Rogue One Rogue One Reviews/Reactions thread

Honestly I was actually a little surprised watching the film that it didn't feel like nearly as big a departure from the OT as it had been talked up as.

Events we saw felt very much inline with the view we get of the wider SW universe that always had a dark edge to it but never go overboard into anything really nasty. What we do get is obviously a shift away from the romantic heroism of the OT overlaid on this setting but the break isn't complete and indeed I think the humour/charm we do get again feels much more inline with the OT to me that the goofier stuff in TFA.

I don't like to judge films from franchises I have big expectations of in one viewing but for me if there were issues it was more that the drama felt underdeveloped at points and some of the dialog was a bit stilted, Felicity Jones especially for me whilst fine much of the time wasn't really suited for some of those monologs that came off as rather cheesey.

 

Did you already watch it?!

 

Yes, today release here in Brazil.

 

I thought most of the humour fell flat and hurt the film. It would have been better without it imo - or at least if it wasnt so tonally jarring

 

boonjj

I imagine that your reaction to the film looks like your avi....

 

Overall I thought it was very good and I feel that I need at least a 2e screening to fully appreciate the movie. But, I agree with most of the pros and cons that you've mention

 

It's 6/8 for me. I'm better than you.

 

No, I loved the film. Just didn't like that aspect.

 

Ah, okay.

 

I just got back from seeing the movie. This is a very mature Star Wars movie.

1. V
2. IV
3. VI
4. Rogue One
5. VII
6. III
7. II
8. I

 

I know disliking "grimdark" has become fashionable and yes there have been films that have pushed it too far or simply used it as cover for a lack of quality but honestly I find myself having more of a problem with the "anti grimdark" movement. To me its really gone hand in hand with blockbusters having MUCH less ambition, all the Marvel films entertaining as they generally are have yet to produce something as good as Nolans Batman IMHO.

Its the same with Abrams Trek and TFA, yeah there fun thrill rides but SW at its best was something more than that for me.

 

The tone should suit the script. It's a simple as that. The problem is many movie makers are forcing material to be dark when it really shouldn't be.

 

I watched Rogue ONe at 12:01 pm on opening night, and only now I'm getting sometime to write about my first impression of the movie.
I'm gonna get this out of the way and say I loved the movie, and for now I do believe it's better than TFA (and I love TFA, for the record). It ties perfectly with A New Hope!
So, spoilers ahead.

Spoiler

I agree with most of you guys that the first act of the movie jumped around too much. But it was cool to see a lot of different places, speciallly that outpost where we first see Cassian. And there was a lot to stabilish, so I guess they had to do that. Despite that, the pace picked up quickly and never let go of me. By the time we get to the final act, man... what a threat!
There was a lot of references to previous movies and even some to Rebels and Clone Wars.
Here's a list of what I managed to see this first time around, from memory:
- Blue Milk
- Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba
- Non holographic Dejarik set
- Whills (not a reference to any movie, but to early scripts)
- Red Five
- Footage from the pilots that fought in the Battle of Yavin, that was a surprise!
- "General Syndulla" being called in some speaker
- The Ghost
- The Hammerhead ship
- C-3PO and R2-D2
- Tantative IV
And there are the obvious Saw Gerrera, Mon MOthma and Bail Organa.
However, we also see two other familiar characters: Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia, both CGI.
Tarkin has a lot more screen time that I expected, and I loved his role in the movie, he just had to be in it and I'm glad they did this.
Leia appears for a few seconds in the ending, and it was a heart warming momento for me.
I've heard some complaints about the CGI and how it's distracting and stuff, but personally I loved it.

For the main charactes, they were fine. I liked all of them. Some less than others, but all are likeable and they do their job to drive the story, make us care and all.
I have to say that their fate was something that I wanted to happen. but I didn't expect it would actually happen, so it was a surprise.

And of course, we have Vader. He's in the movie in a couple of scenes. In the fist one, we have the privilege of seeing his castle, in some planet that kind of looks like Mustafar, and we see an exciting scene of him in the bact tank, and later in full armor talking to Krennic. James Earl Jones was great, I do believe they nailed Vader. It was awesome.
And we have his second scene, when he board a Rebel SHip containing the plans to the Death Star. NOthing anyone says can prepare you for this. It's something that I've always wanted to see.

And what about the scenes that are in the trailer but not in the movie? I Guess that's where the reshoots come into play. There are some scenes in the trailer that just can't fit the final movie in any way. Most noticeable are the scenes when we see Cassian and Jyn running and figthing in the beaches of Scarif with the Death Star Plans in hands, or charging against the AT-ACT's. It seems like they changed the climax a lot. But that does not make the final version any less exciting.

So that's about it. If I had to give it a score I would give a 9/10.
I'm going to watch it again today, so that may change. But that's it for now.

 

I need see again Rogue One to see if it's better than TFA, but for a first time, i prefer TFA because i prefer the characters of this movie than Rogue.

 

A little spoiler (disappointment)

Spoiler

Spacemonkey (Bistan), IMO, got Zuviood.
Ok, you see him two times very shortly, but that's it. I think that's a waste of a cool character, I really looked forward seeying this dude in action

 

I have seen it and the following is my review/thoughts on the film:

I liked it, but it has many problems.

Spoiler

The first half of the film was good, the end of the film was good, but in between it gets into a lot of boring action sequences that feel very tired and uninteresting. Gareth did a good job on the visual front for the most part, with some very nice shots throughout.

Felicity Jones was pretty good as Jyn, though it is far from her best performance. The character is rather standard scarred abandoned child type, but is a step up from the characters of the 2015 entry.

Diego Luna was also good as Cassian, once again his character sometimes veers on some clichés, but the performance was good.

Ben Mendelsohn was once again a good choice for Krennic, but his character needed to be developed much more than he was, and that was something I was rather disappointed in.

Mads Mikkelson was great and the stand out performance of the film without a doubt. I think his character was probably the strongest as well, but I can't help but feel that really a film about him and Krennic would've been a much more interesting choice.

Forest Whittaker is usually good, but I found his performance hammy here and don't think Saw Gerrera was handled very well. Certainly, the emotional impact of his character didn't feel genuine.

Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen were both good, but their character development was too rushed for my taste.

I hate to say it but James Earl Jones voice was very unconvincing as Darth Vader moments before Star Wars: A New Hope. He sounds very, very different than he did then and even significantly different than just 11 years ago on ROTS. I fear he just sounds too clearly like a much older man than then.

The dialogue was poor at times, and all the characters could've used some more development really.

The visual effects were mostly good, but CGI Tarkin while an impressive feat, doesn't really work as a whole for me. Also, why did they decide to make him much taller than Peter Cushing actually was?

CGI Leia looked worse than Tarkin, and that last scene was very tasteless I thought.

The comedy was dreadful and very jarring at times, but it seems like that is something that the current Lucasfilm are really pushing for sadly.

I was glad that they showed Vader's castle, but was disappointed in the bacta tank scene, as I would've liked to have seen more of unsuited Vader. Everything else felt rather like fan service with him and the scene of him killing the rebels was tasteless and really should've been left out, as it had very little use to the story and more to do with fans/cash I feel.

The action sequences were very boring and drag on for far too long, until they kick in the film was very enjoyable, but they really drag the whole thing down. The film could've used some more gore too.

I was glad that they did kill all of the main characters, but as a whole I didn't find the film to be particularly dark and wished it had pushed the tone further (not that I
expected it to).[Spoiler/]

I liked it as a whole, but it has many story flaws that I didn't mention, and some poor choices that keep it from really being a good film. I liked it more than last year's entry, but there is still much room for improvement.

 

Let's, ah... let's not do that. Leave that to an animated series at most, disregarding all the comics and books and quite likely video games that will be published in that time span. But let's not recreate three main characters for extended screen time.

 

Rogue One now up to 85% on Rotten Tomatoes

183 Fresh
33 Rotten

 

_ _ _ _

I read something earlier that openly referred to is as being Mustafar, so glad to hear it has now been confirmed.

 

I get that. I've heard people say it is uplifting at the end (I'm 3 hrs from my viewing). I hope so. I am not normally a fan of movies where everybody dies. But we shall see. I thought from the beginning that this will be an "everybody dies" kind of movie.

 

Disney would have bitten your hand off for a 80%+ RT score during all the reshoots. I'm just relieved we're avoiding total clunkers like DCEU though with churning a movie a year out I suppose that's eventually gonna happen.

 

Thanks Mods, I've just come back from seeing this in London.

Star Wars is (now, truly) back!

Favourite scenes, the X-Wing and battle scenes over Scarif, actually felt like Star Wars. Also, the end scene with Vader wrecking shop and going on violence! The music with him standing watching the Tantive IV going off was immense.

The CGI on Grand Moff Tarkin I thought was amazing, and Guy Henry, for those of you unfamiliar with him, is well known in the UK for his role as a rather imperial character called 'Henrik Hanssen' on a UK hospital drama show called Holby City. Henry I always felt was the archetypal imperial officer, I never realised he would be actually voicing Tarkin at some point, though there was some chatter about this many months ago. Henry I felt was amazing, the tension between him and Director Krennic.

Unlike last year's offering, TFA, I did not leave feeling at all underwhelmed. I have some very slight issues with Rogue One (Saw Guerra rushed, Foresst Whittaker I do not feel gave the part its worth, some of his followers could have gone with the rebels; Chirrut - unclear force sensitivity; the Vader scene at the end could have been longer and better; the voice on Vader did sound a bit off, they could have done something possibly or used someone else; the CGI on Leia at the end could have been better - very slight issues really) but overall Edwards is the man. Disney and Lucasfilm should strongly considering getting him back for other Star Wars films in the franchise.

The characters were superb, (such as Mon Mothma, General Merrick, Admiral Raddus, Bail Organa - though he could have featured much more prominently I think) and showed the reality of the sacrifices in war.

Overall then, I am very happy with this offering, the Saga film directors and makers really need to take a leaf out of this going forward as last year's offering really looks lame in comparison to this epic peice Rogue One.

 

Maybe, but we'll see. A whole lot of good writers and directors grew up with Star Wars and want a crack at it.

A friend who saw it last night told me, "I'm pretty sure Vader lives in Mordor.... in Sauron's guest bungalow." Sounds about perfect!

 

I don't like to give final judgements after just one viewing of films like this were expectations play a big part but yeah I felt more caught up in RO than I did TFA due to the ambition it was showing rather than sticking to a fairly safe nostalgia thrill ride.

Edwards has I think definitely set the benchmark for recreating the world of the OT that the anthology films at least should try and stick to, nothing SW based since ROTJ has captured the magic of the setting in the way this film did for me. Obviously a films plot can change its tone/focus but I think this film also set a very good base level there with things like say the kind of humour future films should look to.

I did have issues with some of the plotting and dialog but I'm not sure I would agree the film was "over cluttered" as some are saying. I actually felt the supporting characters and the wider world got just the right amount of detail considering its nature was ment to be to offer a more detailed view of them, if anything was off it was more that some of the bigger characters were a bit short of build up, The Erso family should I think have had a bit more focus as indeed should Saw in the opening act. Its not like the film was really overlong as it was and an extra 15 mins there would still have left it under 2 1/2 hours.