Rogue One Rogue One Reviews/Reactions thread

There's potential to do something related to the second Death Star, and yet I get the feeling that would be really difficult, because the OT characters would all somehow be involved.

I think a lot of us would like to see more Darth Vader. Especially when you consider how bad Vader/Anakin was in the prequel trilogy.

If I'm Disney, I wait 15 years and reboot the prequels. If the Sequel Trilogy is made up of three successful films, I do it. The PT is a travesty.

 

I don't really want to rag on TFA, since I love the new characters we got from it, but I did think one aspect in which that movie missed the boat/shuttle to some extent was in that classic Galaxy Far, Far Away feel. Even with JW's score, the wipes, the crawl, the plot "rhyming" with the OT etc. it somehow didn't feel like that wondrous world I fell in love with in the 70s and 80s.

A perfect example was the introduction to the interior of Maz's castle, in which a rushed one-shot left that joint feeling much less compelling and lived-in than exotic and gritty OT environs such as Mos Eisley Cantina or Jabba's Palace. Some exterior locations (Lor San Tekka's village in particular, but also the tented trading village on Jakku and the battleground outside of Maz's castle) also feel somehow more like sets than real living, breathing places which exist before and after the camera is rolling.

Rogue One though? NAILED it. Both the interiors (Saw's fortress, the Erso homestead) and exteriors (Scarif, Jedha, the asteroid colony on which we meet Cassian) seemed like places which actually existed in the beloved GFFA. Even without the advantage of those aforementioned stylistic devices Rogue One somehow managed to feel more like a "legit" Star Wars film overall than TFA.

I think in the Empire podcast interview he said once he and the writers decided nobody was getting out alive he got little to no pushback from Disney. Rather than there being any "argument", it seems they apparently supported him the whole way on that deal.

 

Yeah very much so for me, it seems a bit strange that TFA was talked up as returning to the OT's style whilst RO was offering something new when actually I think the latter is MUCH closer to the OT, not just in terms of focus on location but general tone. That's a big issue for me as well since I think its a massive part of what made the OT so successful and why nothing that's followed it besides perhaps Jacksons LOTR films has captured the same magic.

To me RO feels like a film made by a SW fan for SW fans, TFA feels like a film made on demand for people with some vaguer memories of the OT who wanted a fun couple of hours at the cinema. That's not to say its a bad film at all but I think its doing the same kind of thing lots of other blockbusters are these days without SW's place in the public consciousness wouldn't stand out from them.

 

And with thunderous applause(sorry anti-PT people)---this is how SW people still agree to disagree, those in positive for every movie those that can't move on from OT , let's all be friends, don't think to hard into it, just enjoy and just to annoy R1 IMO should be SW4--not a stand alone. In fact EVERY movie should fit in somewhere-------------------because it's a god damn story, and I have watched it long enough(77) to understand that.

 

Hilarious to see Red Letter Media take Rogue One apart. I don't always agree with them, but they're not wrong about this. It's just not a good movie, and all the Vader cameos and fan service and "OMG they killed everyone it's so dark" can't fix that. Thank god Edwards won't have his hands on one of the Saga movies.

 

I'm tired as hell and a bit tipsy, so I'll be succinct (for me, at least): I really liked it, but not as much as IV-VII. Cassian Andor was my favorite character by far. Thought the acting was really solid. Final battle was great fun, but Battle of Endor still unbeaten for space battles. Liked the shades of grey the Rebellion was painted with. The music was good but jarring. Adored the Vader scene at the end. The CGI on Tarkin and Leia was great (fooled many people who were with me, including my father) but my brain screamed in protest when I saw the former. I literally got a headache from it because I knew he was dead and my brain refused to accept it. Thought the decision to off the protagonists at the end was bold, but I didn't feel as connected to them as I did to Luke/Han/Leia or Rey/Finn/Poe. Liked Krennic but felt he didn't measure up to either Darth Vader or Kyle Ren, which to be fair is an unfair standard. Loved the world building in comparison to how light TFA was on that aspect. The cameos (you know the ones) could not have been more shoehorned in. Got me very excited for the potential future standalone endeavors. Want to see t many more times, day 1 Blu-ray purchase, but still think VIII will be the one to beat.

 

Jim,, Everyone gets taken apart on the net-----sorry you did not like it, I just like something new, in a way rather than Modern version of ANH--that I got with TFA, in saying that I do like it and the new Characters, just thought JJ should/could have been more original.

 

I wonder if mirror universe Jim Ryalto hates TFA and loves R1, just as vehemently.

 

I love them all, and have faults with all, but hell I'm still here----------Already thinking about the seats for the next, cause where I saw R1 was very good.

 

I'd like to think I have good taste in both universes.

 

At least Kevin smith was smart enough to know this movie was amazing

 

I think it's a case of everything being relative. Coming after the PT, TFA did understandably feel very much like a return to the OT, but after TFA, Rogue One feels even more a part of that classic OT vibe, both because the world-building is better, but also because it has that feeling of danger and exploration which helped define the OT in a way the much more safe, familiar and comfort blankety TFA didn't.

But like I say, I like the TFA characters too much to want this to be taken as a negative against TFA. Rather I see it as giving props to Rogue One for something TFA proved was actually not as easy as you'd think from a film-making perspective.

 

It baffles me in general how much people misuse the word "random", when they actually mean "arbitrary".
But this is incredible, I dont think you actually know what the word means at all.

 

I love TFA and Rogue One. I may even like the latter slightly more. It's almost as if taste is subjective and no one person has a monopoly on it.

 

I don't agree with all their criticisms of RO, but I do agree with a fair amount of it.

 

I normally love their stuff. And I do get a lot of their points here. But I also think they are being especially cynical and nitpicky with this one. Essentially the praise a different tone (which is the important part) and continually moan about old visuals and aesthetics (not an important part). The other thing is I really think you cant win. Lets say you make a film with no familiar notes (stormtroopers, Ties etc etc), then people complain that is all missing.

 

My updated rankings in the series look like this:

Excellent, historically all-time great films:
1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Star Wars

Very good:
3. Return of the Jedi

Mediocre and Derivative:
4. Rogue One

Offensive but with some redeeming qualities:
5. The Force Awakens
6. The Phantom Menace

The Irredeemable Deplorables of all Star Wars Films:
Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, in no particular order

 

I think if R1 came out in the late 70s/ 80s it would be generally seen as the greatest alongside ESB. After TFA, it feels like ESB to ANH - darker, more complex and arguably less accessible. Also anyone moaning about familiar designs and characters in this one can jog on lol - it literally leads into ANH - if designs and certain characters didn't show up it would be weird. The only duff cameo was Ponda and Dr E and the only one I would term gratuitous.

 

So it would be more likely you'd dislike both then?

 

Exactly. They are joking on Star Destroyers and stormtroopers, and totally ignoring the simple fact that it IS a story taking place at the time of ANH. So why would n't one see those things? They are just cynical, tired old guys who can't get out of 1977-1983.

 

To be fair, even in their TPM review, they were incredibly nit-picky in some of their criticisms and by ROTS the RLM was pretty dull.

 

I don't think R1 could have happened without TFA being what it was. TFA brought SW back into a favorable light for just about every person on Earth. While imperfect in its execution, the end result was perfect.

They had to replace John Williams eventually. The first non-saga movie is as good a place/time as any. I found the score in Act One to be inoffensive - it didn't subtract anything (the tone was always right), but it didn't add anything (nothing popped). However, it improved as the film proceeded, and reached the proper denouement. In a way, it's perfectly operatic. Or like a good Grateful Dead concert.

 

Interesting. The MAIN thing I liked about TFA was it felt exactly right to me. R1 felt right to me as well, though without the lightness often associated with the main saga films. Saw's hideout was like the Cantina or Maz's on a heavy dose of depressants, though, of course, that is the exact right feel for Saw's hideout.