Rogue One Reviews (With Spoilers)

You know, I made a joke about a month or so before the film was released to my friend that Rogue One might be the Halo: Reach of the Star Wars saga, but looking back on it now that I've seen, it genuinely kind of is.
Both are set days before the original film/game of the series, with their endings being mere minutes before and tying directly into the beginning of the original.
Both have a much grittier, boots on the ground feel and maturer tone than the main chapters of the series, and both feature a ragtag group of people fighting to get something important to others, with ultimately all of them sacrificing themselves for a higher goal, and in doing so allow everything in the original to happen.

Very interesting similarities.

 

The first trailer released (outside of footage only shown at Celebration) to officially "announce" Vader being in R1 to general audiences has a shot that didn't end up in the finished film. He's looking at a red & black display; the shot is over his shoulder from behind him.

I'm just speculating that when Krennic says the "immeasurable" line, the "missing" Vader shot from the trailers could be from the same scene.

 

Just saw R1 last night, WOW! Visuall, absolutely stunning, story is great, complicated and intriguing enough to keep me engaged, I enjoyed the grittiness and desperation it presented, I've always found forest Whitaker annoying, but he's great here, I thought Tarkin and Liea were great, I thought it ballsy to use Tarkin as much as they did and it worked. I'm stoked for the next stand alone, I enjoyed this more than TFA.

LOVED THIS MOVIE!

 

I saw R1 again today. What I really missed in Rogue One is the Fantasy Adventure aspect of Star Wars movies. This was from start to finish a war movie. So it lacked the fun of the other movies. K2 was great and he served to get some humorous dialogue in but it gets swallowed up the overall mood of the movie.

 

Yeah, K2S0 did produce a memorable performance.

 

Fair point. To me R1 is the perfect counterpoint to TFA, a great SW film that was heavy on fun and light (IMHO) on substance. R1 is heavy on substance but light on fun. As a fan, I needed that combo, because I'm not a kid anymore, and I can't just 100% turn into one to watch a SW film. I have a feeling that in the future, watching ANH right after R1 will become a tradition among fans, and it will be an extremely gratifying combo of the two approaches.

 

In the future? Are you kidding me, it's happening now . I watched ANH in my home theater right after I got home from watching Rogue One. Being such vastly different films, it flows surprisingly well and keeps fresh in the minds the lost characters and where they would have been in crucial scenes, like Krennic at the Death Star conference room.

 

for me it miht be my theater or format i saw it in after but it didnt flow as well.

 

I loved it. All the new characters were great - I especially loved Cassian and K-2SO - but I was really surprised they all bought the farm at the end. Honestly, I didn't actually believe Disney would let them go through with it. You know actually, for a movie that's final outcome was already known, it was really suspenseful.

This being the first movie without John Williams, I wasn't expecting much from the score to be honest, but Michael Giacchino's actually did a pretty great job. I really dug the main theme/fan fare, and the BGM during Vader's massacre. Talking about Vader, that hallway scene... aksjhksjhdks. Giggity.

I was a bit taken back by the lack of a crawl though. I don't know, it just felt... weird, without one. But I get it. I get why they didn't go with one. Overall though, Rogue One was fantastic. A fine addition to the Star Wars canon. My favorite of the year, for sure.

 

Oh that one, yeah I agree! Thanks!

 

Currently sitting cozy and bundled up 'neath a cloud soft throw, complete in new Rebel Alliance track jacket garb, seems not at all to be a fitting counterpart to the film I just saw -- a film of whose handsome attire lays worn, rigid, and battle-scarred, and whose occupant sports naught but a weathered complexion... and more than one open wound. But I've painted too much on the canvas....

Putting it into blunter words, it was better than I thought it would be. Heh. I tend to be too harsh on films. Rogue One has its fair share of problems, but it also sports a healthy basket of positives, too. I guess I'll stop being formal and just put it all into actual, non-nebulous words.

- Positives -

• That Flippin' Third Act - I know that everybody has been talking about this like it's nobody's business but, seriously, you couldn't have tied in this film to Episode IV more perfectly than it did. The battle sequences at the end were beautifully written and staged, and I have to give it to the crew for making me literally want to jump through the screen and fight alongside the Rebellion here. When I realized they were jumping us to the Tantive IV after that incredible Vader entrance, I pretty much fell off the seat I was already on the edge of....

• Cinematography & Pacing - Too-quick-cuts on the side, I really did like the cinematography in this. One of my favorite shots is of Jyn hiding in the grass -- the urgency felt in said scene and how it was staged in that particular moment was nicely done. The pacing, while occasionally choppy, went smoothly enough that you understood what was happening in each scene. When a moment required urgency, the timing honored that. Similar applies to scenes that needed the camera to be held longer, although sometimes I think it wasn't held long enough.... (When young Jyn and her father embrace, I felt like the moment went by far too quickly. Despite the urgency of the situation, I thought that the director should have had the cameraman stick with two angles only and hold on those angles for a more extended period of time.)

• Lack of Opening Crawl - Bein' honest here when I say I liked the lack of an opening crawl. Sure, it breaks tradition, but it fits the rebellious theme, if you catch my drift. The team we follow in the film goes rogue and so does the introduction. It's a fitting marriage. However, I wish that the title "Rogue One" had been omitted from the film completely. Its appearance felt forced.

• K-2SO - Even though it felt like they were going for a more sarcastic 3PO thing here, I really did like this guy and legitimately felt bad when he got shot to death. He's the closet thing to comic relief in the film without going overboard on the comedy, and is probably the only character I truly cared about in the entire movie.

• OT Tie-Ins - Loved all of the little references to the original trilogy. Made it all the more enjoyable.

• Reprising Roles - It was so great seeing (and hearing) Genevieve O'Reilly, Jimmy Smits, and James Earl Jones reprise their roles. Loved the return of these characters and the authenticity and familiarity it brought to the film.

• The Cast - For the most part, I did like the cast choices, particularly Diego Luna (loved how he played the character of Enrique in The Terminal), Felicity Jones, Donnie Yen, and Ben Mendelsohn. If only I'd been as invested in the actual characters they portrayed.... You know, it really sucks that character development and arcs were pretty much nonexistent in this film, 'cause I really did like the performances the actors gave.

• The Planets - We were presented a ton of worlds in this film, some new and others revisited. Considering how vast of a universe Star Wars is, it was a treat to be given more insight into it.


- Negatives -

• Lack of Character Development/Arcs - As was briefly mentioned before, the lack of development in and between characters was a bit of a downfall. Personally, I didn't feel nearly as invested in most all of the players presented as I wanted to be. I honestly felt like more time should have been spent on the relationships between characters, as well as their own personal backgrounds (Jyn and her father; Jyn and Saw; Cassian and the Rebellion; Bodhi and Galen). Granted, there's only so much time allotted in a movie to tell everyone's story plus the main one at hand, but, really, there was at least time to give Jyn and Galen, as well as Jyn and Saw, a more fitting introduction. We feel more connected to characters that we truly sympathize and empathize with. Galen's passing would have meant so much more had we really seen what kind of a relationship existed between father and daughter when Jyn was a youngster. I will give it up to Felicity Jones for her marvelous performance overall despite the punctured writing. The moment where she witnesses her father's hologram message was, in particular, very convincingly acted.

• Less-than-Memorable Score - Considering the fact that Michael Giacchino was given only 4 weeks to compose the score (provided that's true), I'm not gonna fault him in this. Such a small time slot is completely unfair, and the score isn't bad, but it wasn't particularly memorable either. The main theme, while riddled with a mixture of loss, despair, hope, mystery, and struggle, fits the thematic elements, it could have been more interesting.

• CGI Tarkin - I'm a bit half-and-half on this. I've gotta give major props to the artistic crew, because that is some of the best dang CGI I've ever seen in a film, so a round of applause to them for even pulling this off in the first place. It wasn't an easy feat, from what I read, and is one to be admired. However, its toes still dip just far down enough into uncanny valley that the artistry still comes off as a little... unsettling, and even though Peter Cushing's estate gave permission for his likeness to be used in the film (from what a friend told me), it still bothers me that a deceased actor's face and mannerisms were essentially recreated without the original actor's say so. CGI Leia I was fine with, considering Carrie Fisher would have been around (at the time...) to give her permission, but the Tarkin recreation bothered me. It was also distracting enough that it pulled me away from the actual dialogue, but that's just me. Again, props to the crew, and it was nice to see Tarkin make an appearance, seeing as he was one of my favorites in A New Hope, but still....

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Honestly, my main issue with the film is lack of character development, arcs, and investment, but this is mainly overshadowed by how nicely the entire film ties in with Episode IV. It was also nice to see them not be afraid to kill off the entire Rogue One band, for this helped heighten the importance and urgency of the situation -- it showed that these characters were not afraid to risk (and ultimately lose) their lives for a cause they believed in. I will say that I liked this film, as a connecting story, more than "Force Awakens", but enjoyed the character relationships more in "Force Awakens". So it's a... win-lose... situation? Kinda...?

I give it 6 out of 10 cups of bantha milk, with the cups more half full than half empty, because, in the end, it's still a decent stand-alone Star Wars film, and you certainly can't fault the crew for giving it their all.

 

I saw R1 for my third time in IMAX 3-D (I thought it would be too overwhelming for the first viewing), which I have to say is the best way to appreciate the beauty of the cinematography and for the immersive experience. Wow! I noticed a ton of things I couldn't see the first couple times in normal theaters in 2-D, namely tear tracks on Jyn's face in the early scenes, and finally saw the Ghost! I also was able to notice things in various backgrounds that I hadn't been able to focus on before (like the reeeeealy angry look on Lyra's face during the Coruscant flashback). I might fork out the money for another $$ ticket and $$$ parking just for this experience again.

 

In my most secret thoughts as I walked in to see Rogue One, I hoped that it would not just be a "fill in the gap" movie, but also a spinoff point for a new TV series titled "Rogue Squadron", but I guess there's no chance of that, now.

As a storyteller myself, I was slightly disappointed by the ending. I mean, yes, they all make this incredible sacrifice in the name of freedom; but we get zero eulogies, their deaths don't personally/emotionally affect any of the other characters because anyone who would care is dead already. In the old Expanded Universe (Legends), one of the teams sent to capture the Death Star plans was led by Bria Tharen, an old girlfriend of Han Solo. Learning of her death affected him deeply, contributing to his disdain for the Rebel Alliance in ANH. In the movie, I might have preferred that one or two of them live on and have to deal with survivor's guilt, to add a more emotional impact to the ending. It kinda felt a little hollow, with the superlaser obliteration and all.

Space battle was incredible, though. The inclusion of Red Squadron was a nice touch.

The CG faces, well, I'll give them passing marks, I suppose. Tarkin felt more real because of the darker lighting. Leia was more obvious and plastic-looking to me. I'd have preferred practical effects for that: makeup, masks and the like. I think I'd have been able to suspend my disbelief a little more, give them a little more wiggle room (so to speak), if they hadn't used CG for that.

All in all, I give it a 4 out of 5. It's a neat little filler movie that tells more of the story and helps flesh out the universe.

 

There is a eulogy/remembrance, when Raddus says, "Rogue One, May the Force be With You."

And while I agree that the CGI for Tarkin and Leia was a little off, I really can't imagine how it wouldn't have been worse with "makeup, masks and the like."

 

I suppose there is that one line...

I think both characters could have been done really well without CG. But that's just my personal opinion. I think the technology for proper, believable CG faces still needs some work, while practical effects are a tried and true method of making the audience believe what they see. Not saying it's right or wrong, just...saying.

 

People that are not Star Wars fans didn't know Tarkin was dead and it did not bother them seeing a CGI Tarkin. I told the people that I went with that Tarkin was CGI and they were surprised. They did notice that Leia was CGI because she is bit more popular then Tarkin. Nevertheless, it did not bother them and it did not take them out of the film. They were happy to see her. Only on these forums, I hear complaints about the 2 CG characters. Most of my friends are not Star Wars fans so everyone I've seen it with are not bothered by the CGI characters. They mostly say it was a good movie, and I think thats why its doing well at the box office. This is a forum to express your complaints so I understand. Some people go as far as saying Tarkin had CGI bags around his mouth. My friends are highly critical people if that was the case they would have poked fun at Tarkin's CGI bagged mouth. No complaints just pure enjoyment of the film. And they bashed the prequels to no end when they were first release, and laugh every time they catch me watching prequels. So I think ILM is doing a great job and there is more to come. I just hope they don't CG Leia at this point, because it will not be well received at all.

 

Agreed that they really can't CGI Leia at all for Ep 8 or 9. It would just be too soon and be perceived as disrespectful.

KesselRunner, I think that a nice compromise with Leia at least would have been to show her from further away. They really raised the stakes tremendously with that close-up. Ballsy as hell. Maybe not the smartest option though. If they had gone with further away, with her and Tarkin, maybe your suggestions would have worked well. It's such an interesting issue that is so of-the-moment. I'm glad you still liked the movie.

 

I think maybe they were going for the impact on the viewers rather than the characters. Because it makes us think about the nature of war, sacrifice, and hope. It makes us consider what it cost to save the Alderaans and Jedhas that would have been in the bullseye next, and of that new hope we have taken for granted since 1977.

Just my guess though.

 

It would have been okay with me if they didn't show their faces at all and left it to the audience's imagination. They were never going to do that of course, Tarkin's part in the movie is too big not to show his face, and the final scene wouldn't quite have had the same impact (even if it was a bit jarring to me, personally). I think you're right, though. Showing them from further away might have been a slightly better idea.

I can see how that might have been the intention, and it's as good an explanation as we're likely to get. I prefer to follow a character's story down to the nitty-gritty rather than waxing philosophical about the grand scheme of things. But that's just me, and I'm only one Star Wars fan out of many.

 

I've seen it 6 times now, and it's grown on me each time. My wife pointed out some little things I hadn't noticed before, like Chirrut sitting on a fallen stormtrooper while talking to Baze in Jedha.

I had just watched Empire Strikes Back (for the lost-countieth time), and I think Rogue One is in the discussion for my favorite behind it. The first hour is stronger than I initially gave it credit for, and the second hour is as strong as anything we've gotten from SW. When you watch it with friends, it's an event. I am so pleased.