Thst would play better if he were more consistent across the movies. Now it's especially weird when he goes from space Hitler to being comic relief against Ben's straight man.
This. Pretty much loved Rogue One as well. Very....no, make that VERY concerned that they've given JJ the next one.
Both of these movies were pretty underwhelming. The new characters are overacted and uninteresting. The old characters are shells of their former selves. The Force Awakens was boring and borrowed certain elements from A New Hope. The Last Jedi was a weak story with pointless subplots. It was agony voting between them, but I gave it The Last Jedi because I enjoyed some of the scenes that involved Luke, and I liked the main light-saber battle (it took me by surprise). Rogue One was far better than either one of them.
TLJ, but I will admit I want to see TFA again. Plot recycling might be worse in TFA but it had redeeming moments. TLJ probably adds more to it than I'm remembering. Oh, is it just me or did TLJ Spoiler improvise on the theme of 'The Best of Both Worlds' by saying how the old book has to be thrown away?
As much as I enjoyed Rogue One, it is a completely unnecessary telling, and completely reframes ANH. Instead of small band of freedom fighters, the Rebel Alliance is a full government system in exile. Now, it does make the Rebel's plight more desperate because they lose so many ships and ground forces, but it also took the Alliance and made it much larger. Also, as much as it expanded the lore the characters were lacking.
I felt like the explanation Spoiler of why the Death Star had a weakness was not an unnecessary story at all. It filled in a gap that many people joked about for years. Ironically, they created the same gap in The Force Awakens (which I found in some ways to be a weak rehash of A New Hope). I felt the characters in Rouge One were far more interesting than any we have seen in the sequel trilogy. Felicity Jones is an awesome actress, and I felt like she played her role really well. They also utilized classic characters better than the sequel trilogy. The Darth Vader scenes in particular were fantastic. I admit it is not a perfect film though.
Did it need an explanation? I agree, yes it did. However, I don't feel that the way it was portrayed made as much sense in light of ANH. The Rebels suffered heavy loses, and exposed one of their high up leaders to Imperial targeting. I think that Felicity Jones, and the rest of the cast are all fine actors and actresses. I don't have an issue with them. But, I struggle with the connection with the characters, and having that emotional investment in them. I feel like Bohdi, Saw and the like were unnecessary, the Vader scene was fan service of the highest level and took me out of the film straight away. It is beautifully shot, and provides a grittier feel for combat in the SW universe that I think was a good addition, as the comics had been doing so for years. But, the two characters I felt any connection to were Chirrut and K2. So, good, but overlong, complicated and unnecessary fan service at times really broke me from that film.
I do. I had no such struggle. In fact, I found it a lot easier to connect with the major characters of "Rogue One" than I did with the Sequel Trilogy characters (except Finn) after two movies.
I never regarded the Rebel Alliance as a "small band of freedom fighters" . . . not even when I was a kid. And especially not after that last shot in "A New Hope".
But that was Lucas' intent. On the plus side, it makes comparing the Resistance and the Rebel Alliance a rather mute point.
The main difference between the two is that Rian Johnson actually tried to make his own movie. Like one of the reviews said, JJ seems like the kind of guy who loves movies and knows everything there is to know about them, just doesn't seem to have anything to say. Whereas Rian Johnson definitely does. It took me two views to truly enjoy TFA. The first time around it just left me feeling numb. It starts off with an excellent Jakku Village scene, and the whole introduction of Rey is great, but then it just devolves into a straight up "been there, done that" nostalgia-pandering. TLJ, on the other hand... IDK, many people complain about it being dragged out, but those two and a half hours just flew by for me. And I just don't share people's disappointment with the treatment of Luke, killing off Snoke or Rey's parents being nobodies. I never gave a shit about Snoke, or Rey's parentage. And I can only salute the way Luke's journey defied my expectations.