I enjoyed this movie. It was a worthy prequel to the original trilogy (unlike the prequel trilogy, to which I'm glad the connections in this film were few and far between). The new cast of characters made it feel fresh, and I really like how (SPOILER ALERT) everybody died at the end, something that few movies have been able to pull off successfully. I don't think Vader was truly necessary, but I do really like the way he was used, as it did still seem like Krennic was the main villain. If anything, he actually was a bit necessary to improve the film's box office success.
My main issue with the movie is that, as others have said, the first half or so was pretty slow and a tad boring at times. The final act was brilliant though, and I have no real problems with the movie besides that.
Rogue One is a worthy Star Wars movie. Unlike FA I will be remembering why I was having so much fun in the theater. I will remember Rogue One because it was fun and entertaining.
My only gripe is that the characters were all so plain. Bits of dialog were okay but somebody failed to put some pep into this script's step. The story and the adventure itself is good. The absolute best thing this movie did outside of the BALLS AWESOME space battle (best in series!) is to paint the rebellion in a darker more sinister light. I've been saying this ever since FA was really a thing, that it would be interesting to show the rebellion as having questionable virtues. There is no military rebellion is history that has never been morally ambiguous at best and hardly any social rebellions at that. So I am glad that they decided to go with exploring the dark side of the rebellion against the empire.
The Dirty Dozen thing is a brilliant method. And I LOVE that they had the balls to wholesale murder every one of our plucky heroes to save the day. This works well for when audiences already know how the story is going to end.
To say that the tie in to A New Hope is the most elegant and graceful in the series is an insult to Rogue One. This feels to me like an essential story that needed to be told, not just an awkward plug-in Disnich pinched out for a few extra bucks. And they kept the call-backs and fan service to a minimum, which is appreciated. I almost felt the movie achieve self awareness when the droid started to say "Here we go ag-" and the other two with him told him to shut up XD
Did I mention I freaking LOVE x-wings? I freaking LOVE x-wings, and this has got to be the best space battle in Star Wars. I can't say for sure that it surpasses the original death star run, but it was better than Jedi. I always came for the space battles in Star Wars and I've always said the series needs more of them. So, here we go. Pleased as punch am I ^_^
Did anyone notice Biggs and Red Leader?
Yeah, that was cool.
Also, elegant use of
Vader had me pleased. Seeing him go saber-happy on poor hapless rebel scum was oh so satisfying!
It kicked ass. They did a great job of paying attention to little details and keeping it consistent with the original Trilogy while implementing ideas you wouldn't really expect.
I'll preface everything I'm about to say with this:
I'm a life-long Star Wars Expanded Universe fan. When Disney nuked my canon in 2014, it hurt like a mother****er, and it still hurts. You can then probably guess that I'm not overtly keen on seeing these new movies. The Force Awakens was a disaster and I have very little faith left in Disney-owned Lucasfilm's ability to deliver a great Star Wars movie.
That said, Rogue One is a film that I actually like.
There are problems that are a bit too severe for me to get over, such as the lack of characterisation and the emotional disconnect between the film and its audience.
The scenes with the Empire were my favourites. They nailed Tarkin, and the CG looks great on him. He was easily the best part of the film. Also I'm a big fan of the heated, vitriolic rivalry between Krennic and the Moff.
I didn't quite understand Jyn Erso's role. She didn't really do much and her role felt somewhat redundant. I feel like Cassian could have easily filled in her part and nothing of value would have been lost.
Speaking of Cassian Andor, I'm really saddened by his ultimate fate in the movie. I think he had wonderful potential for character growth and I really feel they wasted great storytelling opportunities. Also, he's ungodly cute. He has beautiful puppy dog eyes. I mean, I just literally cannot even... :rno:
Last, but not least, I got really fired up about the fact that they gave Darth Vader a badass Dark Horse-comics-style slaughter sequence. They utilized Vader perfectly in this movie. Hats off to them for that.
Still think this was the best Vader scene in any Star Wars movie so far. Nothing else really portrayed him as the unstoppable force of nature like that.
I totally agree. And that pun halfway through the movie was excellent.
I kinda thought that the pilot was just kinda there the entire movie. He didn't do much, and I would've liked to see him potentially get in an X-Wing and fight or something
