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Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)


Kromm
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Loved the movie. It didn't start out strong, but gradually, I got more and more invested, and at the end, wow. I was flabbergasted they had the balls to actually kill off the whole main cast, and this is a Disney movie! I think this movie redeemed Empire and Vader as antagonists to me while also nicely expanding on the Rebels and the things they had to go through while trying to organize resistance (loved Cassian's arc).

Nitpicks: not sure Felicity Jones was the right choice. At times, it felt like she just didn't have enough sheer charisma her character was clearly meant to have (see: those inspiring speeches about hope). She did have really great chemistry with the dude playing Cassian, I actually found myself shipping them throughout the movie and that almost never happens to me so fast. They did go out together in a very sweet (but tragic) scene, though.

Also, Saw Guerrera. What the hell was that? Bizarre acting choices by Forest Whitaker aside, the character felt like he was transplanted from some second-rate comic book. And we never learn his actual deal. I was expecting for him to somehow survive that bombing, but nope. 

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I thought it was great.  I was really impressed with the movie and what they managed to put together.  What a wonderful cast and a gritty war movie.

I was so-so with Felicity Jones's performance in the beginning but I think she and her character got much stronger as the movie went on.

It was confirmed by Pablo at LFL that it was Mustafar where Vader's castle is.  Vader's castle was in the original script for Return of the Jedi and based on Ralph McQuarrie art.

Quick thing...did anyone read Catalyst, the Rogue One prequel book?  I thought it was good and it explains the backstory of Galen and Lyra Erso, as well as Krennic.  Saw also appears.

Edited by benteen
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9 hours ago, revbfc said:

Question:  Why didn't they explicitly name the planet of Vader's summer home

LOL I'm stealing that. The start of the film was way too busy (and felt like that's what the crawl is for) but after it settled down somewhat I really did enjoy it. I liked the line they walked with the computer displays. Retro but not completely Vic-20. Felt right.

The also didn't name Planet Iceland at the start which is weird since it is named in Catalyst. Pick a lane title card decider! I'm glad I read Catalyst first. The Galen-Orson dynamic is richer for it. You get only the smallest glimpse of it in a flashback (drinks with Orson).

I also hated the actual Rogue One title card. That looked jank as hell. YOU CAN'T STROKE TRAJAN PRO! The font is too thin! This completes the graphic designer-Star Wars fan venn diagram portion of my post. Good day.

5 hours ago, FurryFury said:

Also, Saw Guerrera. What the hell was that? Bizarre acting choices by Forest Whitaker aside, the character felt like he was transplanted from some second-rate comic book.

Right? Acting notes: "Fanatical but slightly sleepy."

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4 hours ago, Joe said:

I thought it was Vjun. In the game Jedi Academy, you get to explore Vader's old castle there. I was surprised to learn it was Mustafar. There's just so much Star Wars these days I can't keep up. :)

That's what I thought it was as well.

Loved this movie. It was a little shaky to begin with. There were a lot of characters to introduce and lot of exposition/setup to get through. However, I think it started to gel with the introduction of Donnie Yen's character. Everything just seemed to flow perfectly from that point on.

I loved this movie but, was not at all prepared for it. I knew about Mon Montha and Vadar from the trailers but, wasn't prepared for the other tie-ins to A New Hope.

I have to say this movie was beautifully shot and emotionally compromising. I'm going to need a few hours to process everything. However, as a life long Star Wars fans (grew up on the original trilogy, played the video games, read the books and watched the cartoons) this movie was EVERYTHING! 

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Just got back from seeing it, and I thought it was very nicely done.  Very dark -- like the rest of you, I was surprised that all of Our Heroes died at the end, but it makes better sense that they did, than if anyone survived.  That said, I wouldn't have minded if the blind guy and his companion had done.  Loved all the little Easter eggs and tidbits from earlier/later movies -- lots of the scenes called back to scenes from the original trilogy.  Also, Jyn and Krennic never learned the rule about bridges and catwalks in the Star Wars universe.

Jyn to Krennic:  "You killed my father.  Prepare to die." 

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Took awhile to get going, but by the end I was just enthralled. Basically from Eadu onwards.

I too, was surprised they went for the TPK, and part of me feels like that was a cynical move, but on the other hand, kinda ballsy? I do wish I'd gotten more time with these characters before their big damn hero moment.

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On 10/18/2016 at 0:32 PM, starri said:

"We'll take the next chance, and the next..."

I have a feeling this is going to hit me in a primal place that even TFA didn't.  I guess I'm just a sucker for hopeless causes.

I was totally expecting Jyn to say, "until we die" after that, because it was pretty clear she knew that there was the strong likelihood they'd all be killed before it was done. Hell of a move to wipe everybody out.

On 12/12/2016 at 2:32 AM, Kromm said:

Kylo Ren is one of the worst characters in the entire history of Star Wars (and not "worst" in an entertaining way).

 

On 12/12/2016 at 10:50 PM, Zuleikha said:

Many of us disagree.

Not about Kylo Ren, from what I can tell, but that's another subject for another thread.

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Force Awakens  is the only other Star Wars movie I've seen so some of the stuff that everyone else caught just went over my head. I know the main characters of Star Wars from pop culture.

I really liked it, I was totally invested in all of our main heroes and was hoping that atleast 1 of them would make it out alive. My heart kept breaking everytime one of them fell. I liked the fact that Krennic died from the same weapon he was so proud of, and whose destruction  powers he called "beautiful?" I think thats the word he used.                                                                                                                                 

I started crying when K2 went down and didn’t stop until the credits (to be fair, I cry fairly easily at movies with characters I like). Each time it got worse and worse.                                                                                                                                 

The movie was really pretty to look at.  I thought everyone  gave a great performance but I really liked Riz Ahmed and Felicity Jones.

Edited by dkb
Formatting
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Sooooo much to unpack after seeing it.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of looking at this board yesterday so I got spoiled that everybody dies! Still I should have figured, since they weren't getting medals along with Luke and Han at the end of Star Wars.

Liked Jyn, Cassio, K2SO, Chirrut and the rest.

Oh my god, the Vader scenes were AWESOME. I love they used the unused Empire Strikes Back concept for Vader's castle by Ralph McQuarrie. That hallway scene.... whoa.

I don't mind CGI Tarkin. His characters is supposed to be unnerving so I think the creepy uncanny valley actually works. Not so much with Leia at the end. Should have just had her Then when she said "Hope".

Edited by VCRTracking
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I spent most of the movie wondering if Jyn and Cassian are Rey's parents but then the end happened and welp that's the end of that theory.

It took a while to get going but I'm impressed that they killed everyone in the end. These type of movies usually have at least one of the plucky heroes survive and it showed a much darker side to Rebel Alliance than in the previous movies. The Empire is still the villain but the rebels have done things that would horrify a young Luke Skywalker.

Unlike Star Trek Star Wars aliens can look truly alien but it's odd that in the recent films we haven't seen more of the humanish ones.  

Edited by patchwork
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" Many Bothans died to bring us this information" from Star Wars is portrayed in Rogue One, so is Bothans code for Rebells?

ETA:

Never mind previous posts pointed out my mistake...it was Return of the Jedi...

*********

Also at the risk of sounding alien racist I can't be the only person who did a momentary "huh" when Admiral Raddus was introduced thinking it was the legendary Admiral Ackbar...

Dont judge.

Edited by caracas1914
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6 minutes ago, caracas1914 said:

" Many Bothans died to bring us this information" from Star Wars is portrayed in Rogue One, so is Bothans code for Rebells?

...

I think the Bothans line is from Jedi, so that was information for the second death star under construction. If we ever get a movie for that mission, I guess that won't have a happy ending either.

I agree with the posters that said it was slow to start, but was amazing once it got going. My only reservation (besides the cluttered beginning) was the Forrest Whitaker character. He just seemed like he was in a different movie and felt unnecessary. I liked the idea of showing the different philosophies in the rebellion, but I hated the execution of that particular plotline. Plus, Jyn losing two fathers in one film seemed a bit much.

Edited by cynic

I've always thought that prequels should add something to the original, and I think Rogue One did this in way that hasn't been mentioned yet. We didn't know that the Death Star was capable of more pinpoint accuracy until now. That means that the Empire didn't need to destroy Alderaan to send a message. They could have 'settled' for destroying the capital and major cities, blow up a moon to let the survivors know it could have been worse, and called it a day. But that wasn't good enough for the Empire.

 

Also, I'm wondering if Jyn survived. It would be impossible in the real world, but I figure with move logic there's a 0.0000001% chance. The Death Star was powered by the same kind of crystal she had on her necklace, so maybe it absorbed enough of the energy that she survived the shock wave. And it's at least theoretically possible to survive a Tsunami.  

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Quote

I've always thought that prequels should add something to the original, and I think Rogue One did this in way that hasn't been mentioned yet. We didn't know that the Death Star was capable of more pinpoint accuracy until now. That means that the Empire didn't need to destroy Alderaan to send a message. They could have 'settled' for destroying the capital and major cities, blow up a moon to let the survivors know it could have been worse, and called it a day. But that wasn't good enough for the Empire.

I think we learned that in Return of the Jedi when the Death Star was destroying Rebel ships in the Battle of Endor. Of course that was the Death Star II and you could say it was more advanced. It also didn't have to wait for the superlaser to recharge.

I'm still impressed thinking about that final Vader scene, because even though I've never seen him move that way he does in previous movies but it still felt RIGHT. Just the attitude and body language was perfect.

Edited by VCRTracking
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I also made the mistaken of checking in early yesterday morning and being spoiled as to the ultimate fate of the characters, which was a bummer. It's a logical ending, though, and watching the journey of the doomed was incredibly poignant.

I've been mainlining SWs lately, including going through 'The Clone Wars', reading 'Catalyst', and rewatching the original trilogy, so I was on much better footing, back-story wise, than I usually am about these things. Catalyst, the book prequel to Rogue One, was a serviceable if not amazing read, but I was able to jump right into the story and avoid what other posters are calling a slow start. I'd just listened to 10 hours (audiobook version) of Orson gaslighting Galen and had a headstart on where Galen and Lyra were mentally, so if anything, the book was my slow start. :)

One other point before I move forward - the Saw Gerrera addition to the movie was an interesting one. It traces back through the book to the Clone Wars, but it's interesting, I think, that Saw was chosen as that link. I suppose there is a bit more emotional heft to him when you consider his backstory, but it feels like the movie is missing something in the transition of Saw from impetuous guerrilla fighter with a very particular ghost haunting him to the grizzled, worn down guerrilla fighter of the movie. As I get older, I can completely sympathize with the differences between my younger, more idealistic (and energetic) self from the more cynical, tired version of me today, but there's some indefinable character beat that's missing, I think, that would have made the transition feel like a better fit.

Beyond that, I think Star Wars was in desperate need of this entry. For all of the high-minded philosophy of the conflict that we've seen in the previous films, and especially the original trilogy, the war has never really felt like something that endangered actual people going about their daily business. As vast as the universe was, with as many worlds as it had, the earlier entries (minus, I suppose, some of the Senate scenes in I-III) were a smallish group of people fighting another smallish group of people with consequences that were supposed to be epic in scale. It's satisfying to see the Empire subjugating people, looting resources, creating a police state, etc. It's a bridge into the the reality of war and of fascist governments on the civilian population that provides heart to the ideals of Star Wars.

Also, as much as the series has always drawn on WWII imagery, there was something very satisfying about the echoes of the D-day invasion and epic air battles that we see in this movie. It really had the feel of the space Nazis meeting the determined grit of the Allied forces.

In sum, go see it immediately.

Edited by afterbite
clarifying logic
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To me, Anakin in the prequels showed that he and Luke had similar qualities but took different paths. They were both petulant whiners but they outgrew it and matured.

My second favorite thing in the movie after Vader's last scene was the whole texture of it. The texture felt more in line with the classic trilogy than either the prequels or The Force Awakens. Both the scenes of the Empire with the officers backstabbing each other and the Rebel Alliance working together felt more authentic than the First Order and Resistance scenes in TFA.  Cassio had more depth and was more real than say, Poe. I like Poe, but he was completely such a heroic figure and good guy, while Cassio had shades of grey and you felt he really had been fighting with the Rebellion a long time doing things that were morally questionable in the name of the cause.

Favorite Orson Krennic moment is his reaction when the Death Star destroys Jeddha: "Oh it's beautiful!"

Edited by VCRTracking
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Now THAT was a Star Wars prequel!

I liked how seamlessly it transitioned into the beginning of ANH. Leia's appearance at the end made my jaw drop. Between her and Tarkin that CGI is getting good.

Welp, I guess this finally solves the plot hole of why the Empire built a weapon with such a particular flaw: the builder was a double agent.

Damn, that ending was so depressing. I loved the new characters, especially K-2 and the blind guy. All the deaths killed me. But you can't just sneak into the imperial base and steal the Death Star plans without getting away. Plus, none of them were in the other movies, so I should have known that it would be the Star Wars equivalent of Red Wedding.

And Vader! VADER! I had the biggest grin on my face when he emerged with the Imperial March theme song playing. At long last, after having to stomach whiny bitch Anakin, we finally got the REAL Darth Vader back, in all his badass evil glory. That scene at the end of him taking out all the Rebel soldiers was a sight to behold.

Miss the traditional opening crawl, but at least we had the end credits.

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6 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Damn, that ending was so depressing. I loved the new characters, especially K-2 and the blind guy. All the deaths killed me. But you can't just sneak into the imperial base and steal the Death Star plans without getting away. Plus, none of them were in the other movies, so I should have known that it would be the Star Wars equivalent of Red Wedding.

Though I can see your point about the ending being depressing, I'm not sure I completely agree. The Council's failure to support Jyn when she asked them to was the reason it was just her and her little band of soldiers, since it isn't until the battle is underway that the Rebel fleet backs them up, and while I can also see the comparisons to The Dirty Dozen, there's some of 300 in there as well. A small force facing the wrath of an empire that has greater resources and more firepower, and even if they 'win' by getting the plans,  there might not be anyone left to tell the story who was actually there. Live if they can, die if they must, but make every death count, because they only get one chance. The cost of war writ large.

Edited by Cobalt Stargazer
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So, Chirrut and Baze were 100% a couple, right?

I was expecting to walk out disappointed, not because I thought it was bad, but because my expectations were so high to begin with.  Didn't happen.  I did get bogged down just a bit at the beginning, but once they got to Yavin, the narrative was tighter.  And like I said earlier, I am a sucker for hopeless causes.

Small quibble, light sabers are powered by "kaiburr" crystals. "Khyber" is a pass that connects Afghanistan to Pakistan.

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23 hours ago, MrsR said:

Forrest Whitaker is the anti-Vader. The good Vader. Can't breath, has various moving parts, seen it all and is very committed.

He was on the right side, but good might be a little strong. I love that they had the rebels doing questionable things. Shades of grey in a Star Wars movie? That's a bigger surprise than Disney signing off on an 'Everyone Dies' ending.

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19 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

That's not true.  There were many female pilots in the final battle.

I meant those who volunteered to go with Jyn & Co. Those who had done questionable things for the Rebellion. All dudes. Presumably all humans, too. I didn't see any alien races there either. 

I was very happy to see those lady pilots after reading about the women pilots that had been cut out of Return of the Jedi. 

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40 minutes ago, calliope1975 said:

I meant those who volunteered to go with Jyn & Co. Those who had done questionable things for the Rebellion. All dudes. Presumably all humans, too. I didn't see any alien races there either. 

I was very happy to see those lady pilots after reading about the women pilots that had been cut out of Return of the Jedi. 

There's a couple of non-humans in the Rogue's gallery.

Yeah, I just recently saw the bit of pilot footage from RotJ, and it's a shame they cut the female pilots.

I actually appreciated that with one glaring exception (Threepio and Artoo), the fanservice was A) minimal, and B) played straight.  No camera-winking, which fit a more serious narrative.  For all of the returning characters (Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, General Dodonna) was there because they basically had to be part of the backstory.  For all of us complaining about the CGI Tarkin and Leia, I've read plenty of people saying that they honestly thought Tarkin had been played by another actor in prosthetics.  My own husband couldn't tell that the shots of Red and Gold Leaders was recycled.

The opening crawl to ANH states that the Rebels have just scored a major victory, and while getting the plans which was their only hope to take down the Death Star was definitely a victory, I wonder if losing basically all their ships save for most of Red and Gold Squadrons and the Tantive IV counts as "major."  Also, I loved, loved, loved Admiral Raddus (and that they resisted sticking Admiral Akbar into a scene) and was surprised, and pleased to see Ben Daniels as General Merrick.

Vader mowing down the Rebel troops was the most brutal thing I've seen in a long time.  The scene in ESB where Han et al enter the dining room to find Vader on the other side of the door is terrifying, and frankly, if that happened to me, I'd have pooped my drawers.  I'm glad they decided to go for the PG-13 rating.

I wonder if we're ever going to see the original cut of the film.  I mean, it's license to print money, but considering that they still haven't finagled a way to get the unspecialized OT released (complicated by Fox holding the rights to do so), maybe they won't.  And I bet Jyn survived in that ending.

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2 hours ago, starri said:

I actually appreciated that with one glaring exception (Threepio and Artoo), the fanservice was A) minimal, and B) played straight.  No camera-winking, which fit a more serious narrative.  For all of the returning characters (Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, General Dodonna) was there because they basically had to be part of the backstory. 

I liked that too. And even the droids being there made sense because they were in the Rebel Alliance at the time.

My brother was so sure Leia was going to be a different actress; his reaction when she turned around was priceless.

I just realized that Vader taking out all those soldiers was reminiscent of Anakin's only real "Vader" moment in the prequels when he slaughtered the younglings. The only difference was that this time we saw every brutal moment.

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3PO and R2 made sense given the final scene but, at first I thought it was a bit of unnecessary fan service. 

A couple of bits thst i really enjoyed were seeing Bail Organa again. Realizing that Jimmy Smitts was Bail Organa in the theater (at the end of Attack of the Clones) was the only good memory I have of that movie. 

I also loved seeing the Star Wars Cantina guys showing up on Jeddah.

Regarding the CGI, I actually thought Tarkin looked great. I remember seeing him show up and, thinking how much the technology has advanced since Antman and Tron Legacy.  I thought Leia's was more obvious, maybe because they used the Cybil Sheppard filter on her scene.  

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5 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I thought Leia's was more obvious, maybe because they used the Cybil Sheppard filter on her scene.  

Her face looked like it was set too low on her face, if that makes any sense.

I was honestly expecting Billie Lourd in a brown wig.

8 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

3PO and R2 made sense given the final scene but, at first I thought it was a bit of unnecessary fan service. 

Also, are we to think that Threepio got a mindwipe in between the end of this movie and five minutes later?  He seemed perfectly aware of what was happening here, and utterly befuddled by the opening of the next movie which is, what a day or two later at most?

I didn't expect anything. I knew Mon Motha and Vader but, was totally surprised (in a good way) for Bail Organa, Tarkin and Leia.

I didn't catch the re-used ANH pilot shots which is really cool. I also didn't catch (heard it in Angry Joe Spoiler review) that you see Red 5 die in Rogue One, which leaves the spot open for Luke in ANH.

There was actually a lot of Easter Eggs that went over my head. I would say I need to see it again but, I don't know if I can take the emotional hit again.

13 minutes ago, starri said:

Also, are we to think that Threepio got a mindwipe in between the end of this movie and five minutes later?  He seemed perfectly aware of what was happening here, and utterly befuddled by the opening of the next movie which is, what a day or two later at most?

3PO in A New Hope knew that he was in the rebellion and had been a part of many adventurers. They wiped his mind so he doesn't know Vader's identity or Luke and Leia's true parentage. It does seem kind of glaring that he doesn't mention this intense battle he was just in to intercept the plans. The droids are pretty subdued at the start of the film, which is why I always thought Leia intercepting the plans was a more covert operation then marathon relay through an epic space battle. 

1 minute ago, absnow54 said:

3PO in A New Hope knew that he was in the rebellion and had been a part of many adventurers.

"Have you been in many battles?"  "Several...I think."

I dunno, him cheering on Rogue One (or was it the squadron that hit Eado, because I don't remember) seemed kind of incongruous.

Also, I didn't recognize him without the red arm.

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Was he cheering them on? I only remember him complaining that no one tells him anything when the fleet was getting ready to backup Rogue One. There was so much going on at that point (and the whole audience was cheering over the dialogue) I may have missed parts. 

 I also took his "Several, I think" to mean he was often along for the ride without being a direct participant. The Death Star plans was the first time 3PO on his current memory harddrive was in the middle of the action. I do agree that there was some disconnect with how much 3PO seemed to know between the two films, but it didn't feel like too much of a stretch to me. 

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I've always assumed that 3PO was just oblivious to things like battle because he considered it beneath his programming.

Quote

I only remember him complaining that no one tells him anything when the fleet was getting ready to backup Rogue One. There was so much going on at that point (and the whole audience was cheering over the dialogue) I may have missed parts. 

That's what I remember as well.

Quote

I just realized that Vader taking out all those soldiers was reminiscent of Anakin's only real "Vader" moment in the prequels when he slaughtered the younglings. The only difference was that this time we saw every brutal moment.

Well he killed all the remaining Separatist leaders on Mustafar like Nute Gunray, who were already planning to surrender and was pleading "We only want peace!" but they were bad guys so it didn't have as big an impact.

I now think the only reason he ever lets Stormtroopers fight the enemy first is that he wants survivors!

Edited by VCRTracking
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