Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

[flyerhawk]

I assumed that the whole purpose of Rogue One is to take the series into uncharted territory, following a new set of characters... Kind of like Fear the Walking Dead (But hopefully more successful)

You should probably watch the movie.

 

[Xponentialchaos]

While the plot is obviously predictable, consider how well this movie ties in to Episode 4. There were a few major questions that were left unanswered in A New Hope and this movie answered everything.

3.75 starts out of 4. Amazing movie.

 

[Podunkparte]

Star Wars is sci-fi and Disney can take the story anywhere, instead they stuck to the original story line. I just wish Disney would move away from the story of the original 3 and take it elsewhere. The Star Wars universe is huge and there is so much potential.

Star Trek>Star Wars

You do understand that this movie take place literally weeks, then days, then hours before A New Hope, right?

How exactly would you suggest Disney take this film in an original direction when it's designed to butt up against, make sense with, and lead into probably a Top 10 film of all time which happens to have probably the deepest, most in depth back story/universe out there?

Don't judge Rogue One on "What Disney could do" because they already are. Do you watch Star Wars: Rebels? It's pretty different from the trilogy and pretty damn good.

Rogue One was made to be a direct lead in to A New Hope. If you went into that film expecting something different that's not Disney's fault. Critique it on what it is, not on what it isn't.

 

[Payton]

You should probably watch the movie.

At some point I will... Wasn't being argumentative at all, just stating that I figure maybe by introducing new characters in a different part of the story that they could then branch out and follow what becomes of other folks other than Luke, Leia and Han.

 

[Sparhawk]

I would give it 3.75/4 stars too.
I thought it was very well paced, with two hours just flying by.
Backstory to fill us in on why it is so important and why these misfits went against all odds to complete the mission.

Comparing SW to ST is a good problem to have.
Everyone has their favorite.
I enjoy both.
Some folks liked the Battlestar Galactica reboot.
To each their own.

Let's see how the rest plays out...

 

[Beengay fudgepackers]

I thought it was entertaining and really fed into the story of a new hope well. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the next few movies.

 

[Xponentialchaos]

If you go back and watch A New Hope, you'll notice from the classic Star Wars introduction that the story starts in the middle of a civil war. The Death Star plans have been acquired and Darth Vader is trying to track them down because there is a key weakness to the Death Star weapon.

It raises so many questions. What are the rebels fighting against? How did they manage to get the plans from a massive and powerful empire? Why does such a powerful weapon have such a vulnerable weak point? What the heck is up with this guy in the black helmet?

I love this style of story-telling, like starting in the middle of a book and then gradually learning more about the future and the past to fill in all of the missing details. And that's what this movie was about - filling in the missing details. If you're expecting something "original" here, then you're missing the point. The prequels did this with limited success. This movie, however, was excellent.

My only issue with the movie is the lack of character development. Some of the characters seemed far too bland and we didn't get to know their motivations enough. But maybe that will be saved for another spin-off like this one, though I hear it's discussed far more in Catalyst, though I don't think I'll be reading that any time soon.

 

[chf]

The gold standard for developing the characters in a 'suicide mission' movie, is 'Dirty Dozen,' which checked in at a whopping 2.5 hours.

Rogue One was 2.25 hours, so it would have even been longer than D.D. if they'd fleshed out all the soldiers.

I thought they pretty much had to do the backstory of the Ersos.

 

[Xponentialchaos]

The gold standard for developing the characters in a 'suicide mission' movie, is 'Dirty Dozen,' which checked in at a whopping 2.5 hours.

Rogue One was 2.25 hours, so it would have even been longer than D.D. if they'd fleshed out all the soldiers.

I thought they pretty much had to do the backstory of the Ersos.

Would have taken too long, that's for sure. Maybe that's why they're sort of directing us to read the book Catalyst to learn more about their back stories. But since I didn't read the book, I found myself having a hard time remembering anyone's name other than Jyn Erso. My main issue:

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert

So Jyn meets Saw and says "Ok, I'm here to introduce you to the rebel alliance so you can work this out. Now I'm out of here." Maybe 20 minutes later she gives her inspiring "Rebellions are built on hope" line before leading a squad on a suicide mission.

We know very little about Cassian Andor other than that he joined the rebellion at a very young age. I'm sure there has to be a cool story there somewhere.

Bodhi defected from the Empire to assist the rebels and we know nothing about why.

Chirrut and Baze were just hanging out, clearly no friends of the Empire, and also ended up deciding to join the suicide mission. We don't know much about their motivations either.

All together, the characters just feel way to hollow. Like they were all sitting on a couch one day, beers in hand, and said, "Fuck it. Let's go wage war on the Empire." "Sure, why not? I'm not doing anything today anyway."

I can think of a few reasons they chose not to develop the characters much:

1) Developing everyone would have made the movie way too long.
2) Everyone dies anyway.
3) They want us to go out and get the book Catalyst. Just as we learned more about the original trilogy by watching this movie, we will learn more about the characters of this movie if we go read the book.

I still think this is a pretty considerable issue with the movie, intentional or not, which was otherwise amazing.

 

[chf]

Would have taken too long, that's for sure. Maybe that's why they're sort of directing us to read the book Catalyst to learn more about their back stories. But since I didn't read the book, I found myself having a hard time remembering anyone's name other than Jyn Erso. My main issue:

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert

So Jyn meets Saw and says "Ok, I'm here to introduce you to the rebel alliance so you can work this out. Now I'm out of here." Maybe 20 minutes later she gives her inspiring "Rebellions are built on hope" line before leading a squad on a suicide mission.

We know very little about Cassian Andor other than that he joined the rebellion at a very young age. I'm sure there has to be a cool story there somewhere.

Bodhi defected from the Empire to assist the rebels and we know nothing about why.

Chirrut and Baze were just hanging out, clearly no friends of the Empire, and also ended up deciding to join the suicide mission. We don't know much about their motivations either.

All together, the characters just feel way to hollow. Like they were all sitting on a couch one day, beers in hand, and said, "Fuck it. Let's go wage war on the Empire." "Sure, why not? I'm not doing anything today anyway."

I can think of a few reasons they chose not to develop the characters much:

1) Developing everyone would have made the movie way too long.
2) Everyone dies anyway.
3) They want us to go out and get the book Catalyst. Just as we learned more about the original trilogy by watching this movie, we will learn more about the characters of this movie if we go read the book.

I still think this is a pretty considerable issue with the movie, intentional or not, which was otherwise amazing.

Given what the box office on the movie will be, I think book sales rank pretty low on their priority list. So I'd say that 90%+ of the reason was #1.

 

[Tharvot]

I don't understand what you people who didn't like it were wanting/expecting.

I thought it was great.

To each his/her own i guess.

 

[UNA Lion]

I haven't seen it yet. How many stars would you give it out of four?

I'd give it three and a half out of four, but then I'm a fan of traditional war movies.

If you like traditional war movies ... and Star Wars ... you'll really like this one.

 

[Sparhawk]

In regards to character motivations, Chirrut sensed something about Jyn, as he felt the force from her Khyber crystal that she wore. Maybe that was a sign for him that he must follow that path. The laser cannon guy was pretty much his 'guardian' or protector, so wherever Chirrut was going, he was going to follow. It's obvious that Cassian has done some bad things, so this was about redemption. I think they all sensed the importance of their mission given what they just witnessed. It was all about the greater good.

I think we all want this to be some kind of Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm plotline where everything is interconnected. I don't think it was important for how they all came together, only that they recognized the importance of what they had to do.....

 

[Duffman]

Honestly to me it felt like a run of the mill Sci-Fi movie, you take out the Star Wars name and it's viewed as average at best.

 

[Center Ice]

I will give it 2.5 stars out of four stars, because I am a Star Wars fan.

That is about the best that can be said.

The beginning was interesting, then it bogged down.

Then it really bogged down. I was yawning during the movie and we started watching it at 11 AM, through 1 PM.

The ending was good. Darth Vader is a badass.

I recommend it for die hard Star Wars fans, an maybe people new to the Star Wars Franchise so they can tie it into Episode IV, the original Star Wars.

it is way better than Star Wars Jar Jar Binks.

Awww c'mon......

 

[juliansteed]

Would have taken too long, that's for sure. Maybe that's why they're sort of directing us to read the book Catalyst to learn more about their back stories. But since I didn't read the book, I found myself having a hard time remembering anyone's name other than Jyn Erso. My main issue:

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert

So Jyn meets Saw and says "Ok, I'm here to introduce you to the rebel alliance so you can work this out. Now I'm out of here." Maybe 20 minutes later she gives her inspiring "Rebellions are built on hope" line before leading a squad on a suicide mission.

We know very little about Cassian Andor other than that he joined the rebellion at a very young age. I'm sure there has to be a cool story there somewhere.

Bodhi defected from the Empire to assist the rebels and we know nothing about why.

Chirrut and Baze were just hanging out, clearly no friends of the Empire, and also ended up deciding to join the suicide mission. We don't know much about their motivations either.

All together, the characters just feel way to hollow. Like they were all sitting on a couch one day, beers in hand, and said, "Fuck it. Let's go wage war on the Empire." "Sure, why not? I'm not doing anything today anyway."

I can think of a few reasons they chose not to develop the characters much:

1) Developing everyone would have made the movie way too long.
2) Everyone dies anyway.
3) They want us to go out and get the book Catalyst. Just as we learned more about the original trilogy by watching this movie, we will learn more about the characters of this movie if we go read the book.

I still think this is a pretty considerable issue with the movie, intentional or not, which was otherwise amazing.

Spoiler

I agree that with a bit more time they could have done more to clarify the character's motivations.

In Jyn's case, I think the change of heart came after she saw her father's hologram.

Cassian I think he said that he and some of his buddies wanted to make sure that all the fighting they had been doing, including use of some not so heroic tactics, wasn't for nothing. He also seemed to take a liking to Jyn, whether it was romantic or not.

Bodhi's motivations for defecting I just assumed were similar to Galen's motivations for wanting to leave the Empire, seeing as how the two were working together to get info to the rebels.

Chirrut and Baze, it was their holy city that was the victim of the Death Stars first attack. That probably meant more to Chirrut and Baze just seemed to follow him around. Might have been interesting to understand why Baze was his loyal sidekick despite not sharing his beliefs. Almost seems like he owed him a life debt similar to Chewie and Han.

All just guesses. And it could have been more clear in some cases for sure.

 

[Xponentialchaos]

Spoiler

I agree that with a bit more time they could have done more to clarify the character's motivations.

In Jyn's case, I think the change of heart came after she saw her father's hologram.

Cassian I think he said that he and some of his buddies wanted to make sure that all the fighting they had been doing, including use of some not so heroic tactics, wasn't for nothing. He also seemed to take a liking to Jyn, whether it was romantic or not.

Bodhi's motivations for defecting I just assumed were similar to Galen's motivations for wanting to leave the Empire, seeing as how the two were working together to get info to the rebels.

Chirrut and Baze, it was their holy city that was the victim of the Death Stars first attack. That probably meant more to Chirrut and Baze just seemed to follow him around. Might have been interesting to understand why Baze was his loyal sidekick despite not sharing his beliefs. Almost seems like he owed him a life debt similar to Chewie and Han.

All just guesses. And it could have been more clear in some cases for sure.

Spoiler

To me it just feels like they quickly checked off some boxes for character development. They didn't feel authentic whatsoever. Jyn is a perfect example:

Step 1: "You guys can figure this out. This rebellion has caused me nothing but pain. I'm going home now."
Step 2: Galen hologram.
Step 3: Jyn leads a suicide mission for the rebellion.

The other characters felt even more rushed. Sure, there were motivations, but those motivations were not fleshed out at all. They felt like half-assed back stories for the sake of fitting all of these characters into a suicide mission in a two-hour movie.

 

[juliansteed]

As much as I enjoyed this movie and found it to otherwise be the most realistic of any Star Wars movie, there was one cringe worthy moment for me towards the very end. Something similar to what we've seen in the animated series' a few times that I can't believe could ever be considered canon. Never thought we'd see it on the big screen!

Spoiler

So after Vader's big scene, we see the rebels escape with the plans. Vader is standing there on the deck (or whatever, not really sure what to call it) of the ship. He's no longer enclosed within the ship but he's actually standing on the ship in outer space and there are some storm troopers in the background. I can totally buy that his suit can be considered a space suit. Same for the storm troopers I suppose, so it's not quite as bad as when stuff like this happens in the animated series when humans are not wearing space suits. But apparently there is gravity in outer space keeping him grounded on the platform? His cape was blowing too. I'm no physicist but that didn't seem right either. Not sure if that's how space works or not, never having been there. I know I'm nitpicking about laws of physics in a movie franchise where The Force trumps any laws we are aware of. But at least The Force is part of the lore/mythology of Star Wars so I'm willing to make exceptions for Force related stuff. This just seemed 80s Saturday morning cartoonish to me.

 

[PatsFan2003]

It just saw it and like it a lot. Standard Star Wars plot but the characters they assembled were great from the droid to the Jedi master and his buddy and the special effects and action were very well done.

My biggest complaint?

Spoiler: Big Spoiler Trust me.

Everyone dies. After all that work. What the hell is that all about?

 

[chf]

As much as I enjoyed this movie and found it to otherwise be the most realistic of any Star Wars movie, there was one cringe worthy moment for me towards the very end. Something similar to what we've seen in the animated series' a few times that I can't believe could ever be considered canon. Never thought we'd see it on the big screen!

Spoiler

So after Vader's big scene, we see the rebels escape with the plans. Vader is standing there on the deck (or whatever, not really sure what to call it) of the ship. He's no longer enclosed within the ship but he's actually standing on the ship in outer space and there are some storm troopers in the background. I can totally buy that his suit can be considered a space suit. Same for the storm troopers I suppose, so it's not quite as bad as when stuff like this happens in the animated series when humans are not wearing space suits. But apparently there is gravity in outer space keeping him grounded on the platform? His cape was blowing too. I'm no physicist but that didn't seem right either. Not sure if that's how space works or not, never having been there. I know I'm nitpicking about laws of physics in a movie franchise where The Force trumps any laws we are aware of. But at least The Force is part of the lore/mythology of Star Wars so I'm willing to make exceptions for Force related stuff. This just seemed 80s Saturday morning cartoonish to me.

There's always stuff like that in Star Wars though. It doesn't even try to be scientifically accurate. There's a whole raft of problems with the star gate combat scene, with physics, gravity and inertia. But I long ago gave up worrying about those.

But this isn't new. How about flames on X-wings 'fluttering' as if in a high wind in past movies.

S.O.D.