Rogue One Vs The Force Awakens

[Saul]

I re-watched 'The Force Awakens' last night and while it's still a good movie I felt it paled in comparison to 'Rogue One' which is strange because when I first watched 'Rogue One' I thought it wasn't as good as 'The Force Awakens'.

Why I like 'The Force Awakens' is the nostalgia factor, it brings back the old cast, ships, familiar characters, it's part of a bigger and longer story so there's more interest in that movie and I care about the characters. But when I watched it again I thought it lacks a certain finesse that 'Rogue One' has.
'The Force Awakens' is obviously made to get us back to a place where 'Star Wars' means something to us and does so brilliantly. But 'Rogue One's characters are a little bit more interesting, the ship battles are well thought out rather than just being eye candy as they were in 'The Force Awakens'. The Death Star is still interesting unlike 'Starkiller Base' which fails because it's under the idea that bigger is better.

What do you boys and girls think?

 

[Relayer1]

My view ?

The Force Awakens is quite poor - 4/10 but with a promising new main trio.

Rogue One is fantastic - 9/10, it made me fall in love with the franchise again.

 

[eGuy]

Rogue One.

I thought that Force Awakens did a really good job of creating new characters that were interesting and fun to spend time with, and there were some really nice moments with the original characters, but that the plot ultimately failed to gain traction or have any meaning. Overall, it felt more like a Star Wars fan film than a new entry in the franchise.

Rogue One, by contrast, did a really great job of feeling like an organic part of the overall whole. It felt like it expanded the universe and gave us new depth to much of what we already knew. It's far from a perfect film, the first half is a mess and the characters don't always connect as well as those in Force Awakens, but I came away from it feeling like I'd watched a Star Wars movie in the same way that all of the entries in the original trilogy did. Force Awakens did not give me that feeling.

 

[marillion]

It's a good question... I emerged from TFA feeling like a giddy little kid.. All my childhood heros were back where they belong on the big screen. There was a BIGGNESS to TFA... It felt like I was witnessing something important, just like I did back on opening night in 1977.. As a 7 year old kid, I could barely remember all that I had seen the next day, but I knew it was incredible..

When it comes to Rogue One, I felt the story was better overall, but the movie didn't "move" me like TFA did.. Yes, there was more to it and still there were plenty of nods to the original source material... But I also found myself a little bored at some points early on.. It wasn't until the movie started really moving that I got into it.. I agree with eGuy about Rouge One feeling very organic.. It expanded the universe by showing us the gritty underside of the rebellion.. Something the OT didn't really get to do.. It is an important part of the story and always should be.

But for me, TFA is ultimately watchable and still gives me goosebumps... Especially with the passing of Carrie.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Force Awakens. I like Rogue One, but I did not find its characters as compelling. I think it's a bit unfair to compare based on plot/story, as Force Awakens is only part one in a larger series, while Rogue One is a complete story unto itself. Of course Rogue One's story is going to feel more satisfying, because we know the conclusion.

That's why I feel I can really only compare based on characters, which is really the most important thing to me anyway. Each film introduced some new characters and did so well. However, I felt much more interest/attachment in Rey, Finn, and BB8 than in Jyn, Cassian, K-2SO, etc.

Rogue One is definitely a nicely wrapped up little story and an important part of the Star Wars universe, but honestly it's nowhere near as good as Force Awakens for me.

 

[dahj]

The Force Awakens.
Yeah the plot was a rehash, but the characters sell it for me.

 

[JD]

I had to go with Rogue One.
I love the Force Awakens, but Rogue One felt a lot more unique.

 

[Tosk]

I have to wait until I see Rogue one again. It's only fair, as my opinion of TFA shifted noticeably when I rewatched it, so one viewing vs multiple viewings seems unfair.

 

[Set Harth]

There was a BIGGNESS to TFA...

And the box office was YUGE. Big league.

 

[Campe]

TFA. Rogue One, while entertaining, was a wholly unnecessary film with far too much fan service for its own good.

 

[fireproof78]

TFA. I found the characters a little more engaging than RO, though RO was highly enjoyable.

 

[Gaith]

Rogue One, for sure.

The Force Awakens bored during my first viewing because dumb stuff kept yanking me out of the story. Such as: how can a person go through life never even having thought of a nickname for himself? If Finn has been that dehumanized, why does he seem so normal in just about all other respects? Why do Ren/the Star Destroyer only send a few troopers to the surface to look for the map? If Rey often goes without food, would she really try to defend a droid from a being that found it for scavenging fair and square?

Why are the TIE fighters blowing up the town if they want the map? How did Rey learn to pilot the Falcon so brilliantly? How could Han have lost the Falcon in the first place? Is "boyfriend" really a word in the Star Wars 'verse? If Finn has been a soldier all his life, wouldn't he want to join the Resistance military, instead of running away with Rey to be an individual - which he should have no idea how to be, if he never even gave himself a name?

Why isn't Leia the political leader Zahn wrote her as? If you're approaching a planet at lightspeed, shouldn't you let the computer decide when to drop back to impulse, as pulling the level 0.00001 seconds too late would smush you to smithereens? Why is a military operation of the status quo called a "Resistance"? Why does Leia think her murderous kid can be redeemed? Why can Rey understand Wookie? Why doesn't Ren seem to know that Vader betrayed the Dark Side of the Force - didn't Luke ever tell him that story? Where's Thrawn? (Okay, so that last one's a joke... mostly. )

... All these questions and more, plus the irritating callbacks to the holo-game table, trash compactors, and plot beats annoyed the heck out of me.

Rogue One is far from a great movie, and without the Star Wars franchise as background context, might not even be good. But it didn't bore me, it didn't utterly ruin the lives of our heroes post-Endor, and it didn't feel like an ANH rehash, so it gets my vote.

 

[OtherGene]

Currently, I'd say Rogue One but I won't know for sure until I've watched it a few times when it's released on Blu-ray, the same as The Force Awakens. I'm really looking forward to firing up Star Wars as soon as Rogue One finishes too (it's NOT call A New Hope it's called STAR WARS!).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Rogue One.

 

[Tosk]

Such as

Why did Ren kill Von Sydow, the one person who new the deal with the map? Why not take him, mind-probe him, torture him...anything but cut him down right then and there?

 

[Trek Survivor]

Rogue One was good, but I much preferred the Force Awakens, largely down to the new characters.

I think a lot of love for Rogue One might dissipate when it's not quite so shiny and new.

 

[USS Firefly]

Roque One.
TFA was more of a rehash of "A new hope"

 

[wonderstoat]

it didn't utterly ruin the lives of our heroes post-Endor

Yes!

 

[wonderstoat]

There are inherent weaknesses in JJ Abram's approach to story telling, particularly when dealing with two franchises that have developed such ardent fanbases, due to the versimilitude of the universes.

The Falcon liberated the galaxy, helped blow up DS1 and led the attack and actually blew up DS2. It is actually behind glass in a museum in Coruscant, and the lead characters are celebrated as galactic liberators. Any world that ignores these 100% probabilities suggests that I may as well not bother trying to find logic as the story tellers don't give a shit. It's like frat-boy Kirk assuming command of a massive starship with 00s of very skilled personnel on it. It no longer makes me believe that I'm looking at a massive starship, it's just some dumb movie. The film-makers can't be assed making it all hang together so why should I care.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

The Force Awakens. It had more interesting new characters, and it was great to see the old ones too. ​

I feel asleep about an hour into Rogue One.