Rogue One Is R1 Your New Favorite?

RO is number two on my list too, right behind ANH. TESB is a close third place.

 

What amazes me about it is just how much Star Wars "flavour" it has. I mean, it even outdoes the source material and is more Star Wars than A New Hope is. It is an incredible achievement how this picture bolts almost seamlessly onto Episode IV even with a forty year gap between them.

The re-use of footage of the X and Y wing pilots is superb. The hairstyles, sideburns, moustaches - straight out of 1977.

The immersion is excellent too. The street scene on the Rings of Kafrene, the Star Destroyer above Jedha city. All take you there and have you believing that this is a living, breathing galaxy full of different worlds and different species all milling about.

I really like too how the concept of the Force and Jedi are devolved back to a kind of quasi-religion as well.

Really well done.

K-2SO is just the funniest character as well. Tudyk's performance and line delivery is brilliant.

 

R1 is becoming my second or third favorite SW film.

 

Other things I like.

I like how Jyn and Cassian share a kind of mutual respect and understanding at the end without it being overtly romantic. Their moment in the elevator, and on the beach.

I like how the Death Star looks down on Krennic at the end, like an eye looking down on him in judgment. Poetic justice. Like Perillos who devised the Brazen Bull to torture and kill enemies in ancient Greece, he too dies at the hands of his own creation.

I like it when they are coming in to land on Scarif, and just after Bodhi says "Landing track, open" there is a shot of a Rebel soldier sat in the back. He is lost in his own thoughts, and you can feel the trepidation and anxiety.

I like it when Jyn and Cassian go for broke and leap from the data archive console onto the tower. As all hell breaks loose outside and above, two rebels deep inside the complex are desperately trying to grab those plans any way they can.

I like it when they get into the complex and walk past that Imperial Droid who says the same thing as the one on the Jawa Sandcrawler.

I like the gigantic statues on Jedha

I like the exchange between Jyn and Chirrut "How did you know I was wearing a necklace?" And he replies with a smile "For that answer you must pay"

I like how Krennic is a kind of working class officer, and appears as if he doesn't really fit in with the elitism of the higher ranks.

I like the British Imperial Officer with the Lancashire accent (My neck of the woods) The one during the test fire on Jedha who says "Commence primary ignition"

 

Just do it! You won’t regret it.

 

Can I also add that I think that the special effect to bring back Tarkin is as good as it needs to be. I just see the character of Tarkin, and am not concentrating on a special effect. The voice work is superb too. This may change in time as newer effects cause older ones to look more dated, but even now, I think that the Peter Cushing but not Peter Cushing is excellent (slightly better than the Leia one - but the effects serve their purpose)

Overall though, the best thing about Rogue One is that it carries some bloody emotional weight, and instead of the dead-not dead nonsense prevalent in the ST, we get a sense of war, with all the death, tragedy and sacrifice that goes with it. That is Rogue One's crown jewel. It wasn't afraid to kill its characters.

 

Rogue One is the only movie that gave me a chance to experience a Star Wars movie upon its release the way they were experienced during the OT release years. And that was specifically because it was so similar to the OT and equally well done. Keep in mind this was also right after the one-two punch of TFA and RO having been so well received overall, and SW fervor was just at an all time high. At that point in my life I didn't have a whole lot going on, so I ended up seeing RO around 20 times during its theatrical run, and I considered each viewing to be a unique and appreciated experience. I was completely immersed in it and was always on these boards talking about it and constantly reveling in it at conventions and at my local comic book hang out. It just felt like a legitimate Star Wars era all on its own during that time, and even more so now that I look back on it. I truly feel like that's the closest I'll ever come to experiencing what it was like when the OT films were released. Because by the end of that year the second installment of the ST happened, and I wasn't too thrilled with the direction things were going from that point on. And I definitely have good memories of the Special Editions as a kid and the PT during my teenage years, but by then SW had already been in my life and was a pop culture staple, so it didn't have the same impact. So for me, being able to experience and appreciate RO as an adult during that specific window of time, in addition to it being objectively one of the best and most enjoyable SW movies anyhow, puts it hands down as my favorite one.

 

Same here.
I have RO 2nd after Empire and Saw G. is the only aspect I'm so so on.

My recent rewatch on Friday night has pretty much solidified RO as my second fave SW film.

 

One other thing from Rogue One which sticks in my mind from when I saw it at the cinema. I went to a midnight showing with my dad, and during the bit when the plans are being sent up from the tower, and the automated voice is saying "Transmitting........transmitting....", a guy sat behind me and my dad jumped to his feet in tears shouting "Yesss!!!! Yesss!!!!"

It was a very un-British thing to do in our cinemas, but everyone knew where he was coming from and started clapping. We don't normally do that kind of thing.

 

It's behind the 1-6 Skywalker saga for me, but it's the best Disney-canon film.

I guess when it comes to the mortality of characters, RO is kind of a contrast of TROS and all its resurrection-clone-possession weirdness. Nobody has Force magic or plot armor in RO; when you die, you die. I'd argue it was overdone to kill off all the characters, but I get it: war story, grittiness, themes of loss and sacrifice. And compare that to twisting the universe's rules and compromising the impact of death on the story just so a character can miraculously survive... yeah, I appreciate RO not doing that. Sometimes a bittersweet ending can be better than a continuation that doesn't feel warranted.

 

This thread has been wonderful for this film, which I consider to be best Star Wars has been since the Original Trilogy.

It's the most watchable film for me and has been climbing up my Star Wars rankings that someday day it might even top ESB for me. I've really come to recognize the the fact it's probably has the most subtle and complex Star Wars characterizations we've ever had, helped largely by the wonderful cast. The scene where Jyn confronts Cassien on the subject of following orders in war comes to mind when your talking about more nuance Star Wars portrayals this film provides as you can understand both characters viewpoints.

Despite that added level of dark complexity and the fact film is basically a war tragedy film, the filmmakers still understand the major and important morals of the series. The biggest being of course having hope in even the darkest hours of whatever galaxy you live in.

After all...

 

LOVE RO!!! My rankings is on my sig

 

It is unfortunately a very close third behind ANH and ESB for me but it is still amazing film and easily the best of the Disney era and is right up there with the GL ones for me. It was only Disney era film that I went more than twice to see at the cinema and is still the film of the Disney era that I watch the most that is how much I like it.

 

I did too, but felt guilty. So now I just think of it as one really long film: Rogue One: A New Hope and always watch them together and rank it as one

 

Haha. Great solution! I felt guilty about placing Rogue One above ANH and ESB too. So I’ll follow your lead and judge them as one film: Rogue One: A New Hope and the Empire...Strikes Back.”

Joking aside, I don’t actually feel guilty about RO displacing my child favorite Star Wars films. And I hope a future Star Wars film displaces Rogue One. We should expect better, not worse.

 

1. Star Wars
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Rogue One
5. The Rise of Skywalker
6. The Force Awakens
7. The Last Jedi
8. Solo
9. Revenge of the Sith
10. Attack of the Clones
11. The Phantom Menace

 

Rogue one
Empire
Sith
Hope
Skywalker
Jedi
Awakens
Last
Phantom
Solo
Clones
I felt guilty too putting it sbove ESB... Mostly cos John Williams was missing for most part

 

1. RO
2. ESB/ ANH
3. ROTJ
4. Solo
5. TFA/ TLJ/ TROS
6. TPM
7. AOTC
8. ROTS

 

RO keeps creeping closer and closer to the top of my rankings. I don't know that it will ever supplant Empire, but barring new content that completely knocks my socks off, it will remain in my top 3. It has flip flopped with Last Jedi multiple times, but still has yet to surpass Empire.
Empire
The Last Jedi
Rogue One
Combined with A New Hope, I haven't found a better cinematic combination of movies than Rogue One/A New Hope back to back.

 

It really is a cinematic marvel. Even if judged outside the SW franchise, it’s just an excellent standalone movie.

 

It's not a marvel lol. characters are boring and forgettable and the plot is bland.

Why do you like it so much?

 

I’m a big film buff, and I find that it competes with the best films (not just Star Wars), and holds a spot right up there with the absolute best in the sci-fi and fantasy genre (2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, etc). In my view, it's the most beautiful and artistically-sound Star Wars film in the series. Edwards embraces the notion that film is its own medium, and not just a "filmed play." How you communicate through the visual language of film is just as, if not more, important than how you communicate through the script. In that way, he's almost a combination of Lucas and Malick to me. His film is narratively lean and coherent, like Lucas' films, but it also has the artistic naturalism of Malick's films. I never thought it possible that ANH and ESB would be unseated as my favorite Star Wars films, but Edwards (and Gilroy, I must say) did exactly that. Still can't believe it, in a way. It’s just clearly the best film.

Lastly, to challenge your point, I find that the characters are properly fleshed out, relatable and very well-acted. And the narrative is very compelling, with the final sacrifice for the DS plans being more effective than any scene(s) in Star Wars (and seeing the consequences of that sacrifice in the film’s coda was both highly satisfying and refreshingly odd and unique). I can’t say the same for the ST films, unfortunately.

It’s just the first sci-fi film I’ve seen in a long time that feels both absolutely real, and deeply substantive, narratively, thematically and visually.

Best film in the series.

 

No. ESB is still my fave. I appreciate that Disney is trying so hard. However, I'm an EU guy. What about Darth Maul chasing down Lorn Pavan and I5YQ? They had to get the plans to the rebellion. Rogue One is the best of the Disney movies... but, honestly, it still doesn't fit in to the original mythos of the story for me. The EU will always be the true stories. Every movie Disney has put out is a "what if/ veil of the force" kinda universe for me. They should just be turning those books into screenplays. Year and years of theatrical releases are already written. ...and most fans(OG fans) just wanna see what we've read come to life on the big screen.