Criticisms Of Rogue One

i'm seeing the movie with my sister on Christmas. she's as casual a fan as you can get. i'm really curious to see whether she'll follow it or how it will resonate (if at all). i do think it's easy to take the Star Wars universe for granted. does the movie really work for the general public? TFA seemed to, regardless of its dependencies on the OT. does Rogue One have the same transcendent quality?

 

Totally agree with everything you are telling!

 

That's what I wonder as well. I think the movie has enough exciting things going on that it will please most moviegoers, at least on their initial viewing, but how it holds up over time with casual fans will be interesting to see. The last hour in particular will make most people forget about their early questions I think. There's no doubt in my mind that this film could have been made to be a bit more casual fan friendly, regardless of how it performs in the long run.

 

OHHHH KAY! Personally loved the film, I gave it quite a high rating!
But there is a few points I had!

1. This movie needed a crawl, if ANY Star Wars movie needed a crawl it was this one. Because if you haven't read Catalyst which most casual fans wouldn't have, that background is just missing and it lost the impact without it. The movie wasn't casual friendly enough, (I personally like)... But I took my girlfriend to my second viewing and she actually said when Saw got Jyn, "I am kinda lost why they took that other guy (Galen)".... Which her as a casual, would be sorted with a crawl! Moment of silence for those people explaining stuff to casual partners.

2. That font of "Rogue One", was just yuck! Looked like it was done with Word Art font.

3. Music, I freaking loved! I know there is super mixed emotions but otherwise it was great, M.G killed it. But I agree the music at parts was way to loud and way to epic for a simplistic moment. Like at one point Krennics shuttle was touching down and I thought a huge battle was going to begin haha. But I don't think this will be an issue come Blu Ray and not in a theatre.

4. I had a problem with the weakness of the Rebel Alliance in the pivitol scene where the council are deciding or not to attack the planet. Like these leaders have been fighting the Empire for years, and couldn't imagine the lost of life. Now at the turn, where they need to step up, half become cowards and they rule to do nothing cause the babies wanna go home and hide? Like, seems crazy. BUT, MA BOY, Raddus, comes in like an actual pimp, he was like "Screw all ya asses, I am going to be a Rebel and kill me some bad guys"..... The scene was amazing, and the impact of them arriving gave me goosebumps and I actually cheered in the cinema. Still, I hope the ones that ran and hid, did it on Alderaan.

A lot of this is nitpicking but some points! The movie all was incredible! Would go to my top 2 or 3 Star Wars movies of all time! SO, yes!

 

The way they have edited the movie made things somewhat confusing, but my understanding is that Cassian found out that Saw has the message, the Rebel Alliance somehow knew about Jyn's background, they rescued her from Imperial detention, and then took her to Jedha to contact Saw and get the message ("get their feet inside the door without being killed" - Cassian).

I thought it was implied that Bor Gullus did prove to Saw that Bodhi was telling the truth, which was why Bodhi hadn't been killed but was still alive in the cell next to Cassian and company.

It would have been better if in the "Rebel Council" scene, they have shown us that half of the people thought it was a crazy suicide mission while the other half hated the Empire so much that they were eager to attack Imperial targets regardless of consequences. It would have explained the following scene better, where many rebels volunteered to join the mission.

 

This comment is not meant to bash RO as I really loved it but did anyone else notice that there were some Star Destroyers that looked sort of fake and looked more like toys?

 

There was at least one mention of the sheer size of the file of the DS plans (maybe two? I've only seen it once so far)--when they determined that it had to be beamed from that main dish at the top of the Scariff installation and not just any old standard communications transmission. And why it took about ten minutes to beam to the rebel ships in orbit. So I guess that wasn't just a little floppy--looked more like an 8-track tape, didn't it? --and the plans wouldn't fit on Bodhi's thumb drive?

This kind of thing is like hyperspace travel in GFFA to me. I just smile and nod, enjoy the pretty pictures, and don't sweat the science.

 

oh absolutely ~ same here. i could give a rat's tail for how Starkiller works or why Galen didn't send the data with Bodhi (Jyn transmitted it from an 8-track, but the Rebel guy passed a floppy to the guy behind the stuck door ~ hahaha).

was just poking at the movie with a stick to see whether it would wiggle.

 

To think, the fate of the GFFA could have hung on the difference between an 8-track and a floppy getting through that door!

 

Supreme Leader Snooki said: ↑
Honestly my main worry with the film is it not having great characters. You need good characters in film but especially in star wars because it's about them. That's why TFA worked so well for me was because of its great characters. I know Gareth Edwards is a competent director and he will for sure capture the feel and look of star wars, I just worry that he cant pull off the characters. Looking back at Godzilla and monsters, his cast was kind of boring and not that all interesting. Characters need archs and need to be believable for the audience for the film to work for me.

Click to expand...
Turns out I was right Except for Cassian.

 

Exactly my point of view. I loved the movie just as I did TFA. I watched as a fan. Im not a critic (although we have our opinions), a director, a producer, nor actor. I certainly don't have to idea that I could have done better myself. I'm just a fan. I was excited, thrilled and enjoyed them movie. Was it perfect? No.. don't think any movie is especially if you are going to nitpic and base your review on preconceived ideas.

I think that is what they were going for... Krennic being killed by his on machine even if they didn't graphically show it. I think it would added to the irony of his death if they had left his Vader scene in the movie where he was telling of the "power" of the Death Star".

 

This movie looked pretty and Vader was great, but that's almost it..k2 was pretty cool..not the memorable fantasy movie that the others are, but it went for a dumbed down war film. Character development was abysmal and Tarkin was nothing less then a jarring distraction.. You know something is wrong when the death that impacts most was a robot and a crappy CGI character had more screen time then Darth effing Vader. 6.5/10

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2016 ---

Couldn't agree with you more. And character themes were as forgettable as the characters which sucks because the score has become just as much a part of the universe as anything..

 

Regarding the Death Star origins (and sorry if someone already addressed this)- the battlestation plans were Geonosian, but Krennic and Galen were specifically working on the weaponry, the planet destroying laser.

 

Tar Tar Kin. Too many planets. Too many grenades. Too many magic levers. "Be careful not to 'choke' on your aspirations" No Porkins, no Wedge. Jyn gets blasted across the landing platform but Galen doesn't move an inch! Boring first half.

But the last act action makes up for most of that, for me. There's some stupid stuff: The aforementioned over abundace of levers, a shieldless SD can some how cut right through a fully operational SD (it looked cool, so I forgive it). Apparently the AT-ACT's armor is NOT too strong for blasters. Apparently its hard to make a SW movie without "take out the big shield" being a thing.

Those are a few of my gripes. But I still give it an 8. Wouldn't be Star Wars if there wasn't anything to gripe about!

 

Regarding the Vader pun-

Vader's a sassy dude. Maybe more so in multimedia content, but I really didn't find it out of character.

Maybe it was a kind of a dad joke... but hey, maybe it implies that he's sensed he's about to meet his children, and is just practicing his terrible puns?

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Actually, I think that improves the continuity. On Hoth, the Rebels went in thinking they could take down the AT-ATs with blasters- that's why they were surprised when the couldn't. Apparently, the Empire improved their AT-ATs at some point after Rogue One.

 

Im seeing this criticism over and over again. Is this something like a general conclusion now? I dont know what do you guys find so boring about it.
I guess non of you have seen a Sergio Leone movie before...

 

In my opinion the first act is the problem. Before all of our heroes get together, the film feels a bit disjointed. There's a lot of jumping from one place to another, especially in terms of editing. However, when Jyn, Cassian and K2 arrive on Jedha, the film gets onto a good path.

 

If I'm honest it was a pretty average film. I mean, I enjoyed it, but at about the same level I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy or Doctor Strange. Which is to say I had a good time while I was watching it, but three days later I don't feel much. In my opinion, this just didn't FEEL like Star Wars, and I think I know why.

For me, a Star Wars film relies so much on what's happening in the background. There's a level of real-world authenticity, especially in the OT, that no other films replicate. Which is ironic, given the setting! It's often the sounds of the environment (all hail Ben Burtt) that immerses you in the world. The little clanks and clatters, the hisses and rattles and beeps and blorps. Burtt once said he was inspired by the original Star Trek TV show, where there was always some noise in the background to remind you where you were and distract you from the jankiness of the sets and special effects (which admittedly were pretty rad for television in the late 1960s). And I missed that in both R1 and TFA. The pace of the films never lets you absorb the environments. Go watch the sandcrawler scene, or any of the Death Star scenes. Close your eyes and listen. That's a RICH environment. I want that again.

The other half of that "sound is environment"notion is the score. When you watch the OT again, pay extra attention to the music. Williams' genius is not just the big themes, but the interludes and background music. The discordant strings and the short fanfares (Giacchino actually did alright with the Death Star fanfare) are so essential to the feel of a Star Wars film. The two new films, I just haven't gotten that feel from the scores.

I also wanted to spend more time appreciating the weirdness of the worlds. Jedha was great, and the attack on the Imp tank was pretty amazing, but we didn't spend enough time in the environment to get a real feel for it, other than it was an old city filled with aliens and got blowed up real gud. I just wanted to get more of a Tatooine or Bespin, even a Coruscant or Geonosis vibe. We also never even really saw Wobani (Obi Wan!) and Eadu seemed like it was just a rainy version of Wobani. The production design seemed more intent on plot than "That Star Wars Feeling" which I felt was a missed opportunity. Again, I just wanted more from the environments.

Strangely, Tarkin didn't bug me at all - the second time I saw the movie. The first time, yes it was jarring, but once I could accept him as an actual character in the film and not just as a special effect, I was in. Leia however... That was NOT the shot to end the film. What would have been? Vader? Obi Wan? I don't know, but Leia was not the correct choice. Not because of story, but because you end the film thinking, "That was weird."

But my biggest gripe was the first act. I read catalyst and understood the relationship between the Ersos and Krennic. I understood Galen's role in the Death Star project. I understood Krennic's ambitions and the massive chip on his shoulder, especially the feud with Tarkin. I understood what kyber crystals were and why they were so important. I knew who Saw was and how he was involved. And I don't know that folks who didn't read the book got that AT ALL. I mean, I know they didn't. And normally that sort of backstory and exposition just helps to flesh out the film, but I feel in this case it was essential to really getting the characters. I understand why many critics felt the characters were flat or seemed to lack motivation - because almost all of their development, including their motivations, were the entire point of the book.

Finally, I missed the "larger universe" aspect of the originals. Lucas was at his best when he was leaving dangling threads to indicate an expansive history and goings on beyond the story we're watching (like this very film, with regard to Ep. IV). It's pure imagination fuel. And they're intriguing and seemingly inconsequential references to things like the Clone Wars or the Kessel Run, things we'd just know all about if we lived in that universe, but that are just left there for you to pick up and run. So much of my childhood was spent playing steal the Death Star plans or fighting clones, running from Jabba and bounty hunters, and just creating my own version of Star Wars outside the established story. My Huffy BMX was my X-Wing, my snowspeeder, my tauntaun as I went into battle, and the films were my framework, but my limit was my (and my friends') imagination. To me, THAT'S the magic of Star Wars, and it's why I'm worried the the all-out franchising of the property might be ruining one of if not the greatest attribute of the Lucas originals. I think we're going to miss The Man more than we think.

 

Didnt feel disjointed to me. We have 3 characters doing stuff on different places, but all of that stuff is going into one straightforward direction. Disjointed would be if non of the stuff were related or had anthing to do with the main plot imo.