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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Thread starter CaptainWacky
- Start date
Loktar
Pinata Whacker
Lando with a beard? NEVER! He looks like he's ready for an Old Spice commercial.
Loktar
Pinata Whacker
Why not? It worked for Glee having 30 year olds playing 17 year olds.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
And where's Glee now? Dead like a dog in the street.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Yeah but they're not singing anymore!
Wait...
A musical crossover episode!?
Wait...
A musical crossover episode!?
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
We've definitely hit the "too many trailers" point.
The Tomtrek
Love Wookiee
Yeah I've just stopped watching them at this point because I'm going to be seeing it anyway!
Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
My fave is the one they play in cinemas with this music
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
That is good music!
I want to make a joke that the robot's codename is "RESHOOT" but I can't quite work it in.
I want to make a joke that the robot's codename is "RESHOOT" but I can't quite work it in.
SAUSAGEMAN
Registered User
I'm gonna see this
The Tomtrek
Love Wookiee
Hi I saw this film at a stupidly early hour this morning so here's my stream of consciousness ramblings about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that I'll put in spoilers because it has spoilers (BIG SPOILERS SORRY REALLY DON'T READ IT IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS ABOUT LITERALLY THE END OF THE FILM):
NON-SPOILER:
I liked it a lot. It's a big run Star Wars roller-coaster that I enjoyed a lot because I am a fan of Star Wars.
BUT I will probably need to watch it again so I can look at it a bit more objectively to see just how much I actually like it.
I liked this film.
OK, so, there's a lot about this film that's pure concentrated fan service. I don't really mean that in a bad way, but in a way that - for a big Star Wars fan watching it for the first time - I find it very hard to rate the film objectively. This film is, if nothing else, a big roller-coaster of fannishness (in the best way).
I was so pleased that this felt like an entirely new type of film than any other Star Wars we had before. Unlike The Force Awakens and it's all-too-familiar plot and style, this feels fresh and new and not-Star Wars BUT STILL VERY STAR WARS. It's weird but I liked it. Everyone died at the end! Everyone! That's crazy!
The only comic relief in the film was K-2S0, who throws out comedy lines in a similar way to, say, a Marvel film would. But they were actually funny and never really felt out of place when they were used.
I mean, the plot is fine. It's a bit obvious by it's nature, and never really went somewhere I wasn't expecting it to go. It does have some pacing issues - especially in the first act where we jump from planet to planet to planet with new characters on each one. I think it did help that I'm familiar with Saw Gerrera from Clone Wars and know about Krennic and Galen Erso from the Catalyst novel so it was a bit easier for me to follow what was happening where - I'm not sure how someone coming to this film without that information would fare.
The characters, too, range from being fine to actually pretty good. All six members of the Rogue One crew (Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi and K-2S0) all get nice character arcs and development. Nothing particularly mind-blowing (although I did like Bodhi Rook's stuff) but still, all pretty good. And the acting, yeah, was all pretty good (Ben Mendelsohn was the stand out though) (Mads is underused YET AGAIN).
So on the whole, these two major elements - the plot and the characters - are fine but nothing special. But it's the fact that it's right there in that particular part of the Star Wars universe that makes it that much more entertaining. The realisation of the world is done so well. It totally gets the 'used future' look of the original trilogy, and instead of setting a high-flying adventure in it, we get a gritty war film.
Tarkin's there! He's there and he's CGI and he talks and everything! I thought the Tarkin CGI was actually pretty damn good (apart from one or two rough spots). There was a really strange sense of uncanny valley, but that was mainly because I was watching someone moving and speaking on screen that I knew was dead in real life.
Vader's there too! He doesn't really do that much during most of the film (although they brought his Lava Castle back into canon and I never thought they'd do that!) but of course there's that scene at the end which is pretty fantastic.
Bail Organa is, again, also there! It's a character explicitly from the prequels played by the same actor and everything! Go prequels! Again, not really doing that much but it's nice Jimmy Smits got paid.
The third act is actually amazing, both the space and ground battles are easily the highlight of the film. One thing I will say is that the actual ending of it felt very abrupt, because I was too taken aback by CGI Carrie Fisher to then see that, hey, the film had ended and the credits were rolling.
But the thing is, outside of all the revelling in the Star Wars of it all, there's the odd feeling that this is all still filler. Because of it's placement literally moments before the start of Star Wars, it can't really do anything majorly big with the story and so by the end of it you don't really feel like you've accomplished that much. It's something pretty much inherent in the nature of this film - is has to match up with the start of Star Wars so there can't be anything new and interesting happening instead. The most interesting thing they did was to kill everyone, and that was just so they could tie up all the loose ends! Compare this to the prequels, which managed to give themselves enough space to actually do something new and interesting... but people didn't want that because it was too different so they got mad.
It's really tricky to actually rate this one (for me, at least), it's all so closely tied up with the amount of positive feelings for where and when this is set that it's hard to objectively look at the film. I don't think it really has the meat of, say, Empire or even Star Wars, BUT I did enjoy it and it was basically everything I could have wanted in a film like this.
OK, so, there's a lot about this film that's pure concentrated fan service. I don't really mean that in a bad way, but in a way that - for a big Star Wars fan watching it for the first time - I find it very hard to rate the film objectively. This film is, if nothing else, a big roller-coaster of fannishness (in the best way).
I was so pleased that this felt like an entirely new type of film than any other Star Wars we had before. Unlike The Force Awakens and it's all-too-familiar plot and style, this feels fresh and new and not-Star Wars BUT STILL VERY STAR WARS. It's weird but I liked it. Everyone died at the end! Everyone! That's crazy!
The only comic relief in the film was K-2S0, who throws out comedy lines in a similar way to, say, a Marvel film would. But they were actually funny and never really felt out of place when they were used.
I mean, the plot is fine. It's a bit obvious by it's nature, and never really went somewhere I wasn't expecting it to go. It does have some pacing issues - especially in the first act where we jump from planet to planet to planet with new characters on each one. I think it did help that I'm familiar with Saw Gerrera from Clone Wars and know about Krennic and Galen Erso from the Catalyst novel so it was a bit easier for me to follow what was happening where - I'm not sure how someone coming to this film without that information would fare.
The characters, too, range from being fine to actually pretty good. All six members of the Rogue One crew (Jyn, Cassian, Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi and K-2S0) all get nice character arcs and development. Nothing particularly mind-blowing (although I did like Bodhi Rook's stuff) but still, all pretty good. And the acting, yeah, was all pretty good (Ben Mendelsohn was the stand out though) (Mads is underused YET AGAIN).
So on the whole, these two major elements - the plot and the characters - are fine but nothing special. But it's the fact that it's right there in that particular part of the Star Wars universe that makes it that much more entertaining. The realisation of the world is done so well. It totally gets the 'used future' look of the original trilogy, and instead of setting a high-flying adventure in it, we get a gritty war film.
Tarkin's there! He's there and he's CGI and he talks and everything! I thought the Tarkin CGI was actually pretty damn good (apart from one or two rough spots). There was a really strange sense of uncanny valley, but that was mainly because I was watching someone moving and speaking on screen that I knew was dead in real life.
Vader's there too! He doesn't really do that much during most of the film (although they brought his Lava Castle back into canon and I never thought they'd do that!) but of course there's that scene at the end which is pretty fantastic.
Bail Organa is, again, also there! It's a character explicitly from the prequels played by the same actor and everything! Go prequels! Again, not really doing that much but it's nice Jimmy Smits got paid.
The third act is actually amazing, both the space and ground battles are easily the highlight of the film. One thing I will say is that the actual ending of it felt very abrupt, because I was too taken aback by CGI Carrie Fisher to then see that, hey, the film had ended and the credits were rolling.
But the thing is, outside of all the revelling in the Star Wars of it all, there's the odd feeling that this is all still filler. Because of it's placement literally moments before the start of Star Wars, it can't really do anything majorly big with the story and so by the end of it you don't really feel like you've accomplished that much. It's something pretty much inherent in the nature of this film - is has to match up with the start of Star Wars so there can't be anything new and interesting happening instead. The most interesting thing they did was to kill everyone, and that was just so they could tie up all the loose ends! Compare this to the prequels, which managed to give themselves enough space to actually do something new and interesting... but people didn't want that because it was too different so they got mad.
It's really tricky to actually rate this one (for me, at least), it's all so closely tied up with the amount of positive feelings for where and when this is set that it's hard to objectively look at the film. I don't think it really has the meat of, say, Empire or even Star Wars, BUT I did enjoy it and it was basically everything I could have wanted in a film like this.
NON-SPOILER:
I liked it a lot. It's a big run Star Wars roller-coaster that I enjoyed a lot because I am a fan of Star Wars.
BUT I will probably need to watch it again so I can look at it a bit more objectively to see just how much I actually like it.
whisky
Boobie inspector
I agree with everything you said, it was almost entirely prefect, with just a few niggles, concerning how easily one robot is killed, and how long it took an identical robot to be killed.
Keven Smith also has a good spoilery video on the subject, and he seems to be on the same boat as both of us, but if you do watch it, skip the first ten minutes where he talks about underpants.
Keven Smith also has a good spoilery video on the subject, and he seems to be on the same boat as both of us, but if you do watch it, skip the first ten minutes where he talks about underpants.
CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Can I just continue skipping everything Kevin Smith says ever?
Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
SPOILERS
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I didn't have any trouble being unfamiliar with Krennic or Erso. I was unfamiliar virtually with everybody else in the movie anyway, and everything was explained clearly enough, so no troubles there. I liked how whiny Krennic was.
Bringing back or anti aging actors works a lot better when they're bad guys who benefit from being creepy.
What is it about droids? They're so endearing. I was always happy when K-2S0 was on screen.
The final battle was perfect. Everything looked so real.
I was looking through the Force Awakens art book yesterday and noticed there was a plan to have a giant ship designed specifically to crash into planetary shields to take them down. I'm glad Rogue One did something a bit more fun.
Vader SMASH. That was awesome. The sheer terror of the crew was so well put across.
I liked that everyone died. It's what happens in wars. People do great things but still don't make it out alive. It is very convenient, though.
With regards to the story being restricted by it directly preceding ANH, that's true for the most part, but they could've introduced something new. Something previously unknown. A secret of some sort that would lie dormant and only resurface to play a part in Episode VIII. That would've been clever.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I didn't have any trouble being unfamiliar with Krennic or Erso. I was unfamiliar virtually with everybody else in the movie anyway, and everything was explained clearly enough, so no troubles there. I liked how whiny Krennic was.
Bringing back or anti aging actors works a lot better when they're bad guys who benefit from being creepy.
What is it about droids? They're so endearing. I was always happy when K-2S0 was on screen.
The final battle was perfect. Everything looked so real.
I was looking through the Force Awakens art book yesterday and noticed there was a plan to have a giant ship designed specifically to crash into planetary shields to take them down. I'm glad Rogue One did something a bit more fun.
Vader SMASH. That was awesome. The sheer terror of the crew was so well put across.
I liked that everyone died. It's what happens in wars. People do great things but still don't make it out alive. It is very convenient, though.
With regards to the story being restricted by it directly preceding ANH, that's true for the most part, but they could've introduced something new. Something previously unknown. A secret of some sort that would lie dormant and only resurface to play a part in Episode VIII. That would've been clever.
Fuddlemiff
Is this real life?
Interesting little video.
gturner
New member
Well, let me weight in. It was some of the worst concept work on a plot I've ever seen. Drunk monkeys would do better.
Spoilerish:
Setting: The committee meeting of inept boobs working for Disney.
Given: You're making a WW-II movie about how the Allies stole some extremely import Nazi secret. I'll just pick jet engine secrets on the Messerschmidt 262, positing that an older blockbuster had used that as a plot point in a movie that didn't totally suck.
A) Someone at Disney suggests that we got the 262 plans from Willy Messerschmitt's daughter. That's a pretty standard idea that would occur to anyone, and it leads to a completely different role for the central character, one of risk and intrigue and all kinds of cool scenes about working in the belly of the beast. That role is the heart of many great movies.
But we're dealing with morons, so that's not what we got.
B) Someone else suggests that Willy Messerschmitt's daughter was raised in Los Angeles because her dad was kidnapped by the Nazis.
This is a stupid fucking idea that completely destroys any coherent version of idea A.
C) Give B, rational plots are out the window, so let's have the Allies think the way to figure out the secrets to the new fighter is to use Willy Messerschmitt's daughter as some kind of foreign agent, even though nobody really knows who the fuck she is, because let's face it, nobody knows if Willy Messerschmitt had any daughters, nor would they give a flying fuck if he did.
Any semblance of an actual coherent plot jettisoned, the writers fling shit at a wall.
D) We have the Brits airdrop Willy Messerschmitt's daughter to lead an elite assault team on the Messerschmitt factory, which she has never seen, to steal the plans that are stored in a place that she has no idea how to find, and then transmit the plans before the Nazis blow the factory the hell up.
Someone in the Disney meeting gagged on a donut at this point, so they throw a hail mary. There's no way any military leader would approve plan D because it makes no fucking sense. So on to plan E, a small band of rebellious dipshits.
E) Willy Messerschmitt's daughter, having realized Nazis are bad, raids the Messerschmitt factory with some random people she's met during the parts of the crap script that's already been green lighted, because there's no fucking way any sane officer would have signed off on any part of this goat rodeo.
Someone steps in who has some weight with Disney, but doesn't have enough authority to fire everyone involved in writing this crap, and he does what he can to staunch the bleeding.
F) Kill the characters. Kill them all.
Do not even tempt writers with a sequel. Make sure nobody in the fan base ever thinks about these horribly written characters again.
Spoilerish:
Setting: The committee meeting of inept boobs working for Disney.
Given: You're making a WW-II movie about how the Allies stole some extremely import Nazi secret. I'll just pick jet engine secrets on the Messerschmidt 262, positing that an older blockbuster had used that as a plot point in a movie that didn't totally suck.
A) Someone at Disney suggests that we got the 262 plans from Willy Messerschmitt's daughter. That's a pretty standard idea that would occur to anyone, and it leads to a completely different role for the central character, one of risk and intrigue and all kinds of cool scenes about working in the belly of the beast. That role is the heart of many great movies.
But we're dealing with morons, so that's not what we got.
B) Someone else suggests that Willy Messerschmitt's daughter was raised in Los Angeles because her dad was kidnapped by the Nazis.
This is a stupid fucking idea that completely destroys any coherent version of idea A.
C) Give B, rational plots are out the window, so let's have the Allies think the way to figure out the secrets to the new fighter is to use Willy Messerschmitt's daughter as some kind of foreign agent, even though nobody really knows who the fuck she is, because let's face it, nobody knows if Willy Messerschmitt had any daughters, nor would they give a flying fuck if he did.
Any semblance of an actual coherent plot jettisoned, the writers fling shit at a wall.
D) We have the Brits airdrop Willy Messerschmitt's daughter to lead an elite assault team on the Messerschmitt factory, which she has never seen, to steal the plans that are stored in a place that she has no idea how to find, and then transmit the plans before the Nazis blow the factory the hell up.
Someone in the Disney meeting gagged on a donut at this point, so they throw a hail mary. There's no way any military leader would approve plan D because it makes no fucking sense. So on to plan E, a small band of rebellious dipshits.
E) Willy Messerschmitt's daughter, having realized Nazis are bad, raids the Messerschmitt factory with some random people she's met during the parts of the crap script that's already been green lighted, because there's no fucking way any sane officer would have signed off on any part of this goat rodeo.
Someone steps in who has some weight with Disney, but doesn't have enough authority to fire everyone involved in writing this crap, and he does what he can to staunch the bleeding.
F) Kill the characters. Kill them all.
Do not even tempt writers with a sequel. Make sure nobody in the fan base ever thinks about these horribly written characters again.
Last edited:
gturner
New member
Other plot problems:
If the construction of the Death Star is so secret, how come everybody knew who Jyn's father was even though he'd been working on a top secret project for 15 years? Does any American know the name of the engineer in charge of designing the Ford class aircraft carriers? It's like writing a movie set in 1943 where a girl tells an Italian mobster in New York that she's Oppenheimer's daughter - and the mobster knows what that means.
If the plans were kept locked in a secret vault that’s almost impossible to access, then how did the contractors know what to build? How would the Death Star's maintenance crews know how to fix anything? Obviously the writers never held a job that involved actual equipment and machinery or they'd know that pulling up the prints is a daily activity for any complex installation in the real world.
If the Death Star was sabotaged by the chief designer, set to blow up with any explosion in the core, why didn't he add a thermal detonator to blow it up the first time the station's main cannon was fired? It's not like anyone could have checked the plans to see if the detonator was supposed to be there, and if they did, the plans would say "Yep. Detonator XM01A223 is right where it's supposed to be," because he was the one drawing up the plans. He could even have made the detonator remotely trigger when a torpedo impacted the outside of the thermal exhaust port, or detonate when some texts star ninety-nine to 1-800-STAR WARS.
If the Death Star was sabotaged by the chief designer, who told the rebels how to blow it up, then the claims in Episode IV are bullshit. It wasn't brilliant rebel engineers who found a flaw in the Death Star. They were told about the flaw by the Imperial engineer who built in the flaw on purpose.
With rebel ships flying all over the place above the facility that had the plans, why didn't they just pick up the girl who had them instead of letting her get blown up?
If the people on the surface could talk to the rebel ships attacking the shield, why did they need to drop the shield to transmit the plans?
If Jyn needed to re-orient the antenna to transmit the plans, how was she able to transmit the plans after the antenna was blown up?
Why have we never seen a "shield gate" before, and why would anyone make an orbiting shield generator that's not actually protected by the shield it's generating?
If the Alliance didn't know anything about Jyn's father except that he was a "known Imperial collaborator in weapons development" and a "tool of the Imperial war machine", why did they give two hoots about her or her father's project? If they wanted to drag her father before the Imperial Senate, why didn't they use the Senate to find out where all the military spending was going? If she hasn't seen her father in 15 years and believes he's dead, why in hell would they think she would be any help in finding him? Perhaps they should have hired a private detective instead.
If the Alliance is a force for good, how come they blackmailed Jyn, a young girl with no Imperial ties, with trumped up charges to get her to do their bidding?
How would they know her father is critical to the weapon program if they didn't even know what the program is?
If the plans were kept locked in a secret vault that’s almost impossible to access, then how did the contractors know what to build? How would the Death Star's maintenance crews know how to fix anything? Obviously the writers never held a job that involved actual equipment and machinery or they'd know that pulling up the prints is a daily activity for any complex installation in the real world.
If the Death Star was sabotaged by the chief designer, set to blow up with any explosion in the core, why didn't he add a thermal detonator to blow it up the first time the station's main cannon was fired? It's not like anyone could have checked the plans to see if the detonator was supposed to be there, and if they did, the plans would say "Yep. Detonator XM01A223 is right where it's supposed to be," because he was the one drawing up the plans. He could even have made the detonator remotely trigger when a torpedo impacted the outside of the thermal exhaust port, or detonate when some texts star ninety-nine to 1-800-STAR WARS.
If the Death Star was sabotaged by the chief designer, who told the rebels how to blow it up, then the claims in Episode IV are bullshit. It wasn't brilliant rebel engineers who found a flaw in the Death Star. They were told about the flaw by the Imperial engineer who built in the flaw on purpose.
With rebel ships flying all over the place above the facility that had the plans, why didn't they just pick up the girl who had them instead of letting her get blown up?
If the people on the surface could talk to the rebel ships attacking the shield, why did they need to drop the shield to transmit the plans?
If Jyn needed to re-orient the antenna to transmit the plans, how was she able to transmit the plans after the antenna was blown up?
Why have we never seen a "shield gate" before, and why would anyone make an orbiting shield generator that's not actually protected by the shield it's generating?
If the Alliance didn't know anything about Jyn's father except that he was a "known Imperial collaborator in weapons development" and a "tool of the Imperial war machine", why did they give two hoots about her or her father's project? If they wanted to drag her father before the Imperial Senate, why didn't they use the Senate to find out where all the military spending was going? If she hasn't seen her father in 15 years and believes he's dead, why in hell would they think she would be any help in finding him? Perhaps they should have hired a private detective instead.
If the Alliance is a force for good, how come they blackmailed Jyn, a young girl with no Imperial ties, with trumped up charges to get her to do their bidding?
How would they know her father is critical to the weapon program if they didn't even know what the program is?
The Question
Eternal
I haven't seen this yet. Probably rent it when it hits iTunes. I read all the spoilers anyway, because I don't care.
What I will add is this: The next person I see on social media who refers to "Rouge One" is getting tracked down and slapped unconscious with a wet fish.
What I will add is this: The next person I see on social media who refers to "Rouge One" is getting tracked down and slapped unconscious with a wet fish.