Spoilers Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - Grading & Discussion

[stardream]

I don't know, I think that could actually make the characters and movie resonate a whole lot more on repeated viewings, knowing that this is a mission none of them will survive and that it really did take this huge sacrifice for the Alliance to get their hands on the plans. And it also makes the mission to destroy the Death Star in ANH feel a lot more urgent and meaningful now, with those deaths sort of hanging in the air the entire time.

I doubt it will for me. I don't know why this movie didn't grab me the same as it has everyone else but then I'm not as heavily invested in this franchise as I am in others.

I thought Rogue One was kind of bland honestly. It's a mediocre movie.

The core characters of the film are kind of boring. Jyn Orso was disappointing.

Once the high wears off, people will look back at this movie and realize how mediocre it was.

I'm with you on some points. I don't think it's mediocre, I think it was above average and the people who like it now will probably still like it ten years from now but it missed the mark for me which is disappointing. I went in thinking it would be one of my favorites and it did't happen. Oh well...it's not the end of the world.

 

[davejames]

Enjoyed it more the second time... but still having trouble connecting with the characters as much as I'd like. The story did seem to flow a lot better though once I had a better grasp on who everyone was and how the mission unfolds. And the CG Tarkin seemed a lot more impressive as well, with a few shots where I would swear it really was the actual actor on screen again.

At least at the moment though I think I'd have to rank this below TFA. Yeah that movie may not have had the most original story, but I still find it a lot more thrilling and fun to watch with it's engaging characters, lightsaber battles, Falcon sequence, and the return of Han Solo, Luke, and Chewbacca. And even though neither one got a ton of development in their movies, Rey still feels like a much more compelling character to me than Jyn.

So giving it a B for now (which could easily go up over time).

 

[shapeshifter]

I saw it in a normal theatre. Tarkin looked pretty good for the most part. It's just every now and then, he'd make an expression that just made his entire face look...off.

For me, his mouth movements broke the near perfect illusion.

I'll have to watch it again to finialise my thoughts on it but I'm around the C+/B- region for the film.

That is where I am too. The largest part of the film only rates a C at best. It is interesting to meet the designer of the Deathstar and find out he was a Rebel sympathizer at heart, and again be reminded of the damage the Empire does by ripping family's apart, but the third act just nails it for me, bumping to a B. But it would have been better imo if the entire film had been about the events of the final act. That's what I thought we were getting.

People looking for a review of the RD3D experience - excepting the final battle scenes which occur in daylight, it is mostly wasted in RO.

 

[Ithekro]

Rey is probably suppose to feel more compelling due to the whole Force/Jedi path and that her arc is building, while's Jyn's arc is to get this one task done. Also it could be that the story changed a bit to make it more ensemble rather than Jyn's story.

 

[davejames]

Rey is probably suppose to feel more compelling due to the whole Force/Jedi path and that her arc is building, while's Jyn's arc is to get this one task done. Also it could be that the story changed a bit to make it more ensemble rather than Jyn's story.

That might be a part of it, but I think it's also because of Ridley's performance and the way she conveyed the character's sense of loneliness, fear, sense of wonder, and even giddy enthusiasm at different points in TFA. Jones is obviously an amazing actress, but for the most part it felt like her character didn't really do much except be sad or hopeful through most of RO.

 

[Candlelight]

That might be a part of it, but I think it's also because of Ridley's performance and the way she conveyed the character's sense of loneliness, fear, sense of wonder, and even giddy enthusiasm at different points in TFA. Jones is obviously an amazing actress, but for the most part it felt like her character didn't really do much except be sad or hopeful through most of RO.

Don't forget though they reshot about 30% of the movie, so her character changed quite a bit. Go back and watch the first teaser trailer; Jyn's character is depicted as a prisoner lifted out of the rebellion's own jail.

 

[davejames]

Yeah that's true. Apparently she was a much more abrasive type before they softened her up a bit (which was probably a good choice). But either way, as far as what was on screen it didn't feel to me like Jyn went on nearly as big an emotional journey as Rey did.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It's in the movie. I remember. I've never read the novelization.

I watched Return of the Jedi last night and Owen is never mentioned.

 

[Makarov]

I liked Jyn a lot more as a character and the acting as well. With Rey everything is played over the top like they directed her to overemphasize every emotion regardless of whether it fits the character. That combined with how she seems like a audience insertion of everything cool which could happen to a person in the star wars universe. Less of that would have improved the movie greatly for me although I still liked it quite a bit. Jyn just seems more real.

I'll need to see it more than once but so far I think this one beats TFA slightly for me. Just wish there were more scenes with Forest Whittaker and that his best line in the trailer was actually in the movie.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

These characters were the biggest heroes I've ever seen, and the movie's the best of this franchise for

Spoiler: what happened to all of them at the end.

dying heroically as they did.

Giving it an A.

And I hate to agree with Makarov, but yeah, Jyn's a bit more realistic than Rey, particularly because Jyn went through a lot and it really shows in and on her more than it does on Rey. All told, I still love The Force Awakens as much as I love Rouge One , due to the different styles of both.

 

[publiusr]

This is really yet another telling of the Seven Samurai--plus or minus a few...The movie got better as time went along.

I found Tarkin and Leia rather creepy.
Kor

That helped with Tarkin, though. They weren't doing Cushing at all, really. The point was to have none of that kindly old gentlemen in this movie.

The CGI made Tarkin more gaunt. Some of Peter's face--but with Christopher Lee's power. This is the most frightening version of Tarkin that I've ever seen.

Cushing's Tarkin I was never afraid of. THIS guy, on the other hand--was more imposing to me than Vader--whose mvythic quality makes you say "COOL" more than....eww..."
In terms of the CGI--they could probably do a good Wrath of Khan Spock--or a Bear Bryant face. A young Kirk? Not so much..

Like Leia--there CGI needs to evolve a bit for features that are less craggy.

Metal is easy for CGI, Hair? less so. Smooth skin? The hardest.

Though I prefer the destruction in Rogue One almost. The way it propagated in a more realistic speed instead of disintegrating the planet instantly like a bursting balloon.

To steal a quote:

"Death Star on full power? Planet goes “bang,” as we’ve seen before, and really not that impressive of a visual, just an explosion. Death Star firing on just one reactor? Freakin’ *spectacular” imagery. Think “best parts of ‘Trinity and Beyond’ on the big screen and on methamphetamines.” From: http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=33820

So Tarkin wasn't the only thing that was more menacing. The Death Star itself--though with lower power--came off as **more** powerful.

Agree that the destruction of Alderaan was really too fast--it is what a full up superlaser can do, yes--but it lacked the visceral gut punch of seeing a whole landscape erupting more violently than a supervolcano or modest asteroid strike ever could.

Nice to see the Whills mentioned.
http://moviepilot.com/p/how-rogue-one-introduces-the-guardians-of-the-whills/4170161

 

[davejames]

To me the biggest problem with Leia wasn't so much with how realistic or believable the face looked, it was just with the basic underlying likeness. Unlike with Tarkin it didn't feel to me like they captured what Leia really looked like in ANH at all. The spacing of her features was weird and the eyes just looked completely wrong.

 

[Captain_Amasov]

I know there's some contention with Leia and the Tantive IV being present at the battle, but I found it tied-in quite nicely with 3PO's line in Episode IV, where he mentions that "there'll be no escape for the princess this time."

 

[Candlelight]

Yeah that's true. Apparently she was a much more abrasive type before they softened her up a bit (which was probably a good choice). But either way, as far as what was on screen it didn't feel to me like Jyn went on nearly as big an emotional journey as Rey did.

Makes me wonder if the whole father arc was added during the reshoots. The first trailer basically states "we've got a mission for you", and doesn't say anything about Galen.

 

[Tuskin38]

I saw a theory on what happened to the scene from the trailers where they're running acorss the beach with the plans.

The plans were originally in a different building from the comm tower, and during the reshoots and editing process they combined the two buildings.

 

[Nightowl1701]

To me the biggest problem with Leia wasn't so much with how realistic or believable the face looked, it was just with the basic underlying likeness. Unlike with Tarkin it didn't feel to me like they captured what Leia really looked like in ANH at all. The spacing of her features was weird and the eyes just looked completely wrong.

To be fair, that wasn't a 100% CGI Leia standing there. They were overlaying a digital Leia 'mask' over the face of actress Ingvild Deila, whose bone structure was a close-but-not-quite-exact match for Carrie Fisher's. They did the best they could to make it fit, same with Guy Henry as Tarkin.

 

[Gepard]

Makes me wonder if the whole father arc was added during the reshoots. The first trailer basically states "we've got a mission for you", and doesn't say anything about Galen.

It's pretty clear in the first teaser trailer that the Rebellion already knows about the Death Star while they're trying to recruit Jyn. Completely different from the finished film where Jyn is the only one who really knows and nobody believes her.

My own suspicion is that Jyn's character arc was inverted by the reshoots. In the released movie she starts off as a character only concerned about self-preservation and with no interest in helping the Rebellion, who becomes a true believer and voice of hope after finding put how personal the stakes are. The trailers imply that she starts off the movie working to convince the Rebellion that she's the right choice for this mission ("I rebel," "this is a chance to make a real difference" said to Saw Gurerra) and who possibly falls to the dark side and/or has her idealism shattered by the end of the movie. ("If you continue to fight, what will you become?")

If so, adding all the stuff with her dad would make a lot of sense.

 

[The Wormhole]

Makes me wonder if the whole father arc was added during the reshoots. The first trailer basically states "we've got a mission for you", and doesn't say anything about Galen.

Nope, the very first spoilers about the movie leaked a year ago said it was about an Imperial scientist who had second thoughts about the Death Star and tried to get in contact with his estranged daughter, whom he knew had Rebel Alliance contacts. Galen Erso was very much a part of the film from the very beginning. Also, IIRC, Madds Mikkelsen was one of the first actors cast for the movie.

 

[Unicron]

Yeah that's true. Apparently she was a much more abrasive type before they softened her up a bit (which was probably a good choice). But either way, as far as what was on screen it didn't feel to me like Jyn went on nearly as big an emotional journey as Rey did.

I kind of wish they'd left more of those rough edges in myself, as I liked the idea that Jyn didn't see the rebellion inherently as "good guys" or that it was her fight, even though she has plenty of reason to hate the Empire. I also would have liked to see more background on Saw's character and why he's become militant to the point that the Alliance has trouble with him.

 

[Shawnster]

I don't think he wears the cape at all when he is in his TIE fighter.

I always hated playing with my Vader action figure without his Cape. I'd make my own if necessary. He looked ugly without one.