Spoiler discussion of Rogue One

In short, arguably the best Star Wars movie ever, in terms of story and plot.

But also the least Star Wars-like Star Wars movie ever. Why? There was no Star Wars fanfare to open the movie, no Star Wars logo, no opening crawl, no Jedi (though one is mentioned), and R2 only makes a short cameo.

The cynical side of the Force(*) compels me to say: something truly dreadful must have happened to Darth Vader in the short days between the ending of Rogue One and the beginning of A New Hope. He lost the ability to take out a ship's armed complement all by himself.

And this: they didn't need to kill everyone off at the end.

(*) Did you think the Force only has two sides? It's not a coin, you know.

Interesting review...I have not seen the movie so I have no opinion, but two guys who work with me went on opening night and did not seem impressed. Now I will have to ask them was it because of the story line or the lack of the Star Wars type opening, etc.

Your review makes me want to see it a lot more than theirs did...

In other news from the Cynical Side of the Force: couldn't they just hack the Empire's cloud? ;)

The odd happening at the theater:

I know it's sloooooooow on Xmas day and all, but they really should have someone at least looking in the direction of the ticket booth, right? When I got a ticket, I was told "Theater 2." Now, this chain has the custom of leaving the main house lights on all during the previews and ads. But I go in to find a dark theater. Then the movie started just as I reached my seat, and it was "Passengers." A movie, BTW, I very much want to avoid seeing.

So I went out to the lobby, looked at my ticket and sure enough, it said "Passengers" and "Theater 2." Rogue One was, appropriately, on Theater 1. So I just walked to the right theater. No harm done. Except the box office receipts fro Rogue One will be microscopically smaller and those for Passengers likewise bigger. Oh, well.

Maybe it's my punishment for eschewing the concession stand...

Back to the main feature:

I think SW has mastered the look and feel of the technologically sophisticated primitive society. You have droids, assorted machines, and houses made of stone, amid unpaved, dirt or mud roads. You can expect a lot of that in this installment, even if the hero is not from a desert planet.

The story is quite interesting, in an adventure story kind of way. In typical SW fashion, what we're told will happen is not the end of it. There is much flying between planets, though for once the bad guy also moves around.

The bad guy is Director Krenic, who's managing the building of the Death Star. Trakin isn't pleased with him (yes, Tarkin's back), which is entirely understandable. I mean, by the time Anakin was Vadered (Vaderized?), the thing was already under construction. Here we are at least 5 years later, and he has to kidnap people to advance it, and it will take another 15 years to finish!

To think how easily it gets destroyed, too.... But we get an explanation for that. Although the built-in flaw was not SPOILER ALERT! the exhaust port Luke hits in Ep. IV.

What I really liked, though, was a secondary character, an alien admiral, who decides to take the fight to the Empire to aid the Rogue One crew to in stealing the plans. It's good to see the good guys take the offensive for a change. This also explains why when the Death Star finds the Hidden Rebel Base(TM), they have nothing but a few fighters to send against it.

See, naturally the Empire would want to destroy the Yavin base. So the alliance would scatter whatever remained of the fleet. So even if Tarkin had successfully destroyed the Hidden Rebel Base(TM), the fight would have carried on.

That's a better explanation than the real one, which is the budget for Ep. IV likely didn't include enough to show capital and support ships on both sides and a true battle, like the one in Return of the Jedi (or Rogue One).

Tarkin, BTW, is hands down the most evil character in SW. Remember he blows up Alderaan even when he thinks Leia gave up the location of the Yavin base? Here he kills several thousands of his own people for no really good reason (the leaks had 1) been plugged and 2) no longer mattered).

Great movie. I'll see it again next year.

BTW, no Bothans were harmed in the making of this movie.

I saw it again last night with my nephews. One of them kept nodding off.

I just can't get into this one. I didn't care about the characters. On the 2nd viewing, I found myself waiting for the final sequence on Scarif. Everything else just felt tedious.

Bring on Episode 8. That's what I'm really looking forward to....

Fun fact: Darth Vader's lava castle is located on Mustafar, the lava planet from Revenge of the Sith. I was surprised the filmmakers would want to go back to a planet from the prequels...

Quote: ams288

I just can't get into this one. I didn't care about the characters.

Granted Jyn isn't Rey and Cassian isn't Han, but weren't you glad K2 isn't 3PO? :)

Quote:

On the 2nd viewing, I found myself waiting for the final sequence on Scarif.

That does rank as the best SW battle scene ever, bar none. The rest can be a bit tedious on second viewing, I expect.

The movie's far from perfect. Perhaps a longer backstory of Galen would have helped.

Quote:

Fun fact: Darth Vader's lava castle is located on Mustafar, the lava planet from Revenge of the Sith. I was surprised the filmmakers would want to go back to a planet from the prequels...

Is that a fact? I thought that was the planet, but I don't recall if the name was stated in any way. I've also read in the IMDB trivia that it was a setup thought up for Ep. V but never used.

I would have liked to see a full, clear shot of Vader in the Bacta Tank, though.

Quote: Nareed

Is that a fact? I thought that was the planet, but I don't recall if the name was stated in any way. I've also read in the IMDB trivia that it was a setup thought up for Ep. V but never used.

I would have liked to see a full, clear shot of Vader in the Bacta Tank, though.

http://www.slashfilm.com/darth-vaders-castle-rogue-one/

It is curious that they showed the names of the various planets at the bottom of the screen, except for this one...

There is some speculation amongst the nerds that Kylo Ren will make his way to grandpa's old castle in Ep 8.

Quote: ams288

It is curious that they showed the names of the various planets at the bottom of the screen, except for this one...

It's even more curious Anakin Vader would want to live in the planet where he was crippled and horribly disfigured.

But the Cynical Side of the Force tells me this galaxy is very, very small in addition to being far, far away....

About killing off everyone at the end, I suppose it was done because they are, mostly, memorable characters who weren't in the original movies. had they all, or some of them, lived, then fans would be demanding to know why they weren't in Eps IV, V and VI.

But that's a stupid reason to kill off good characters.

It's true than when writing a prequel you're constrained by the plot of the original movie. For example, the plans to the Death Star had to be transmitted, because that was on the first act in Ep. IV. Remember Vader choking a rebel officer, with his hands!, demanding to know "Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What happened to those plans?" or words to that effect?

But this didn't mean the Rogue One crew had to transmit them from a fortified Imperial stronghold. They might have done so on the run, or from a safe house. So the battle scene at the end was a choice (a good one, but still a choice).

So was killing off Jyn, Cassian, K2, etc.

My thinking is that while what happens in the real world influences the movie, like low budgets limiting what you can show, the movie should act as though the real world doesn't exist. So they weren't in the original movies, so the actors are too young to play the same characters in the sequels (Eps. VII through IX), so effing what? They were interesting characters and deserved better.

Ok, granted a second escape from a Death Star blast would be too much, imagine some of our heroes riding out with TIE fighters in pursuit, when the fratricidal Death Star blast streaks across their windscreen brighter than the Sun.

Then they could do the pre-destination transmission.

Disney (Buena Vista pictures) has about half of the billion dollar films now, adding three more this year. Rogue One looks like it will join them soon. The first billion dollar film was Titanic, but now with reissues, Jurassic Park has joined the club.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace passed $1 billion only with reissues


BV 2016 Captain America: Civil War $1,153.30
BV 2016 Finding Dory $1,027.60
BV 2016 Zootopia $1,023.80
BV 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens $2,068.20
BV 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron $1,405.40
BV 2013 Frozen $1,276.50
BV 2013 Iron Man 3 $1,214.80
BV 2012 Marvel's The Avengers $1,518.80
BV 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $1,045.70
BV 2010 Toy Story 3 $1,067.00
BV 2010 Alice in Wonderland (2010) $1,025.50
BV 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest $1,066.20
Fox 2009 Avatar $2,788.00
Fox 1999 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace $1,027.00
P/DW 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon $1,123.80
Par. 2014 Transformers: Age of Extinction $1,104.10
Par. 1997 Titanic $2,186.80
Sony 2012 Skyfall $1,108.60
Uni. 2015 Jurassic World $1,670.40
Uni. 2015 Furious 7 $1,516.00
Uni. 2015 Minions $1,159.40
Uni. 1993 Jurassic Park $1,029.20 (including re-issues)
WB 2012 The Dark Knight Rises $1,084.90
WB 2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $1,341.50
WB 2008 The Dark Knight $1,004.60
WB (NL) 2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey $1,021.10
NL 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King $1,119.90