Star Wars: Rogue One (with spoilers)

[brettc1]

I'm posting this a separate thread because the other one does not have a spoiler alert in the title and I don't want folks to have anything about this movie spoiled unless they have seen it. The mods can merge this thread if they see fit.

One word - WOW!

Actually I could use quite a few more words but that would violate CBR's profanity rules.

But it is good.

Really REALLY GOOD!

And the special effects - mind blowing, but not because of the usual stuff. Oh no.

You see, apparently nobody told Peter Cushing that he has been dead for over 30 years.

That's right, Grand Moff Tarkin is back, thanks to some of the most incredible CGI ever. And not just in the background. This is a Tarkin who walks and talks through several scenes via graphics so stunningly realistic that kids seeing this might well not be aware that the original actor passed away over three decades ago, and they're are watching is a completely different actor with a digitally overlaid face.

Seriously, it is brain boggling. And Tarkin is not the only one - there are several characters from the original 1977 movie who make appearances that have Star Wars fans screaming and jumping in their seats.

The plot is sharp and while it drags a little in the middle [IMO] the final showdown is all that I wanted and more. This is action on an epic scale - like Saving Private Ryan in the Star Wars universe.

And watch for Vader's OTHER scene. The one you haven't seen in the previews. Superb!

All in all I give this 10 out of 10. It is epic. And right from the start, with no receding plot synopsis, you know this is a different kind of Star Wars movie. It's gritty without being joyless, and shows the true cost of the war against the Empire.

The Force is truly with this one.

[brettc1]

Okay. Some thoughts about this movie and one of the things that makes it great.

No Jedi.

When I was 10 and saw STAR WARS in 1977 of course I wanted to be a Jedi Knight. But as I've gotten older I've come to appreciate that while the Jedi are awesome, a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the guys WITHOUT super powers. Who cannot deflect a barrage of blaster bolts with ease and dispatch half a dozen Stormies with a gesture. And most importantly are much mor vulnerable.

That I think was a failing of episodes 1-3. Pretty much everyone has super powers. The ordinary folks don't count for much, and in a Revenge of the Sith are next to useless.

Rogue One triumphs by showing the unsuper and often largely unsung heroes of Star Wars in a way we've never seen before. Mortal. Vulnerable. When they die, you feel it. These aren't just nameless fighter pilots being shot down. These are characters you are invested in dying in a fight against overwhelming odds. Every sacrifice is felt. Every death is poignant.

Even the nameless characters feel important. When the crew of the hammerhead corvette ram the Star Destroyer I was bouncing in my seat. GO GO GO. Come on guys, you can DO IT!

This is Star Wars in a way that you haven't seen before. You at cheering on the Rebels and getting gut punched as you do it, but those socks to the gut just make you cheer louder.

[Guardian]

So yeah of course SPOILERS ahead, this is a Spoiler thread after all...


I just came back from seeing the movie and I absolutely agree: Rogue One is awesome. It is in fact so much better than Episode 7, its fascinating.
Rogue One shows us the other side of the war, the people without powers and how utterly vulnerable they are... Usually I read and watch every small peace of information, I can't stay away from spoilers but with Rogue One I did exactly that. I did not really know what was going to happen and that was a damn good thing. I was positively surprised on multiple fronts: Story, "roughness" of the war, Special Effects, space ship battles, actors, locations... Its just unbelievable!

And it is that good because it shows us the war of the "ground troops", of the normal people without powers or lightsabers. There is lots and lots of blaster shooting and sometimes the movie feels like a world war 2 movie with lasers, for example when you see two large groups of men confronting each other on foot with pure weapons fire.

And sadly you can already feel that the whole crew of Rogue One will not survive this. They had 1 utterly important mission and they delivered and because of them Luke was able to destroy the deathstar.

What a bunch of heroic people, you really feel the importance of their mission and of course you cheer at the end of the movie but you are also so damn sad about their fates.

Damn this movie is so good and so much better than Episode 7 where I was very disappointed because it feld like a complete copy of Episode 4.

[Dr Will Hatch]

I'm posting this a separate thread because the other one does not have a spoiler alert in the title and I don't want folks to have anything about this movie spoiled unless they have seen it. The mods can merge this thread if they see fit.

One word - WOW!

Actually I could use quite a few more words but that would violate CBR's profanity rules.

But it is good.

Really REALLY GOOD!

And the special effects - mind blowing, but not because of the usual stuff. Oh no.

You see, apparently nobody told Peter Cushing that he has been dead for over 30 years.

That's right, Grand Moff Tarkin is back, thanks to some of the most incredible CGI ever. And not just in the background. This is a Tarkin who walks and talks through several scenes via graphics so stunningly realistic that kids seeing this might well not be aware that the original actor passed away over three decades ago, and they're are watching is a completely different actor with a digitally overlaid face.

Seriously, it is brain boggling. And Tarkin is not the only one - there are several characters from the original 1977 movie who make appearances that have Star Wars fans screaming and jumping in their seats.

The plot is sharp and while it drags a little in the middle [IMO] the final showdown is all that I wanted and more. This is action on an epic scale - like Saving Private Ryan in the Star Wars universe.

And watch for Vader's OTHER scene. The one you haven't seen in the previews. Superb!

All in all I give this 10 out of 10. It is epic. And right from the start, with no receding plot synopsis, you know this is a different kind of Star Wars movie. It's gritty without being joyless, and shows the true cost of the war against the Empire.

The Force is truly with this one.

It's great that you brought up the job they've done on Tarkin. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard that it was so good and lifelike, that by all rights, the movie should win some technical Oscar for the rendering job.

[Hawkgirl_70]

I'm a big movie soundtrack fan. Will some of you share how the music was in the film?
Memorable and can't wait to listen to the soundtrack? Or, forgettable and phoned in?

[Hiromi]

I have been waiting for a space battle like this of this scale with Capital Ships duking it out ever since I watched the original trilogy and fell in love with them particularly the space section of Return of the Jedi. It took 26 years but Rogue One finally FINALLY delivered on it.

the only part of the movie I didn't love was the CGI characters and it worked some of the time but others fell pretty badly into uncanny valley. Especially when mixed with actual actors and puppet/costumed aliens.

[regnak]

I have been waiting for a space battle like this of this scale with Capital Ships duking it out ever since I watched the original trilogy and fell in love with them particularly the space section of Return of the Jedi. It took 26 years but Rogue One finally FINALLY delivered on it.

Bingo, that was a great movie. My favorite SW movie since Jedi.

[Hiromi]

Oh by the way the scene at the end THAT is how you portray Darth Vader, as a force of nature on the battle field, that was the most intimidating he's been since Empire.

And K-2SO is every bit as good as he was built up to be, by the end of the movie he was every bit as human as the other characters

[Hiromi]

[Sain]

Yes, another Double Toasted fan. I'm about to watch that right now since I saw the movie already.

About the movie though, wtf am I supposed to say, other than that it was awesome from beginning to end and that there isn't anything I would change. Put a bow on it.

[HowitzerJoe]

Damn this movie is so good and so much better than Episode 7 where I was very disappointed because it feld like a complete copy of Episode 4.

This is exactly how I felt.

[Hiromi]

One last post for tonight now that I've had a chance to get my thoughts in order

-While watching the movie one of my worries was that the characters weren't really getting the time they needed to be properly fleshed out, that thought evaporated once they started dying and it was actually moving to see them going, they're sneakily endearing and the little fleshing out they give actually goes a long way
-This film and episode 7 have gone a long way to undo the damage the prequels did to the mysticism side of the force, Donnie Yen chanting his prayer while walking through a storm of blaster bolts was an excellent scene
-To repeat some stuff Alan Tudyk was simply amazing and K-2SO was one of the best characters in the film
-I was expecting Jyn and Cassian and maybe the droid to make it out with the supporting cast biting it as I thought Disney wouldn't kill off some characters it could milk later for sequel bait, boy did I underestimate their balls, and HUGE kudos for not hamfisting a romance in at the end
-Gareth Edwards has some weakness as a director but one thing he absolutely shines at is visual spectacle and good lord does it show here, capital ships have a scale most sci fi simply doesn't appreciate and the Star Destroyers are simply massive looking, and the destruction even the minor blasts from the Death Star did so much to capture the awe it deserved
-the sheer variety of space craft erased another worry I had of Disney wars after episode 7 that they're just over simplify it, seeing Y Wings justify their existence was such a treat and their ion torpedoes were a nice idea and went a long way to show that fighters were dangerous even to the capital ships
-The ATATs and ATST were absolutely menacing, perfectly done
-the World Building present here was fantastic with the three new planets, the planetary shield, the numerous vehicles and different troop variants and weapons for both sides, etc
-It's uncanny how well they were able to bring back the look of the original trilogy especially with the Yavin 4 scenes
-R2 and 3PO both got their cameos without it being too hamfisted, still the only characters to appear in every movie, honestly they might become the Stan Lee cameos for these in between movies, that said the Pondo Baba and Evazon cameo on the other hand I could have done with out and felt out of place
-speaking of in between movies another thing it did great was transitioning almost seamlessly into A New Hope, something I felt Lucas completely dropped the ball in the seemingly rushed and hamfisted ending of Revenge of the Sith. It was sad to here Bail Organa say he was returning to Alderaan
-I loved how Cassian didn't even act like he needed to justify himself to Jyn pointing out the realities of war even if he wasn't proud of it
-I also loved how Jyn managed to get over it and realize those realities, and her speech to the council was spot on
-CGI Tarkin was uncanny valley as hell, but the VA nailed Peter Cushing's voice
-On the other side I think James Earl Jones is getting closer than he was in Rebels but he just has trouble getting his voice low enough now, sad to say as much as I love him reprising it but it might be time to move on to a new VA
-Aparently the CGI is even worse in 3d but I stick to 2d so it doesn't apply to me, why they chose to CGI the Mon Cal admiral when the Mon Cal around him were traditional costumes baffles me cause that stuck out like a sore thumb
-The Vader scene at the end again is awesome, they said they were going for a horror movie vibe and def. had a Jason Voorhees presence

[brettc1]

Since folks were talking about Vader -

Yes, his light sabre scene is incredible, and you really get the feeling that even before he starts cutting loose the men facing him are about to crap their pants. Clearly, the Dark Lord's reputation precedes him.

And another point, easily overlooked but much appreciated by myself, was that they went for the original 1977 look for his armor. It got glammed up in Empire with the bigger budget, but the first time he appeared here something seemed off to me. I realized it was chain across the front of the armor as a fastening for this cloak, but then remembered he didn't have that in "A New Hope" in several scenes. In fact, I believe the guys doing the Vader costume even went so far as to put some red tinting to the mask eye lenses, again as a homage to Vader's very first appearance.




On the minus side, and this is a VERY tiny point - when Vader first confront's Leia after boarding the Tantive IV he tells her he knows "several transmissions were beamed to this ship." That doesn't quite gel with the story in Rogue One, where the transmissions were actually beamed to the Mon Calamari frigate and then given to Leia on disc.

In fact, Leia's whole ruse about being on a diplomatic mission seems a waste of time, considering Vader actually sees her ship fleeing the battle zone.

[Siddon]

Obviously I'll be skipping this movie as CBR gave it a terrible review. Apparently it wasn't as good as Suicide Squad or Ghostbusters.

[Prof. Warren]

About the movie though, wtf am I supposed to say, other than that it was awesome from beginning to end and that there isn't anything I would change. Put a bow on it.

Yeah, this all the way. Oh my God, what a movie. I was floored by it in a way that I haven't been by a SW movie since Empire. Major credit to Disney for allowing this film to be made the way it was and for the story to stay true to itself. This is not the way big budget, mass entertainment franchise entries are supposed to be and it's all the better for it.

Obviously I'll be skipping this movie as CBR gave it a terrible review. Apparently it wasn't as good as Suicide Squad or Ghostbusters.

Hahaha! If anyone pans this movie it's safe to say you can disregard their opinion going forward on absolutely everything.