Rogue One [Official Info] Ben Mendelsohn (Director Orson Krennic) in Rogue One

Agreed. The Rogue One ancillary books are some of the best in Star Wars. Catalyst, Guardians of the Whills, Rebel Rising. All surprisingly good.

 

I'm just really glad this film made Ben Mendelsohn more known to more people. He's in a lot more stuff these days. A lot of his early stuff is good too. He's fantastic in Animal Kingdom.

 

He’s a tour de force in “Bloodline.”

 

He's pretty good in Darkest Hour too.

 

When Krennic says to Galen "let me share with you some details", it is one of the most menacing deliveries of a line I can think of. Just the guttural delivery and tone, the ingrained evil within, I consider that his best line from Rogue One.

So much so that it wouldn't surprise me if Ben Mendelsohn had been somebody who might have been considered to play the Joker in the Dark Knight Trilogy. Being that he was cast in a small role in Dark Knight Rises, it might add a bit more to his connection to that trilogy.

 

My first introduction to him was Dark Knight Rises. I liked him even then.

 

I like Krennic he is intresting character.

 

I also just finished watching the HBO miniseries The Outsider. Great stuff-and he is the main character, good performance there too! First time I've seen him use an American accent.

 

I like this guy. Born to play a Bond villain isn't he?

 

I thought Krennic was going to be basically a Diet Tarkin since they couldn’t use the real deal and unlike Tarkin he could be defeated by our heroes. I could not have been more off on that assumption. Not only is he a very compelling character in his own right, but it is Tarkin himself who actually ends him. I love that he’s not a mustache twirling villain, he’s just a guy who really wants power and recognition, and he has no qualms about trampling over whomever’s necessary to get them. Ultimately he discovers the hard way this philosophy isn’t so cool when you’re the one on the receiving end.

 

I'd argue he's the best villain in the Disney era SW films.

 

By far. If you add TV, I’d say Moff Gideon will give him a run for his money.

 

I don't know, I find Krennic to be far more interesting so far. Gideon hasn't really done much, beyond giving the heroes an endless amount of time to escape a trap for no reason whatsoever.

As of this point in time, Krennic had more storytime, and he got more time to establish his character. I think his lines have also been quite a bit better as well. Gideon does have some potential for the future though, and his entrance was quite spectacular.

 

I like Gideon, but objectively speaking I haven't seen enough from him for me to say he's better than Krennic. However listen, I'm glad he's alive because I also can see him becoming the best villain in the Disney era. I mean hell, if anyone can be top tier villain who better than the man who portrayed Gustavo Fring?

 

I'm not sure if Krenic is a villain and more just a whiny petulant bureaucrat overreaching his power, who is still a villain but not like a properly badass villain of the time period which is just Tarkin, Vader or the Emperor. Great to watch being evil but he isn't exactly intimidating, more like a live wire.

 

^I think part of what I like about Krennic is that he's not that kind of intimidating badass villain. But he probably wants to be.

 

Yeah. Krennic’s a social climber trying to climb up the ladder of villainy. And the establishment villains successfully push him off.

 

Although, another way to look at it is that Krennic had a much bigger impact than Tarkin in the grand scheme things. Krennic was, in fact, the officer in charge of the creation of the original Death Star. Of which the Empire made not one, not two, but three of. Which served as their primary weapon and allowed them to inflict their reign of terror throughout the galaxy. And if you think about it, Tarkin only lived but a mere few days longer than Krennic, and had previously been just as petty by pulling rank over Krennic and stealing the Death Star project out from under him. All Tarkin really did was order its use, and then take credit for it. I haven't read the Tarkin novel, but based on the events we see in the movies, can we really say that Krennic was so much more petulant and petty than Tarkin? Tarkin might have been at the officer's round table meeting at the beginning of a ANH, but so were other officers. Including one who directly challenged Vader and his sorcerer's ways. That took way more balls than anything we saw Tarkin do. Tarkin might have been buddy-buddy with Vader by then, but how do you think he got there? His only advantage in terms of how we see him comes from having had a whole 40 years to cement his reputation among us as viewers before we were introduced to the likes of Krennic. But take that away and look at only the in universe timeline, and it kind of begs the question, is Tarkin really deserving of being looked at so much more favorably than Krennic? Maybe they're all kind of just like that.

 

He's kind of like an Albert Speer or maybe even a Werner Von Braun.... not sure if those are the best examples but hopefully it makes sense what I'm getting at

 

I think this guy is spot on with most of what he said about Krennic. But I don't think he would have been imprisoned by the Empire if he failed with the Death Star. He would have been executed. Also, the video maker seemed to miss that Tarkin intended to kill Krennic as well as the data vault. He wanted to get rid of a rival of course. Great performance from Ben Mendelsohn. Krennic was menacing, but he has his blindspots and without a doubt a **** ton of arrogance.