Vader- key to rogue one or just a marketing gimmick

I'm not going to speculate where he comes in, but by all means, if done like the Season 2 opener of Rebels, he will be overpowered, a force to destroy you mentally and physically on sight. In my mind, we take what was done so well in Rebels, namely the body language and power, and make it even more realistic and devastating. This Vader will not just cut limbs, he will ever so carefully skin Rebel soldiers, and let them die in agony, faced chopped off. Add a shot of Vader's mask and breathing, with the screaming soldiers, that will be bone-chilling.

 

We saw the Death troopers taking away Galen Erso, while a young Jyn escapes. And I might be misinformed, but aren't the Death troopers Vader's private troopers? As in, his own legion? If so, I can see him appearing briefly to send them to get Galen and then burn his house and even more, search for young Jyn (but she escapes).

And of course, later in the movie when Jyn has taken the plans, we see him again, learning that the child that escaped his troops foiled the plans of the Empire he's so devoted to. And he has words with Krennic, to ensure that he stops Jyn and her team and takes back the plans.

That's what I can see him doing and not actually killing anyone (save Krennic at the end, when Jyn beams the plans).


This way, he has the important role of shaping the heroine into the person who will oppose the Empire and inspire a Rebel team to die for a cause.

 

I like the idea, and I can see it work very well in contrast to the more war-like elements of the film. The Death Troopers, however, are Krennic's personal squad.

 

Ah, I see. I was under the impression that they were Vader's (in the comics, he had a riot making his own army). Still, I don't see him much in action, except maybe the time Jyn infiltrates the Death Star to steal the plans and Vader snuffs her out by using the Force ("Your thoughts betray you, rebel scum" stuff).

 

Small but significant role and if the audience goes Vader wild we'll get a Vader film set shortly after Lords of the Sith

 

Agree!! This is not a small band of Rebels causing small disruptions here and there in the Outer Rim. This involves the main project the Empire has been working on for the last 20 years or so. Of course Darth Sidious would want his Sith apprentice to go and take care of it.

Oh my. Sounds quite like it is going to be that way. Finally we care about these new characters and, BAM! Ouch.

 

The sad truth that those who don't think Vader needs much screen time aren't understanding is when are we ever going to have the opportunity to see VADER in his prime on screen again? 8 years? 10 years? Never? I'm not at all understanding why people don't want a heavy amount of Vader in RO. It's based during the prime of the Empire and reign of the Emperor and his apprentice. It would seem generic without a ton of Vader in the film. Snap out of it, guys!

 

Because, for some of us, Vader's value lies in his tragic storyline and smooth style and not in any kind of brutal action? Also, Vader is someone we already know. I'd like to see new faces more.

Just me, though.

 

I think most of us are speculating how much of Vader we think we are going to see and not how much of Vader we want to see. Personally I would love to see a lot of a butt kicking Vader in his prime. However, I think his overall screen time will be relatively small but very impactful. KK even alluded to this in the EW article. I'm hopeful that in his scenes we get to see him wreck a whole bunch of rebels and maybe punish Krennic for his failures.

 

We didn't see very much Luke in TFA because the pansy writers thought he might overshadow Rey and fans would be more interested in him than her (oh, the horror!).

So I'm expecting something similar with Rogue one.....we will see very little of Darth Vader....like with Revenge of the Sith, he's there to bait fans into buying a ticket.

 

If Vader was simply a marketing tool why would they not have him front and center in the trailers? The film is about a band of rebels stealing the Death Star plans. Vader wouldn't necessarily be aware of this until the attempt began which for story reasons will necessarily be in the latter par of the film - so it wouldn't make sense to have him stomping around when SFA is happening in terms of threat to the Empire's secret weapon. Only someone with no understanding of story (prequel fans? ) would want him prominent throughout the film.

Mark my words though... His presence will be significant when he is on screen, he will kick ass and we will see him again. This is his big reintroduction to cinema audiences. Lucasfilm/Disney is not going to waste such a crowd pleasing character that can draw crowds to the cinema.

 

I suppose.. I'd rather see the Vader we haven't seen much of. Him going back to the Jedi Temple to help him discover artifacts (how he finds the Kyber Crystal) and remaining Jedi. He discovers Obi-Wan's distress signal, etc. Things that link him back to his humanity and how he's trying to stay busy and bury the past for good, but can't fully let go. Unfortunately, we aren't going to get these things, but a PG war film instead. Not very imaginative for a vision that started as a Fantasy based in a Sci-Fi world.

 

Disney just flushed an entire episode down the toilet....I'm sorry, but TFA was horrible....worse than TPM.
What makes you think they won't botch Vader's return as well? I have zero faith in them to do the right thing.

 

While hardcore SW fans would find a movie like this interesting, I'm not sure the general public would, when creating multi-million dollar movies that needs to be considered. However, the SW universe has been greatly expanded beyond just a series of 2+ hour movies. The story you want to see easily could be done successfully in a novel. If you haven't read Lords of the Sith, you should. There are moments in the book where we see Vader struggle with some of the humanity still inside of him.

 

Also Darth Vader #24.

 

Movie critics and audiences disagree. Look, you can keep saying this but the reaction to TFA was overwhelmingly positive. TFA had it's faults but it is waaaay better than any of the prequels and probably third best for me - if we're going with the current doctored version of RotJ I say TFA is better. You don't like it, fair enough but you are a small minority, you have to accept that Disney/Lucasfilm's strategy is successful and as long as it keeps making money for them, it won't change one little bit. And hey, from everything you've said, I imagine I wouldn't have very much enjoyed the version of the film that you wanted. Times have changed.

 

The fact of the matter is, this movie isn't about Vader. Trying to force more Vader centric things into a movie that is about entirely different themes and perspectives would just be bad story telling. I'm all for seeing more Vader(I wouldn't be against a Vader Anthology film), but not for the sake of mere fan service.

While I wouldn't mind seeing stuff like that on screen either, stuff like that would make much more sense in a stand alone Vader film. You are selling Rogue One short because you want it to be something entirely different than what it was always conceived to be. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the most exciting thing about the Anthology movies is that they will be able to explore the SW universe from different perspectives and angles. With movies like these we have a chance to expand and breathe even more life into the SW universe. That won't happen though if people demand that these movies do things just like the Saga films. If they want to maintain a sense of freshness with their movies as they put one out every single year, then it is vital that these films try and do something unique with the SW property, otherwise things will get stagnant quickly.

If you like the more spiritual side of Star Wars, that's great. I have no doubt that you will get to see Anthology films that explore that aspect more, but I am 100% behind their choice to come out of the gate swinging with a kind of SW movie that we haven't seen before.

Also, as for the question posed in this thread. I believe Vader will have a small but crucial role in this film. Does the presence of Vader help with marketing, obviously, but that doesn't mean that that is the sole reason he is in the film. Putting a film in this timeframe and dealing with this particular plot point(the Death Star plans), it would be stupid for them not to include Vade in some capacity, it just wouldn't make sense.

 

I slightly disagree with you. Was TFA successful? Yes... ...but was the reception overwhelmingly positive? Absolutely not. Putting aside all the nonsensical racist and sexist criticism, there was and still is a significant amount of criticism levelled towards the film, even by those who enjoyed it. It's not as black and white as you're trying to make it out to be .

 

That's not what I meant at all I said overwhelmingly, not unanimously. I have my own criticisms, however the majority of critics gave an overall positive rating and the overall audience reaction was positive, it kept people going back for months and it was incredibly financially successful. If that's not a good return, I don't know what is.

 

Is putting Darth Vader in Rogue One a marketing-driven decision? To some extent, I'm sure that it is. Vader has been one of the single most easily identifiable symbols of the Star Wars saga for almost 40 years. Disney isn't NOT going to use him any time they can justify doing so.

But I also don't expect that we're going to see Vader hacking and slashing his way through the movie either. The story, after all, isn't about him, and it would make absolutely no sense to have him upstage everyone else like that. I suspect that he'll probably appear toward the end of the film to deal with Krennic's failure, he'll MAYBE make a brief appearance early in the film (perhaps via holo-transmission) giving his usual baleful "Do not fail me..." warning to establish what's at stake for Krennic. But I think that will basically be it.

And IMHO, that's all the Vader that this story really needs.