Rogue One Review [Will contain spoilers]

slave1

Well now that it's out there time to review....

I really enjoyed it, the droid was very good and the cringy lines were few enough for me to accept.
Acting was excellent and loved the gritty feel, the end battle amongst the palms on the beaches felt very much like a gaming experience.
CGI on Tarkin and Leia acceptable, thought Leia's eyes were off but nit picking

TIE Fighters, check
AT-ATs, check

Sold on me anyhow, certainly not the worst SW movie for sure and well looking forward to reviewing on BluRay in March/April

Stab*City

Ok, well i give it a rating first ill go for 8-10. HUGE SPOILER BELOW!!!!!! WATCH OUT SPOILERS BELOW!!!

Once i got over the fact that it wasn't really a SW movie as such and through the first 45 mins of dialog then it started to pick up.

Loved Jyn, Krenic, K2-SO
Hated No Opening Credits and Theme.

TerrorFirmer

Thought it was excellent once it got over the hump that was a sketchy enough first 45 minutes. The action is superb and very original in a way that The Force Awakens was not. Whitaker was the standout flop in the film for me, I just hated his screen presence - didn't really buy into the blind guy either, but small quibbles really.

The final 10 minutes were some of the most powerful in any Star Wars film and how it all just slots into A New Hope is excellent and complements the film wonderfully.

Overall, characters not quite as developed or compelling as The Force Awakens but the action is much better and the Imperial side of it is both handled and acted way better than the ham-fest that is the New Order in TFA. The nostalgia factor is also off the charts in a very positive way.

Probably my favorite Star Wars film after Empire and A New Hope. Really, really good.

Mickalus

CGI Tarkin and Leia was very obviously CGI, and the biggest nit pick I have for the movie. It just wasn't natural enough.

The other thing was Leia's ship being 'on board' or docked in the flagship all along during the battle. If her ship had popped in to the system to get a beam of the plans and then hopped away again it would have been perfect. The Visual of Vader glaring down at the ship as it escapes is nice and all, and ties nicely in with ANH, but why didn't they hop away before then? Surely there's high value leaders on board that need to escape?

Also didn't like how Saw Guerrera (Forrest Whitaker) gave up and just died. If he had tried to run and couldn't cos of his half droid body that would have been better

9/10 for me. Absolutely Loved it.

Goodshape

Mickalus wrote: »

Vader glaring down at the ship as it escapes is nice and all, and ties nicely in with ANH, but why didn't they hop away before then?

Did it tie in nicely? I think Vader and Leia's first interaction in ANH makes less sense as a result.

"We are on a diplomatic mission"

 – um, he literally just saw your ship detach from the rebel flagship and leave the scene of a massive battle. Who are you trying to kid?


Thought the film was alright anyway. I expected something a bit more fun though. And the nods, winks, and CGI humans were a big distraction throughout.

Legionn_of_Dan

As you say, a few issues, but overwhelmingly positive for me. That Vader scene at the end was just so brutal and terrifying (for the rebels) It looked amazing. The action, acting and comedy were great.

What I really really loved though were all the little tie ins and easter eggs. The ghost from Rebels seen once or twice, 'General Syndulla mentioned in the background and even Red and Gold leader, the original pilots from A New Hope who led the attack on the Death Star were remastered just like Tarkin and Leia.

A friend pointed out how they focused on the X-wing pilot Red Five being destroyed and how that opens the spot for Luke a few days later.

Though the Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba scene on Jedha was a bit on the nose for me.

Saw Guerrera was the weakest link for me.

Goodshape

Legionn_of_Dan wrote: »

What I really really loved though were all the little tie ins and easter eggs.

Horses for courses I suppose. That stuff really detracted from the experience for me. Too many places and faces popping up for no reason other than an obvious nod-to-camera.


Also I thought Saw Gerrera was good. Haven't watched Rebels so this is the first I'd seen of him.

Mickalus

Goodshape wrote: »

Did it tie in nicely? I think Vader and Leia's first interaction in ANH makes less sense as a result.

"We are on a diplomatic mission"

 – um, he literally just saw your ship detach from the rebel flagship and leave the scene of a massive battle. Who are you trying to kid?

The visual of Leia's ship detaching is the same as when it gets sucked up by Vader's at the start of a New Hope:


But we're on the same page there. I didn't like that so much. Nice visual tie in, but not the best story wise.

Talisman

I've watched it three times since Friday - Absolutely love it. For me it's in the top three Star Wars movie along with Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope - It certainly raises the bar for the movies that follow.

I was so glad that I had read Catalyst beforehand as there was no guess work as to what the story line for the first part was about. My son hadn't read the book so I spent 20 minutes filling him in on the back story. An open crawl wouldn't have been able to do it justice.

It was good to see what became of Saw Gerrera after the events of Catalyst. His campaign against Tarkin's imperial forces took a heavy toll on him physically. His body was broken and I guess Jyn's return to the fold was what helped him to finally accept his end, she had after all been his best soldier. I think there may have been more to their scene but it was left in the cutting room.

I was surprised by how much screen time Tarkin got but at the same time he had a few issues to work through with Krennic. The CGI effect will probably age badly but it completely fooled some of the people in the audience on first viewing.

Krennic was brilliant, Ben Mendelsohn completely personified the sociopath from the Catalyst story. I loved his reaction to the test firing of the weapon... "Oh, it's beautiful..." while everyone else was silent due to respect/shock/awe for what they had just witnessed. Immediately afterwards he was on the case to get what he craved, an audience with the Emperor. Tarkin and Vader both had his measure which was nice to see - their actions dovetailed nicely which presumably was intended as a follow on from the Tarkin novel.

Vader is so bad ass - he completely stole the show at the end of the movie and it was worth waiting all that time to see a light saber spark to life. The scene at his bacta tank spa retreat was brilliant, having the Imperial guards there to watch over him when he is at his most vulnerable is a great touch. Presumably it was on Mustafar - the last location he saw Padme alive.

The final battle was the most complete of all the movies, with real strategy and tactics. There were so many great touches, it's so powerful how quickly things take a turn for the worst in the last 10-15 minutes. The first time watching it I almost forgot it was the lead up to the original Star Wars and had to remind myself that nobody was going to make it out alive.

I could stay up all night to write about the movie so I'm going to stop here. Overall I think the franchise is in good hands on this evidence. There are a few scenes in the trailers which were obviously reshot for the final cut of the movie but whatever they did obviously worked.

slave1

Now that a few days have passed, upon reflection the greatest single achievement of this movie is the plausible explanation of ANH's huge plot hole of how the Death Star was so easily blown up...

chrislad

Mickalus wrote: »

CGI Tarkin and Leia was very obviously CGI, and the biggest nit pick I have for the movie. It just wasn't natural enough.

I thought the same the first time I saw it. When I watched it the second time, it didn't bother me at all.

My thought process on this is that I *know* Peter Cushing is dead, and can't possibly reprise his role, so my brain threw a fit and knew what I was seeing wasn't real (ignoring that space battles aren't real either....). My wife isn't a big Star Wars fan, and she didn't realise he was CGI until I said it to her. The second time, I paid more attention to the CGI than the scene, and it really is amazingly good. It's not quite there yet in terms of fooling everyone, but they are very close. Plus, he said "You may fire when ready". That's good enough for me.

Mickalus

chrislad wrote: »

I thought the same the first time I saw it. When I watched it the second time, it didn't bother me at all.

My thought process on this is that I *know* Peter Cushing is dead, and can't possibly reprise his role, so my brain threw a fit and knew what I was seeing wasn't real (ignoring that space battles aren't real either....). My wife isn't a big Star Wars fan, and she didn't realise he was CGI until I said it to her. The second time, I paid more attention to the CGI than the scene, and it really is amazingly good. It's not quite there yet in terms of fooling everyone, but they are very close. Plus, he said "You may fire when ready". That's good enough for me.

Planning on going to see it for a second time soon, will keep an eye out and see how it looks on a second viewing.

Markkkk

I watched it yesterday and really liked it.. Felicity Jones is great.

beauf

I liked it.

Even if the odds of success were like a billion to one...

I really like the return to the gritty original look and feel.

Though I was really disappointed in the quality of the cinema I saw it in. Whats a good screen to watch the next one in.

Keyzer

Watched this over the weekend and was very impressed - light years ahead of the jar jar binks ones and better than the force awakens.

lazybones32

Missed it in the cinema but got the DVD.
It was enjoyable. My expectations were low after TFA but i will watch it again. A lot of Easter eggs.

Director did a fine job.