For the first time, I'm not excited for a new Star Wars movie

Also a good opportunity to use the "Ignore Posts by this Member" feature. It has improved my experience here tenfold.

 

Um, I hate to break it to you, but Star Wars has ALWAYS contained hidden political messages. The Empire-versus-the-Rebels was inspired by the U.S.'s involvement in Vietnam. Nute Gunray was a surrogate for Newt Gingrich. "Only the Sith deal in absolutes" was a not-so-subtle jab at George W. Bush's "You're either with us, or you're against us."

I just read that Rogue One is estimated to bring in $175 million on opening weekend. The idea that it's going to flop is patently absurd.

 

I've seen this opinion a lot (my brother is thinking the same), but, funnily enough, I'm in the opposite boat. I've been excited for Rogue One for the last year and probably won't be all that excited for Ep. VIII till we get trailers and more information.

 

If anyone doesn't see that this insane diversity movement isn't completely political that I don't know what to say. It's blatant and in everyone's face.

Moderators; Please delete my account.

 

We'll put you down as not being excited for the movie because of the people in it. Quite a far cry from the OP, but there's a diversity of reasons to not like the movie, I suppose.

 

I'm going to see it opening midnight but I agree with your overall stance. I'm not THAT excited for RO.

For me, the whole idea of showing where Leia got the plans from is just "meh", it fills a hole in canon that might be interesting, but I don't understand why some are hyping it to TFA levels of excitement. Not that they can't, i just don't understand it. I also have grave concerns for retconning as a result of this movie just so they don't have to make hard choices. I hope i'm wrong on that part though.

To be honest, i think RO and Han Solo both should have been books and opened the movie space to new parts of canon. We are getting Thrawn as a book, why not RO and Han Solo?

Right now I will probably see RO once and then move straight on to VIII. I'm already bursting at the seams to get Luke/Rey/Kylo news, the saga films have so much more going for them right now.

 

I soooort of see where tyou're coming from...but Disney is trying to have LFL do something unique in a sort of exercise to see what works and doesn't and I believe that is the spectrum movies like this are like...the stories should be more compelling and not one-offs included amongst the larger saga as a whole even thoug they are spin offs but Han Solo might do this in my opinion.

 

I agree that they're "trying to see what works", but what I question is if you start off with a story like the death star plans, the ultimate payoff (story-wise) is the end of ANH where the plans are used to resolve the problem. Then on top of that RO offers no real story suspense, we know the plan works. I think that makes RO quite "meh" from an 'excitement perspective'. Like i've said, i have no issue with people that like the idea of RO as a story. Just that i agree with OP that the excitement factor is not really there.

 

Honestly, I had never thought of it that way. I can see where you and the OP are coming from. But sometimes, I think the learning the "how" and "who" can possibly provide a compelling and interesting story even knowing the overall outcome. I think knowing the results beforehand means they will have to provide very interesting characters that you feel for, love and care about to get you into the movies. We will just have to wait and see about that part I guess.

 

It does seem a bit crapy and boring.

 

Can you elaborate?

 

Remember the first time you watched Star Wars, before you knew that Luke Skywalker was definitely going to blow up the Death Star? When there was still a hint of a sniff of a chance that the Rebels might lose the battle, that Luke might never develop his full range of Force powers, or that Darth Vader might pick him off like any one of the dozens of other X-Wing pilots who went spinning off to a fiery death?

That’s how I feel about Rogue One right now. The trailers so far have shown us plenty of shiny stuff, from Darth Vader’s return to new versions of classic Star Wars staples such as stormtroopers and At-At walkers. But we’re still in that final run with Luke, wondering if he’s going to make it to the end of the canyon and save the galaxy from the world-killing Imperial menace. We want to believe everything’s going to be OK, but I'm just not sure.

 

I thought once like you but the more I know and see about Edwards and his cast the more I get hyped

 

Yeah my biggest issue is that were supposed to be heavily invested into the characters but this isn't some sort of one-and-done kind of movie but is part of a bigger franchise so we should want to keep seeing them to be invested
.

 

Yea....it is really weird you said this man... I am having this same issue. I have tried to deny it for a year since TFA came out, but it just isn't a very good film. It is supposed to be the start of a third part of a 9 movie film series. They have the bad guys basically be children. The main enemy isn't a Sith (which is why I was so hard up for the Snoke = Plageuis theory to be correct), the movie was just a rehash of episode 4. Disney didn't just take Star Wars and slap on a new coat of paint, they started knocking down walls and putting in ones where they didn't need to be.

I was on the "Rey isn't a mary-sue!" bandwagon at first, but after repeated viewings, I can't honestly say that with a straight face. She was a walking Deus-Ex Machina. Need to move the plot along? Rey can do it! She is able to speak multiple languages wookie among them, she can fly incredibly well against seasoned tie pilots (in ep 4 they brought Han along to give Luke some time to get in touch with the force, and still explained he was a good bush pilot) she can beat up multiple attackers single handedly, she can fend off Kylo Ren through the force even though hes a dark side trained child of a skywalker and she's had no training, She knows how to sabotage star killer base for some reason before Han (a seasoned guerrilla) and Finn (a F/O stormtrooper) know how too. They showed she didn't really need Han and Finn anyway because she was well on her way to destroying the place before they got there, she is immediately loved by every non-dark side user they meet (heck and maybe kylo) - in fact to such a degree that Leah goes and comforts HER instead of freaking chewbacca after Han dies.... blargh.... so disappointing.

The new cannon makes the storm troopers laughable keystone cops in stead of the crack troops of the empire. Darth Vader in rebels is regularly challenged by a child trained by a padawan. The Inquisitors are beat so easily it is to the point of absurdity. In Ashoka she doesn't even have a lightsaber and she manages to kill one.... It is honestly like Disney does not, and has no interest in understanding what people liked about star wars. It isn't all powerful good guys who are never in danger. Luke arguably SUCKED in the OT. Gets his hand chopped off, makes out with his sister, sees his aunt and uncle die, is generally whiney, doesn't finish his training.... but we love him because he is a character we can relate to and who is actually in peril. Shot after shot of baddies failling comically to ever put hero's in real danger is wearing thin.

So my thought's on rogue one... This movie, in a very broad sense, is a type of movie that I have wanted to see my entire star wars fan life. A gritty action star wars movie on paper sounds incredible. Then it turns out they brought in a script doctor to make the movie more funny and kid friendly... Here is the thing. If you go watch the OT there was VERY little humor in those movies. Sure there was a few parts that made you chuckle, and I suppose you could argue that Yoda on Dagobah at first was funny-ish, but they aren't comedies. These new movies? It seems like every scene they have to force in some "witty" remark and sarcastic comment that completely undermines the tension they are trying to create. Imagine if in Ep 4 during the death star run they had had Luke being wry and sarcastic. Would you like his character more or less? I am honestly asking? For me? Definitely less. Yes it is escapism, but it has to take it self seriously in it's own universe. This is the exact problem they are starting to run in to in the new marvel films, they try so hard to be light hearted and fun, that it is actually hurting the drama of the situations. Remember in age of ultron when Hulk has "gone mad" and is destroying the African city and Ironman punches Hulk in the face and basicly looks right in to the camera and says "go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep" and rapid fire punches Hulk in the face? It completely undermined the tension and the threat of Hulks destruction of the city. Which in turn undermined our belief that Hulk had to leave at the end of the movie. This is the same problem we are now running in to in Star Wars. Imagine if in episode 4, after the death star blew up alderann and Obi-Wan felt it through the force, Han had made some sarcastic quip to undermine the emotional invesment of the viewer in a pointless effort to "keep things light" and kid friendly? Or if when they come out of hyperspace and see that Alderan is gone had had said "we're looking for a planet in Al-deran places!" then had Harrison force a poop eating grin in to the camera..... How would that be better?

And this is my fear for rogue one. I'm afraid that Gareth Edwards turned in a perfectly toned and paced star wars war movie and Disney said "but Gareth where are the sarcastic quips? Where is the toung and cheek almost 4th wall breaking sarcasm to let the fans know we dont take our selves too seriously?" In my heart of heart's I believe this is what has occurred in the production of this movie. I honestly don't think that Disney undrerstands why the die hard fans love it. I think they only understand the movie has cool aesthetics and designs and is an action movie. They truly don't get the movie is just a simple hero's journey story set in a galaxy far far away. Every day I become increasingly nervous that Disney does not understand or does not care about making really truly great Star Wars movies and is instead okay with turning out the film equivalent of nutrient gruel with a star wars picture on the box. Just empty soulless pablum devoid of any heart, passion, or flavour.

Anyway, thanks for staying with me for this long rant guys. I love Star Wars, but I am very afraid it is going down a path I may not be able to keep up with much longer.

 

Excellent post my friend. I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Tell Disney to keep politics out of Star Wars.

This is the 800 lb gorilla in the room, but everybody is supposed to just ignore it and look the other way?

Frankly, I don't want to discuss politics either. I would rather talk about the characters and story-lines in the GFFA.

But because of their choices, Disney has made this all but impossible for people like myself.

 

For those Star Wars fans amongst us who claim aren't going to watch a SW film (or just watch it once), as something they see isn't matched to their own personal beliefs, come on....Who are you trying to kid?

It's just a movie.

You'll watch it.

 

Since Star Wars draws a lot from real life (analogies) you might just as well ask why the Germans and the Japanese in WW II didn't equip their top-of-the-line battleships with sufficient anti-aircraft artillery to prevent the sinking of their battleships by enemy fighter planes.

History has shown that unorthodox battle strategies led to victory, and in the case of the Death Star the Empire (like its German and Japanese "predecessors") didn't consider a small one man fighter to be a threat.

Regarding the post of @Stillwatch (and perhaps @Amanaman concurs) I think on the other hand that the constant introduction of new alien faces and characters isn't helpful, either (because we never see those again in the OT). IMHO, a good CGI animated version of a character of Bossk's species (or others from the OT that are not limited to Mon Calamari) would have been 5 times more exciting than to have 5 new alien characters, instead.

 

I'm personally buzzing for Rogue One. It's a great story that's been created by people who love Star Wars - just listening to Gareth Edwards gives me confidence. I'm not as excited as I was for TFA but that's reasonable I think... I mean TFA was a proper cinematic return to a GFFA... the first in 10 years.

When it comes to Rogue One I'm excited for different reasons. To me, I strongly feel like Rogue One is going to give us more depth to the story as a whole.

I feel as if this film has crept up on us. We're used to waiting a long time for a SW film.

As for the 'political' comments: firstly, I can understand somewhat peoples frustrations as the story is different (not to say I agree with them.. I can just understand why they might feel like this). But whether a character is being played by a woman/man, or certain race is completely irrelevant in Star Wars. People are making this into a waaaaay bigger problem than it actually is. I definitely think there's a line that film's like Star Wars should ever cross - but they haven't come close to this yet by any means.

My final thought is that this film is something very different - so naturally there's going to be some doubt. But I'm certainly not going to write it off before even seeing it.

I'm finding the lack of faith in this thread disturbing.