Rogue One - A Star Wars Story

[LoweGear]

So I just saw Rogue One in theaters.... why, oh why is this movie SO MUCH BETTER than Episode 7? It's fresh (well, as Star Wars go), and despite the fact that no planets were totally destroyed it feels a whole lot more epic than Episode 7 ever did.

To me, the ultimate fate of most of the characters wasn't much of a problem, mainly because the film actually has that feel of being a war film, where the larger picture and the action take precedent over the characters, and as far as the action goes it blows everything Episode 7 did out of the water. THIS is what I expected out of Episode 7, instead of the quite constipated film we got in the main story.

And yes, Darth Vader proves why he's badass, and I'm glad the film does him justice in spades.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Spoiler for Overall Thoughts:

I really don't have a problem with the main cast dying. Don't feel that has any impact in terms of emotional connection. I still gave a damn playing Crisis Core and knowing how tragic that was going to end, just because you know or believe people won't make it doesn't mean their deaths are without meaning or lacking.

And really it both shows the power of the Empire and the courage of the Rebels. These people sacrificed their lives to do the right thing. That weapon is so horrible that it had to be stopped no matter the sacrifice. And really there was no real choice. Either they took this chance and risked their lives or they rolled over and gave up.

And frankly the last few minutes of that movie was pure joy. There are no words for how it felt to see all those rebels looking into the dark, having Vader appear and the light saber igniting. This showed the utter terror that was Vader. The horror, the desperation, and in the end....they all died. Instead of just having Vader kick back, he took care of business. Beautifully done.

This whole thing just showed beautifully that while the Rebels could launch small strikes...an outright and open war with the Empire would be a massacre. Even without a Death Star being in the equation. But it was great to see them doing everything they could. Some massive sacrifices made for the sake of securing a future.

I really enjoyed it.

Honestly...I don't see a problem with these changes. I get being attached to what was previously established, but it makes no sense. The Empire is evil, not stupid. Why would the Emperor, Vader, or anyone else fail to take advantage of massive parts of their own Empire? This is a man who defeated the Jedi, destroyed the Republic, and created an terrifying Empire. Why the heck is he discriminating based on gender or species? That just makes no sense. His own Master wasn't even human. Going to have a hard time controlling an entire empire without clones, and then without women, and then without non-humans. So basically they are trying to control everything with a micro fraction of the population.

It's just about efficiency. They can be pretty darn evil without random sexism and being xenophobic. Some things simply make more sense to change than being chained down by the old EU.

What does he care about efficiency? It's not like he has another empire to compete against. What he has is a population to keep under control, and it's easier if they have a clearly marked subset of the population to feel superior to and blame when things go wrong. (Though it's probably overkill to oppress both women and non-humans. The latter would do well enough.)

[Ithekro]

It is easier to have the Empire be against various non-humans due to the Clone Wars and the large number of non-human systems that joined the Separatists. While there were also human populations that joined, the majority of human systems seemed to have stayed loyal to the Republic and the Grand Army of the Republic was made up of human based clones, with a lot of human military officers slowly taking over for the Jedi, especially in the Navy.

If you add the "Jedi Coup" against Chancellor Palpatine and the idea that Imperial propaganda fueled that it was the Jedi who caused the war in the first place, and a lot of Jedi also being non-human, this drives the large human populations even more against non-humans and the Empire gets some nice scapegoats.

The anti-women part of the Empire seems to have been turned around with the inclusion of more female leaders, stormtroopers (rare but there), TIE pilots, and the like. We still see a majority of the Imperial forces as male, but that could be just a reflection on ourselves or a leftover from the clone army being all male since it was made up of clones of one guy.

The Empire doesn't treat its human populations much better than anyone else outside the Core World and Expansion Region is seems. Though that might have to do with those areas having been Separatist held or outside the Republic prior to the Clone Wars (former parts of Hutt Space or even farther back outlying sectors that were old Sith Empire planets that the Republic didn't absorb, or one of dozens of uncharted settlements around the galaxy, or simple expansion into the Unknown Region that the Empire caught up with following the Clone Wars.

[Maxulous]

Rogue One's third act was close to perfect. Clunky characters and dialogue but fantastic set pieces, CG and music. Very imposing use of the empire.

The funny robot and high Chinese guy could have been toned down a tad. Whitaker and Mikkleson were somewhat wasted.

Most of all I'm glad they took chances with SW. I hope it carries through.

[AnimeFan188]

The Major (and Most Messed-Up) Revelations From
the Official Rogue One Guidebook:

"Thought you knew all the Star Wars secrets of Rogue One? Think again. The recently
released Rogue One: The Utimate Visual Guide, written by Lucasfilm Story Group
executive and master of canon Pablo Hidalgo, includes a ton of new facts about the Star
Wars universe—some cool, some surprising, and some completely messed up.

Much as we did for The Force Awakens, we mined the guidebook for all the facts and
secrets that didn’t make it on screen... or the prequel novel... or anywhere else.
Remember, this is all 100 percent canon. One note, though: Once you discover “The
Decraniated,” Star Wars might never look exactly the same again."

See:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-major-and...off-1790711310

[MrTerrorist]

To be honest, i didn't realize Tarkin in Rogue One was CG and thought it was an actor who resembled his late actor. As for Leia, i knew it was some actress who was given special effects to resemble young Carrie Fisher like how Chris Evans was made to look as skinny pre-serum Steve Rogers.

[B214]

Seeing stuff like this makes me wonder how much can the CG evolve in few more years.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by B214

Seeing stuff like this makes me wonder how much can the CG evolve in few more years.

They basically reached photorealisim. The issue now is trying to imitate not just the FACE, but the acting.

The difficulty is trying to have the cgi act like the original person would. This is why it is easier to just have Michael Douglas play his younger self in Antman, because it is the same guy with the same acting skills.

[OH&S]

RedLetterMedia's new podcast on Rogue One, served with a large spoonful of sarcasm.

YouTube

https://youtu.be/sExTt4j69zI

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Magin]

Now I can check Rogue One off my list... and overall, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it, to be totally honest. I rate it ever-so-slightly above TFA, yes at the same time, it was missing just a few key pieces that gave it the complete feel of Star Wars... though these might be obvious reasons

Spoiler for Rogue One:

On the bright side of things... well, much of the major cast was fun, though I think K-2SO was probably one of my favorite parts, reminding me a lot of the robot in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the books, mind you... NOT the movie). As for Jyn and Cassian... well, it felt more like they were partners, if if we're even going to go anywheres near the feminism outcry, it was done like in Mad Max: Fury Road. I.e. they both had very significant parts to play that had nothing to do with trying to rescue one another (okay, I suppose that the antenna scene is semi-debatable). And Chirrut (I assume that's the blind guy's name), I swear had to be at least force sensitive, though certainly far from anything like a Jedi. And of course, the Epic Space Battle with all the rebel ships and TIE fighters.

Now, fi I'm going to be totally honest, I kept search for the "why" of this movie- in other words, something relevant to the overall story instead of just being a Cash Cow. Because in Episode IV, we're told that the rebels captured the plans and found a weakness in the Death Star. This explanation has stood for 40 years, even with people questioning "why the hell was there a flaw in the Death Star?" I guess that that was the REAL plot point of this movie- why there is a flaw in the design.

Now, for the movie flaws. On one hand, you have a lot of what makes Star wars, Star Wars. Traveling to various planets, laser blasters, storm troopers, space battles, many species of life... but it was missing the part that has always been my favorite: Lightsaber battles. No, Vader's slaughter doesn't count, because I'm talking Jedi vs. Sith battles. Obviously, this movie couldn't have that kind of action, and was a big part of why I held off for so long. Plus, the ending felt rushed... I know that this was supposed to be a darker story, and that was accomplished. Only problem is, for me, it ended with an Empire Strikes back type of feeling, with only Leia's line at the end to bring it a step above ESB. And I'm probably one of the few people who actually dislikes ESB (whereas everyone else I know seems to say it was the best of the OT).

[Ithekro]

Well one can go straight from watching Rogue One and follow up with A New Hope and it feel like a bigger story together. That might have be the plan. Star Wars started in medias res. Now we have the thing that was happening before that.

[LoweGear]

Rogue One is pretty much a movie that while not important to Star Wars as a whole, once you watch it it just makes the entire Star Wars experience with Episode 4 feel more... complete and fleshed out. It really just expands on the words of Episode 4's opening crawl and shows the story behind it.

Originally Posted by Episode 4 Opening Crawl

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

I like those kinds of stories that expand a setting's world in general, and while Star Wars has had that with all of the EU's, this is the first time it's done so in movie form (and part of the reason I didn't like TFA as much because it felt like retreading the same old beats). Besides, the war movie-like presentation of the film is rather adequate for what it's trying to portray, and works on a meta level simply because it assumes people know about the overarching story the film is set in - just like how you already know that *gasp spoilers* Nazi Germany lost and the Allies won in WW2, and yet we still watch war movies set in the time period because we want to know the different stories that happen in that war.

Also, I actually like the lack of the usual lightsaber battle - it makes sense for the movie's plot and focus, which makes the one lightsaber scene we do get in the movie a lot more impactful without looking shoehorned in.

[Ithekro]

They did say six months to a year ago that the lack of Jedi being around would be dreadfully felt in this film. The one movie were it is the normal people (mostly) that have to deal with the evils of the galaxy and hope to win against it without the old guardians of peace of justice. And it shows why the galaxy needed those guardians of peace and justice, even if all that was left was a single farmboy who could use the Force. That much Hope was enough for the Rebellion.

[sunset]

I gotta be honest, CG Tarkin and Leia took me out of the scenes entirely, I can't understand why they couldn't go the Mom Mothma route with him and the Red Leader/Gold Leader angle with Leia.
Lucas must have filmed dozens of hours of 19 years old Leia, couldn't they repurpose some footage for those mere 3 seconds we see her face?

Good movie, enjoyable, I was really rooting for the pilot Bhody.
Poor Blue Squadron and blue calamari...

[Ithekro]

Saw the film again and experienced something I've not experienced in a while.

Clapping and cheering at the end of the film. An ovation I suppose.