Rogue One Is R1 Your New Favorite?

I kind of wish R1 was a TV series instead of a standalone film. I'd have liked to see more of these characters together. It's the only OC-centered SW series I'd actually be interested in watching.

 

That’s a huge compliment to the film, that we connected so much to these new characters we had just met, but felt like we knew they for ages, ala A New Hope.

 

The problem is I didn't get to know them for ages, and I wish I did.

 

I...didn't feel that way honestly. I like Rogue One, but more for the spectacle, the atmosphere, the suspense, the fanservice, and the action. The characters were the only part that I was pretty meh on. I feel like I would have connected with them more had they been Rogue One at the start of the film. Like, if they had already known each other and their relationships were already pretty defined. I felt like the growth in the character relationships was rushed and that there were already too many of them to get attached to.

 

I can only somewhat agree with "too many" characters point you made, but other things - no. I think it followed the same formula from ANH: people that don't really know each other band together to fight the Empire. That's it, very simple. For me, that's the most fascinating part because they all come from different places, have different personalities, backgrounds... but essentially share the same goal and same path. Some relationship grow as the movie progresses and I found them to be very satisfying (especially the one between Jyn and Cassian, I feel like it was wonderfully written). Sadly, for RO characters - that's where it ends. They die before we really get to know them. It's all up to personal perception, whether people felt they got connected to the characters or not.

 

RO is my favorite of the newer Disney films. The OT still reigns supreme for me.

 

I agree that it’s up to interpretation, but characters dying before we really get to know them is much more effective (to me anyway) when it seems like the characters have so much left to live for. I just didn’t really feel the loss aspect of it. Aside from Jyn Erso, none of the members had children, parents, siblings, or other people that they cared about other than they’re fellow soldiers, which is totally fine but in real life soldiers have people that they leave behind. Heck, all Jyn Erso’s family members and loved ones died. There was no scene where the non-Rogue One rebels mourned the loss of their fallen comrades. There was no main character on the outside to feel the loss. I get that we’re supposed to feel the loss as the audience and I guess I felt a little sad by the end. However, for a movie that supposedly puts the WAR in Star Wars, it doesn’t really feel as tragic as it should.

 

Well, the thing is that these characters had nothing left to lose or anyone to mourn them. That's the real tragedy because that's what war does to people. Yes, the movie could've had more flashbacks centered around other characters, but even without those scene I think it was able to make the audience (or at least big part of it) feel connected through the struggle and hardship all of them had.

 

Dont post much but had to come in here after viewing RO recently again.....by far my fav of the Disney era and probably #3 behind ANh and Empire. I still find it hard to believe there are people out there that actually think TLJ is a good movie and dranks it above RO. RO captured the essence of SW....sure it helped that Vader was in it but even the scenes that had "new" characters, the acting, tone, visuals, space battle, were so much better than the crap RJ produced.

 

I mean...a lot of people have a different opinion. I like Rogue One, but I love The Last Jedi. I probably enjoy it more than ANH in some ways.

I'm very curious, though. What exactly is the "essence of Star Wars"? I'm not arguing that Rogue One doesn't have it, but I feel like that means something different to everyone. So what does it mean to you?

 

Its my second favorite of the Disney era. It could have been first if only they hadn't just thrown every single one of these wonderful characters away at the end. This could have been expanded into a trilogy that ran concurrently with the OT. It's a great movie but it ultimlately represents a major lost opportunity for Disney. I hold out hope that we may see some of them again in a future anthology.

 

The sacrifice that all of the main characters were willing to make for the greater good of the galaxy is a big part of the appeal of RO for me. So yes, they're great characters, but it actually speaks volumes that Disney and LFL gave the OK for the original "everyone dies" version instead of a watered-down version that pulled some punches, even though that decision also meant that they wouldn't be able to make more money off those characters (at least for anything that could have been set after RO).

Also, RO is my favorite of the "Disney era" so far (it ranks second overall for all SW movies for me), but that doesn't mean I think the others are bad at all. Posts using RO praise as a way of calling the others crap or bashing RJ are not really constructive.

 

Yep, still my favorite of the Dinsey era. Still can't get tired of this movie.

I would also reiterate what @EHT said about bold character's deaths. Truthfully the first times I saw the movie I was more fangirling over Vader's badass scene, but the awesomeness of that eventually dies down with too many rewatches. However, the heroic sacrifices of the characters and the way they were portrayed, still hits me in the feels.

 

Lol agreed. A lot of Star Wars fans cite that as their favorite Vader scene, period.

 

I think the Vader scene is really great and it's probably the best Vader scene in the franchise. However, it's far from being my favorite scene of the movie itself.

 

The OT is unmovable for me. It’s what got me into the franchise to begin with. But yeah, Rogue One is unbelievably good.

 

Rogue One is certainly one of the strongest of all Star Wars films, but I wouldn't rank it right at the top. I'd rank it 4th, after ESB, ANH, and TLJ.

 

I'd rank it somewhere between ROTS/ROTJ and Solo

 

ESB and ANH used to sit unmovable at the top for me. But after watching Rogue One multiple times, and rewatching the OT, I embraced the simple fact that my tastes have changed a little, leading me to appreciate Rogue One’s realistic/ mimetic narrative style more than the mythic style of my old favorites. So now it’s RO in the top slot, followed by ESB and ANH (tied for second).

 

Of the saga? No. Of the Disney movies? Yes, and it remains so.

 

Love RO and def for me the best Disney era film so far. I really want more of these event based films fleshing out the timeline using characters we do not know and therefore do not know their fate. It ups the stakes for the characters in a way that Solo couldn't manage. We KNOW that Han, Chewie and Lando are not going to die so that lessens the drama and their peril and thus undermines what is otherwise a very good film IMO.

While I would love an Obi Wan film it will nonetheless suffer from that same problem as Solo as we know Ben is going to be just fine by the end.

With RO we had no idea whether any of the characters were going to survive and that made it really fresh and exciting as a prequel film.

Loved it and want more like it.

 

I love all the Star Wars movies, but I would put the Original Trilogy and Rogue One above all the others. I think The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are great, and both were exactly the breath of fresh air that was needed. The prequels have grown on me and I can now appreciate them more as being unique products of their time. There are aspects of Solo that I am not crazy about, but the end result is a highly entertaining and fun ride. But when we come to Rogue One, it just hits the sweet spot in my mind.

I guess it all comes from the time spent as a kid playing with Star Wars toys, making up adventures in my head. Rogue One looks like my own imagination projected onto the big screen. The space battle was phenomenal and I love watching Vader dominate that hallway. The digital characters are far from perfect but so much better than I thought possible and I applaud the effort. Just imagine what they'll be able to do in a few more years. I also loved seeing Red Leader and Gold Leader again. That was so awesome.

Give Rogue One a few decades of nostalgia and I am sure to love it even more than I already do.

 

I forgot to mention just how great the cast is in Rogue One. I could go on and on about how great Mads Mikkelsen, Donnie Yen, and Forrest Whitaker are. I can not wait to see Diego Luna in the new Cassian Andor series on the new Disney+ streaming service. There is so much packed into each line of dialogue. Endlessly rewatchable.

 

I still think it's ironic that 2016 was a year of lots of celebrity deaths, and the highest domestic performer was a film where literally every main character dies.