Rogue One (Spoilers)

[Ace Pace]

So just came back from seeing it.

Spoilers obviously follow.


First off, it's a good movie. Yes, it has plot holes. Yes, it can run better. But I was on the edge of my seat for most of it.

First off, the opening crawl, or the lack of it. This is not a SW anthology movie and that carries through with the music which has strong Star Wars overtones but few themes are played at length. While the start seems to jump around and setup characters, it all ties together really well in setting up all the players for act 2 and act 3.

I liked most of the characters and the trailers did not spoil them. Cassian Andor starts off as a shallow rebel spy and turns into a rather interesting character quickly. Despite the romantic overtones at the end, the interaction between him and Jyn worked wonderfully, arguments and all. Jyn however, is a mess. Starting off from being a street fighter to nearly sweeping the Rebellions council... yeah, no one is that eloquent. That speech was far too well scripted.

The Imperial characters on the other hand, were all great. Tarkin was exactly what I wanted to see and I really want to see a spinoff of a young company commander Tarkin defending his men while taking all the glory. Krennic was also great, with Vader's "Don't chock on your ambitions" perfectly fitting his character.

The final act requires re-viewing but I felt that most of the plot holes there. An important comm switch being left in the open, as a giant switch?! That was lame, but yes, to everyone reading this, everybody dies and it even fits. The Empire won fair and square, with overwhelming firepower and good tactics. The special forces trope is setup and torn down very well here.

Overall, I had great fun and will probably rewatch this a few times in theater.

[Anacronian]

Just saw it and I liked it a great deal - I fact I like the tone of this movie way more than The Force awakens "we want to hit every tone in the book" approach.

The pacing is good overall though there is a point in the film where everybody gets the urge to stand up and give a speech though this is a short section and a minor problem.

And yes I liked the ending (quite dark for Disney and a Star Wars movie) the empire won the battle but lost the War.

Oh that Leia CGI at the end gotta be some of the worst I have seen in a long time - Half the movie theater burst out laughing when she(it) came on screen. :p

The Tarkin CGI also has problems - Fluctuating between Good/Uncanny Wally/bad all the time, Though whoever did the Tarkin voice did an awesome job.

[eMeM]

This is the real goddamn new Star Wars here. Original ideas, expanding the universe while subtly referncing other media, and visually stunning, as Star Wars should be.

I didn't like the theory that Erso engineered the Death Star weakness, but the movie pulled that out well - Erso designer the reactor so it would destroy the station in case of an explosion inside - but he didn't prepare any way for this explosion to occur.

The corvette pushing a Star Destroyer was a tad silly, tho. Should have been the Calamarian cruiser, but oh well. On the other hand we finally witness the firepower of an ISD, and it is glorious.

The number of actors who are dead/too old to play thmselves and were in this movie is.. surprising. But it actually works. Not perfectly, but give it a few years and Wwe won't need actors anymore.

Oh, and Vader does 80ies action movies puns now

Overall - very impressed.
And screw JJ.

[atg]

Wow. Loved this movie.

Tarkin oozed power and control without being cartoony like General Hux. Even his compliment to Krennic at the successful test at Jedha had a knife twist to it.

Humour intertwined that didn't feel out of place.

And that scene with Vader on the Rebel ship... just awesome.

[eMeM]

I don't like how they handled Tantive recieving the plans. So Leia is trying to pull off the "diplomatic mission" BS after taking part in a battle and Vader doesn't call her out? And when she got the plans she first jumped to Tatooine?

[Anacronian]

Well, she jumped to Tatooine to get Ben Kenobi per Bail Organa's instructions - they do address this in the film.

And with most of the Rebel forces wiped out and a Star Destroyer at her tail it's not like she had any choices really.

Also, Vader does call her out on the lie - "You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor".

[Ace Pace]

Well, she jumped to Tatooine to get Ben Kenobi per Bail Organa's instructions - they do address this in the film.

And with most of the Rebel forces wiped out and a Star Destroyer at her tail it's not like she had any choices really.

Also, Vader does call her out on the lie - "You are part of the rebel alliance and a traitor".

This is kinda shitting all over the opening of A New Hope. She didn't intercept a transmission and it makes no sense she was just sitting there part of the battle without being active while being a diplomat. Feels like something here got cut.

[atg]

Oh that Leia CGI at the end gotta be some of the worst I have seen in a long time - Half the movie theater burst out laughing when she(it) came on screen. :p

The Tarkin CGI also has problems - Fluctuating between Good/Uncanny Wally/bad all the time, Though whoever did the Tarkin voice did an awesome job.

Did you see it 2d or 3d? I've been hearing that on the 2d version it looks fine (this is what I saw and I though it was no problem) but the 3d version has issues.

[Anacronian]

Oh that Leia CGI at the end gotta be some of the worst I have seen in a long time - Half the movie theater burst out laughing when she(it) came on screen. :p

The Tarkin CGI also has problems - Fluctuating between Good/Uncanny Wally/bad all the time, Though whoever did the Tarkin voice did an awesome job.

Did you see it 2d or 3d? I've been hearing that on the 2d version it looks fine (this is what I saw and I though it was no problem) but the 3d version has issues.

I saw it in 3D so that might be it.

[Raesene]

Saw it, loved it.

Much better than TFA, the movie was everything I expected and then some more.

I did miss the main theme at the start, that fanfare is - for me- the time the door to the galaxy far, far away opens. The soundtrack itself is good and fitting.

The first third of the movie was a bit... jumpy, with all the planethopping but as mentioned served to introduce the characters. Second and third part flowed more smoothly.

Mentioning the dark side of the Rebellion too was long overdue, and I enjoyed the little eastereggs.

Battle scenes were great, although I dislike the pushy hammerhead corvette. Also, the two star destroyers on station seemed to have forgotten they have guns (or did I miss them shooting ? I can only remember them sitting there and look menacing), only Vader's presence onboard the Devastator kept that crew from developing that kind of amnesia. But that ship lighting up the rebels was very nice to see - finally.

Regarding the discrepancy to 'intercepting a transmission'; I felt the Tantive looked a bit different than in ANH, so maybe the ship that left the rebel flag cruiser (a nice one) after it was disabled wasn't meant to be the Tantive at first.


Overall, Rogue One is a worthy addition to the saga. If they keep that quality, I might even like the Boba Fett movie tentatively planned for 2021.

[Anacronian]

One of the Star Destroyers (the one that got pushed) got disabled by a Y-wing attack run and the general bombardment - You would think that some day the Empire would know to keep some distance between their giant ships :p

And yeah the music was a disappointment - I found it pushy and pretty much sounding like every other film these days.

[ray245]

And to think that some Star Wars fans were hyping Giacchino to be the next John Williams.

[eMeM]

The destroyers were definitelly exchanging fire, I recall a closeup showing the flaw in the wedge shape famous for being "optimal for frontal engagements", aka 3/4 of the main guns being obstructed when the enemies are in front of you

Later on one of them got hit by the ion torpedoes and went silent.

[Lord Revan]

The destroyers were definitelly exchanging fire, I recall a closeup showing the flaw in the wedge shape famous for being "optimal for frontal engagements", aka 3/4 of the main guns being obstructed when the enemies are in front of you

Later on one of them got hit by the ion torpedoes and went silent.

pretty sure the orginal filming model of the ISD1 had staggered main guns so they could fire above the guns in front so unless that was changed it should still be there.

[NecronLord]

The guns are mounted in a sort of embrasure that meant they could not rotate forward without elevating. I'm peristantly baffled that people claim ISDs are all-gun-forward craft.

Link

[Zinegata]

As I noted in the other thread, I liked it.

The first act of the movie felt like it was the one most affected by the re-shoots, which is why it had the most visible pacing issues. It basically used none of the material in the original trailer. My sense is that Disney got worried that Jyn's characterization in the original trailer - where she is so rebellious/extremist that she excuses herself to the leaders of the rebellion with that infamous "I rebel" line - that they decided to make her more of a disaffected girl looking for her father (the extremist rebel portions were then handed off to Cassian and Gerera instead). That's why she seems so all over the place despite Felicity Jones trying really hard to sell the whole thing.

It all gels together by the third act however, and you really get a sense of what the movie is about when Cassian greets Jyn with a crew who essentially want to follow her on a suicide mission because they've done horrible things in the name of the Rebellion and want those actions to actually mean something.

There's a bit of goofiness - the corvette being the obvious one - but I have to say that I felt this was the best single battle in the whole Star Wars series - with battle being defined as mass combat instead of just Jedi dueling. You've got ground combat, you've got fighter combat (in air and space), you've got capital ship combat - and there actually interactions with these different elements. X-wings are flying in to take out AT-ATs for the ground troops, for instance, while the capital ships are really fighting on a clock while waiting for the plans to be transmitted. There were probably some re-shoots that happened here as well - Jyn doesn't end up running on a beach charging an AT-AT like in the original trailer - but on the whole it actually works and people could more or less talk about the individual portions of the battle and how it all came together without too many glaring holes or issues.

Finally, I really liked that they had to guts to actually kill off the cast for this one, and they did it in a way that didn't turn it into a downer movie. It "clicks" when K-2SO dies that none of them are going to survive, and you can steel yourself over the next couple of minutes to start saying goodbye. The Vader fight scene even basically sums up the whole third act: You've got a bunch of no-name Rebel mooks facing impossible odds. They fight anyway so that the Rebellion has a chance to win in the end. That the movie confidently assumes that we -the audience - already know that the Rebels are going to destroy the Death Star turns what should have been a very downer ending to a bittersweet one.

[Vympel]

The guns are mounted in a sort of embrasure that meant they could not rotate forward without elevating. I'm peristantly baffled that people claim ISDs are all-gun-forward craft.

Link

That only applies to ISD2s. The ISD1 turrets can face forward, and we see one facing forward in the film in a close-up shot.

Anyway - I loved this movie. Such a love letter to Star Wars fans.

[Gandalf]

Well that was an exercise in tedium. I couldn't bring myself to care for any of the characters, so by the end I was just bored.

[eMeM]

The destroyers were definitelly exchanging fire, I recall a closeup showing the flaw in the wedge shape famous for being "optimal for frontal engagements", aka 3/4 of the main guns being obstructed when the enemies are in front of you

Later on one of them got hit by the ion torpedoes and went silent.

pretty sure the orginal filming model of the ISD1 had staggered main guns so they could fire above the guns in front so unless that was changed it should still be there.

I don't think the original turrets could even rotate to face the front. Like not a single one of them, no matter where the barrels were pointed. Found this picture on the interwebs, it looks like they redesigned the turrets a bit:

[Adam Reynolds]

That was certainly enjoyable. I liked the overall mood of the film, in which everyone died but gave the next set of characters a chance that they could then succeed. This is probably the most optimistic film I have ever seen in which all of the heroes die.

I especially liked the scene in which the Rebels were being killed by Vader. Even as Vader killed each set of troopers, they were able to pass the plans to the next set.

A random amusing bit is that one of the Senators actually predicted what would happen at Endor, that it was a trap to convince the entire Rebel fleet to assemble so that it could be destroyed.

Another random question is about just how powerful the Death Star was firing at when it was used here? The level of damage seemed to be on par with what turbolasers should be able to do.

There were two things that struck me initially as plot holes with respect to ANH. The first is that Vader claimed that transmissions were beamed to Leia's ship by Rebel spies. They were actually handed over on a physical disk. The second element was the size of the Rebel fleet. Why were Tarkin and Vader worried about the Rebel base when they actually had a proper fleet? Even if most of that was destroyed here, it is still odd that they were concerned about a mere fighter base when the Rebel Alliance also had major capital ships of their own, some of which escaped.

I couldn't quite tell which Rebel ships jumped to FTL just before Vader appeared, I wonder if the Ghost was among them?

Also, I wound have to agree about the uncanny valley with Leia and Tarkin, even with the relatively small roles they had. I saw it on XD, and that might have been the problem. The next time I watch it will likely be a normal theater, so I will have to compare the two. Though in Tarkin's case, it actually added to the villainous nature of the character.

I probably have a few other random comments later on more random things, but I am currently too tired to think of them.

[eMeM]

.
Another random question is about just how powerful the Death Star was firing at when it was used here? The level of damage seemed to be on par with what turbolasers should be able to do.

"One reactor".

[Kojiro]

Just saw it. Really liked it overall. Definitely not perfect but I can see myself picking this up on Blu-ray when it becomes available (as opposed to TFA).

Did anyone else notice that they were calling for Admiral Syndulla over the PA on Yavin 4?

More later when I have a chance.

[Mlenk]

These are obviously just my first impressions and I'm gonna watch it probably another couple times in the theater but I still can't believe how good this movie is, plot holes and technical nitpicking notwithstanding. I will actually buy this movie on Blu-Ray and no, I didn't buy TFA. This is what TFA should have been.

Also, I think this movie had the best battles scenes by far of any Star Wars movie. The space and ground combat mixed and gelled together along with the final few minutes of Vader leading a boarding party and kicking ass to create a hugely entertaining and satisfying final act to the movie.

[Ultonius]

While the plans weren't transmitted directly to the Tantive IV, they were transmitted to the Rebel fleet from the surface by Rogue One, so presumably that's what Vader meant in ANH when he said 'those transmissions you intercepted'. As for the 'diplomatic mission' claim, I assumed that Antilles was trying to pass off the Tantive IV as a different ship than the one Vader witnessed escaping, possibly by using a fake transponder or something similar.

[Lord Revan]

While the plans weren't transmitted directly to the Tantive IV, they were transmitted to the Rebel fleet from the surface by Rogue One, so presumably that's what Vader meant in ANH when he said 'those transmissions you intercepted'. As for the 'diplomatic mission' claim, I assumed that Antilles was trying to pass off the Tantive IV as a different ship than the one Vader witnessed escaping, possibly by using a fake transponder or something similar.

I'd find it more likely that Tantive IV was using a fake transponder in the battle.

IIRC Tantive IV is known to be the personal transport of the alderaanian royal family so, but if the corvette in battle had the transponder code for ship called "Aldreraanian Dream"(for example) that wouldn't be linked to leadership of Alderaan (unless it was a known alias for Tantive IV), while Tantive IV would automatically linked to the Alderaanian leadership.