Star Wars: Rogue One *spoilers from post 1195*

johnny_ultimate

When you have Ben Mendelsohn and Mads Mikkelsen in your cast, choosing one to be your 'villain' would surely be a difficult choice. More so than most actors of their generation, both have made their name playing unhinged psychopaths.

Both are clearly talented performers who don't deserve typecasting. Though I would defend the Mikkelsen casting in this one. One of his more underappreciated abilities is that he can be quite brilliant at playing the stoic, indecipherable character. Even if there's a hint of menace there, he can hide it well - and I think it's that very tricksy nature that defines IMO his best performance in The Hunt. You just don't quite know what to think of him when a script allows for some emotional ambiguity. Which, in a sense, suits his character here - a certain coldness that allows him to assist the unthinkable, or pull a fast one while carefully deceiving others. There's a twitchiness to Mendelsohn that means he wouldn't be as suited to such a role - although I'm sure he could adapt.

Of course, I think what ultimately lets the performances is down is neither have a whole lot to work with, but they do well enough with what they have. But given the material and the two actors, Edwards and co probably made the right decision casting the way they did.

Tony EH

I thought that Mendehslon was great in his role. He was menacing, without being a stupid cliche. He felt real, even though he was a character in an entirely fictional universe.

He fitted in very well with the depiction of the Empire officers portrayed in the original 'Star Wars'.

Riddle101

Saw Rogue One today and I thought it was a good movie. Liked the little cameos and nods to the original movies, and enjoyed the final battle too. It's not without it's flaws though. I thought it had some pretty slow pacing in the beginning, and the characters weren't explored as much as I would have hoped. I would have liked some interaction scenes between the characters to flesh out the camaraderie between them and add that feeling of trust and friendship between them, but I guess the filmmakers decided it wasn't necessary seen as how they all died in the end anyway. Either way I'm glad I went to see it and just love how it ties in with A New Hope.

Loved the ending with Darth Vader. If you ever wanted a more badass scene for one of the most iconic characters in Star Wars, hell maybe in movie history, that was certainly the way to do it. The Leia cameo was also pretty nice too, but it felt a little bittersweet for me seeing as how she passed away only days ago. Of course let's not forget Peter Cushing brought back from the dead too. I thought Grand Moff Tarkin was used very well for the movie. Apparently he had more screen time in this movie then he did in A New Hope.

ads20101

Watched it twice now (even better the second time)

Brilliant story - right up there with Empire

Can't wait for VIII

pixelburp

I quite liked Mendelsohn's character, he had a dry, shoulder-shrugging malevolence that was a nice change from the usual snarling British-Nazis-in-Space that you get with officers in the Empire. Krennic felt like the kind of man I'd well believe populated the Empire's officer class: ambitious & nasty in a petty sort of way, but lacking the nous or absolute evil that those at the top would possess.

Doctor DooM

pixelburp wrote: »

I quite liked Mendelsohn's character, he had a dry, shoulder-shrugging malevolence that was a nice change from the usual snarling British-Nazis-in-Space that you get with officers in the Empire. Krennic felt like the kind of man I'd well believe populated the Empire's officer class: ambitious & nasty in a petty sort of way, but lacking the nous or absolute evil that those at the top would possess.

Yeah I really liked that too. I loved the moment this character which had been making life a misery for the entire cast runs up against a truly competent absolute bastard in the form of Vader he's basically a minor blip on his radar and an irritant.

As a small aside: if you were Vader, would you plop your house down on a lava planet? Wouldn't you do every thing possible to never see another bit of lava again?

david75

Somebody on one of the podcasts who's seen R1 loads made a great point about people/superfans not buying Tarkin and having problems with the mouth. The problem isn't the movement of the mouth the problem is the voice, while sounding 200% like him, is too robust and forceful so that it doesn't match the movement of the mouth as well as it could.

I'm on board with that.

david75

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Yeah I really liked that too. I loved the moment this character which had been making life a misery for the entire cast runs up against a truly competent absolute bastard in the form of Vader he's basically a minor blip on his radar and an irritant.

As a small aside: if you were Vader, would you plop your house down on a lava planet? Wouldn't you do every thing possible to never see another bit of lava again?

On Vader choosing Mustafar it makes perfect sense if you're a Sith. A source of their power is self loathing and self hatred and I'm sure regret. That's where he killed his only love and he was born (reborn) as Vader.
Plus from the art book of rogue one it looks like it was a Sith temple. There's Sith runes and art on the walls and presumably Sith artefacts there.

And we don't know the emperor told him to live there but it likely he chose it. Which is awesome.

Falthyron

david75 wrote: »

On Vader choosing Mustafar it makes perfect sense if you're a Sith. A source of their power is self loathing and self hatred and I'm sure regret. That's where he killed his only love and he was born (reborn) as Vader.
Plus from the art book of rogue one it looks like it was a Sith temple. There's Sith runes and art on the walls and presumably Sith artefacts there.

And we don't know the emperor told him to live there but it likely he chose it. Which is awesome.

And, of course, there's no sand there.

david75

Falthyron wrote: »

And, of course, there's no sand there.

I laughed out loud:) brilliant:)
It is almost exactly the original concept art mcquarrie painted for the original trilogy. They even built models of it for empire but it never made it past that stage the castle was part of George's original concept for Vader though so it's cool to see it make it at last.

He has to live somewhere.

mohawk

People seem to be expecting an awful lot from these new movies. People get into Star Wars as kids. The movies aren't going to get any darker or more complex as they want kids in the cinema.
My son watches it for lightsabre duels and the space ships. Disney make a ton of money from merchandising. If kids like Star Wars then parents end up spending money on Star Wars toys and clothes.

I enjoyed Rogue 1 but my son LOVED it. Although he preferred EP VII. He got money from relatives for Christmas and is planning on buying Star Wars Lego.

The score wasn't right and that would be my biggest criticism.

J Mysterio

Falthyron wrote: »

And, of course, there's no sand there.

Bahaha!

Drumpot

Went to it for the third time. It's a top notch Star Wars entry. So much to enjoy, much that's been written already.

Most of the "negative" aspects are minor to insignificant as far as I am concerned.

My boys loved it and asked to go again. They enjoyed it more then TFA which was their first real Star Wars experience that they loved.

david75

It's great to see younger kids loving it.

I had a thought yesterday.

That Yoda seagulls video would probably do more to get kids of all ages and adults into Star Wars than anything.

I've watched it about twenty times and I'm still laughing. It's genius.

Drumpot

david75 wrote: »

It's great to see younger kids loving it.

I had a thought yesterday.

That Yoda seagulls video would probably do more to get kids of all ages and adults into Star Wars than anything.

I've watched it about twenty times and I'm still laughing. It's genius.

The lads love that video aswell

kirk buttercup

Saw it yesterday with three kids we all loved it. I like what Disney are doing with star wars.

Wheeliebin30

Are most of the films gonna have a female as the centre character?

ads20101

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Are most of the films gonna have a female as the centre character?

Seems to be working out ok so far.

Osmosis Jones

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Are most of the films gonna have a female as the centre character?

The Han Solo one probably won't.

kirk buttercup

Osmosis Jones wrote:

The Han Solo one probably won't.

Or if they do Obi wan movie it probably wont

SnakePlissken

ads20101 wrote: »

Brilliant story - right up there with Empire

Ah here...

PhiloCypher

kirk buttercup wrote: »

Or if they do Obi wan movie it probably wont

Or if they do that Boba Fett movie that's been mooted.

Ben Gadot

I found it to be good with a very strong ending.

The acting from Mikkelson and Mendelsohn was fine for me, I just would have liked to see more of the former. As others have said Krennic is what I imagined that the Empire was full of.

Not sure about Whittaker's acting on the other hand. Luna didn't quite carry the character for me either.

The warrior influenced by the force and his partner did give me the impression of there being something more going on there, and can see others have speculated about it online. But it's typical of Hollywood that in such a mainstream film that all they can do is muster such speculation rather than state it as fact.

Synode

Seen it twice now (2D and 3D) and really enjoyed it, far more than TFA. Kids loved it too

J Mysterio

I dont get the comparisons to TFA. Theres is no comparison really. I enjoyed R1 but TFA is far superior.

Synode

J Mysterio wrote: »

I dont get the comparisons to TFA. Theres is no comparison really. I enjoyed R1 but TFA is far superior.

TFA was too samey for me. They just re-hashed a number of the plots from earlier films. It could and should have been much better.

Ben Gadot

The ending alone puts it above TFA for me but I guess that's the advantage of being a standalone and not having other interests to worry about such as a direct sequel.

TFA did what it was supposed to do and deserves major props for that alone. I'll be harder on the sequel.

FunLover18

TFA made the effort to establish characters, possibly because the makers knew the audiences would be spending at least two more films to spend with them.

R1 had a story to tell and it seems to me that because the characters were never going to make it, their development became perfunctory and more importance was placed on tie-ins with ANH.

In TFA, the characters drove the story (the quality and originality of which is a different discussion) whereas in R1 the characters dropped in and out of the film like passengers on the film's designated route.

Ben Gadot

Aye some of the characters such as Riz Ahmed's didn't really get the time deserved but in Rogue One's case the story drove things. Even though we didn't get the time we should of on the characters it was still wrenching to see it unfold for what it was: a kamikaze mission.

Not many mainstream films can claim to have logic in its storytelling but R1 told the only story it could tell, and I have immense respect for that.

As I said though I fully expect TFAs sequel to build on that. On a side note I find it hard to give the film grief based on flimsy character development when Oscar Issac's character in TFA was a non entity yet they still expected us to buy his bromance with Finn.

Tony EH

FunLover18 wrote: »

TFA made the effort to establish characters, possibly because the makers knew the audiences would be spending at least two more films to spend with them.

How exactly did 'The Force Awakens' "establish" its characters?

Rey HAS no character, other than being an abandoned orphan who can do everything from scavenging to Jedi mind tricks while maintaining a jolly hockysticks pep.

Finn is a 20 year stormtrooper veteran who, literally, decides on a whim that it's no longer for him any more and Jar Jar's his way through the rest of the film.

And Poe has nothing, literally nothing.

Every other character we know already, because they were already in the other films.

The level of nit picking on this film is borderline Aspergers. :pac: