Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Started by Jeremy Blackman, April 07, 2016, 10:30:54 AM

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Jeremy Blackman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg&feature=youtu.be

Release date: December 2016
Director: Gareth Edwards (Godzilla 2014, Monsters)

Rebels set out on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star.

The Ultimate Badass

After watching that trailer, I'm struck by how absolutely generic this movie looks. It's like something that was spit out of the Hollywood-action-movie-tropes generator and then drenched in a Star Wars motif. How many times have you seen that exact fucking scene where some authority figure is ticking-off, one by one, the numerous misdeeds of the rebellious protagonist to their smug face, followed by a smarmy quip. It's some of the laziest shit ever, and that trailer was full of this sort of thing. Awful.


Tictacbk


polkablues

Yep. This looks like a 100% more interesting version of the Star Wars universe than any of the main movies. All they had to do was realize that the Jedi are the absolutely least interesting thing about the whole mess.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Drenk

I hope it's a step forward toward "here is the stuff you liked watching when you were a child...but let's add something!" The Force Awakens, a very pleasant movie, was the first part of that sentence.

They do look good, both of them.
Ascension.

Gold Trumpet

How can one tell anything by this trailer? Looks like it could veer from the standard (which the series desperately needs to do), but I have no idea what to make of anything except Felicity Jones looks hot.

Jeremy Blackman

I kind of agree, actually. Seems like this could go either way. Evocative images, but I'm getting a "might take itself too seriously" vibe. I'm not sold by Felicity Jones yet. Cautiously optimistic.

Robyn

so this one I can watch without seeing the other 7 films?

GETTING HYPED

polkablues



Still looks good, despite Forest Whitaker doing the "Jon Voight in Anaconda" accent.
My house, my rules, my coffee

03

Quote from: polkablues on August 12, 2016, 01:08:57 AM
Still looks good, despite Forest Whitaker doing the "Jon Voight in Anaconda" accent.

at least he nailed the wink at the end.


Jeremy Blackman

Underwhelmed.

The first hour or so, let's be honest, is pretty rough. Bad writing, uninspired acting.

I was desperate for them to spend more time developing Jyn Erso's character — something more about her inner life, or even her outer life, beyond the fact that she has been a resentful wanderer. Even a few more close-up reaction shots would have helped — if it's not on the page, let Felicity Jones act some meaning into it. They made a decision to define Jyn Erso entirely based on her relationship with her father, and that turned out to be a serious mistake.

I think the movie failed to create any new iconic images of its own. I can still remember a whole bunch from The Force Awakens. Rogue One feels masterfully-constructed in many ways (visually), but it doesn't have many singular wow moments.

I found the music oddly annoying at times. They tease you with parts of Star Wars themes, then diverge and fail to create anything particularly fresh. Even The Phantom Menace gave us a new memorable theme.

SPOILERS

Things I liked: Pretty much everything from the moment they brand themselves "Rogue One." It was all exciting and mostly great.

The moment when Jyn *might* have used the force to let them land, by clutching her kyber crystal necklace.

I like the idea of a pseudo-Jedi. That was a good character.

I was genuinely inspired by these characters' courage and the sacrifices they willingly made. I suppose that's the main thing the movie needed to accomplish, and it did so with real emotional weight.

matt35mm

Agree completely with your points. And it can't go unsaid that the 2 CGI humans were distractingly bad. Yeah the technology of it is amazing but the reality of it is embarrassing.