Star plans.