Star Wars: Rogue One

[Guvernator]

Nom de ploom said:

I think I must be the only star wars fan alive that thinks Empire isn't the best of the franchise...just because a film is "dark" doesn't automatically make it amazing.

No you aren't, I'm right there with you. Admittedly it has some decent scenes, the Hoth battle is glorious and of course the "I am your father" reveal is classic but it always feels way too morose to be a proper SW film to me. This is meant to be space opera fantasy, If I wanted to be depressed, I'd go and listen to an REM album. I remember coming out of the cinema as a wee nipper almost in tears and that feeling of sadness has stuck with me every-time I watch it now.

I also think it's very fashionable to quote ESB as your favorite ever since Kevin Smith did it and lots of people have been jumping on the band wagon ever since.

[Bullett]

I've always prefered jedi over ESB. No idea why ESB is held in such high esteem. It's ok but that's all.

[DuncanM]

Bullett said:

I've always prefered jedi over ESB. No idea why ESB is held in such high esteem. It's ok but that's all.

Me too, RotJ is brilliant every time I watch it.

When Luke goes crazy and starts mashing up Vadar, but stops himself, love that scene so much!

[chris watton]

DuncanM said:

Bullett said:

I've always prefered jedi over ESB. No idea why ESB is held in such high esteem. It's ok but that's all.

Me too, RotJ is brilliant every time I watch it.

When Luke goes crazy and starts mashing up Vadar, but stops himself, love that scene so much!

For me, yes, there are some fantastic scenes in ROTJ, the light sabre fight and the end battle are still great. However, ROTJ is 'patchy', whereas ESB just flows effortlessly throughout. ROTJ took me out of the 'zone' as soon as the children dressed in teddy bear suits came on screen. For me, ESB is superior not just because it was 'darker', but because is was obviously directed by a true talent who got the best from all of the actors, with less silly dialogue..

[Halb]

Watched it.
Some thoughts.


Feels real, likie back to the first two films, makes the dogst prequels look even worse

It's a bloody good film/yarn

It's not dark at all, no darker than Star Wars and Empire and sits very well beside them, and the acting is all spot on, whomever directed knows their job.

The android is very good, a wonderful character who isn't a caricature. Was gutted when he ended. Reminded me of a combo Han/Chewie on the spectrum

Loved how the macguffin from Star Wars is the plot of Rogue One.

Caught a few nods to the classics; Antilles, t015s, bet I missed as many as I caught.

It is a better yarn that last years films, much more well rounded and creative, funny considering it was hemmed in by precise plot points, unlike the new series.

The last bit was needed. I was getting quite sad at the end, just like Empire, but one needs a bit of hope at the end, and that's what the final scene provided.

Loved the 70s vibe of the rebel base

CGI...it is acceptable within it's means; inorganic stuff, cityscapes and robots, it is utterly dire nd distracting when used for organic matter, the real Admiral Ackbar was much more convincing than the cartoon admiral here, and that awful suckee monster thing,not as st as the st Dr Who silly monster from last years, but still wk and felt at odds with the gritty realness of the rest of the film. I felt I was with them for most of it.

The force sensitive blind bloke...a wonderful Kenobi type who made me believe in the Force for a moment, loved the relationship with his mate.

The film made me suspend my disbelief, and I got genuinely caught up with the characters, so when they all started getting knocked off, I was surprised and gutted. That's the sign of a good film which deserves repeat viewings, this makes up for the lacklustre attempt last year. I hope it does last years film receipts into a cocked hat, because that means it'll be aped.

Clipped english accents for the top bad guys, brilliant. English cinematic bad guys are always the best, a fine tradition. I rather liked the Director, a great baddie, though I kept wondering what I knew him from, his subtle underacting was much better than last years ranty lil tit. As was the Moff impersonator

Oh and at last, we get to see more of Vader as a real baddie, an unstoppable force, it doesn't wipe out the dogst prequel, but it's a start...but Vader doesn't make puns, that, along with the cgi mess was the only problem with the film

And Bail Organa..the only real link to the dogst prequels I have seen thus far...
edit.
love the hammerhead. I think BSg Exodus influenced the space battle there.

Edited by Halb on Friday 30th December 14:55

[Halb]

mr_fibuli said:

Peter Cushing was a great effort, but I think they spent too much time on him and focused too close on his face. They should have gone with more full length shots, over the shoulder, and face reflected in glass shots to keep it convincing.

[Janluke]

Halb said:

Interesting stuff

Well written review I can't disagree with any of that

[Halb]

p1stonhead said:

Same with starkiller presumably.

Although can it simply shoot across the galaxy anyway without 'moving'?

Starkiler had a hyperspace weapon.

[Halb]

Sheets Tabuer said:

I thought it was normal for him....

Apology accepted captain needa

That's not a pun.

[Guvernator]

Halb said:

Sheets Tabuer said:

I thought it was normal for him....

Apology accepted captain needa

That's not a pun.

Agree, the original works, this one is just a bad joke and surprisingly even Earl Jones can't save it, I bet even he was cringing when he said it.

I agree the character CGI wasn't great but I wasn't 100% pleased with the Space CGI either, especially the matte finish Star Destroyers. In fact overall it was quite patchy, some of the effects blew me away and yet others didn't work at all. Quite surprising for a film of this calibre really, some of the effects almost feel rushed, I guess that's the price for trying to release a film a year on such a tight schedule.

[gregs656]

To be fair the Tarkin CGI is the best example of that effect to date, and it will only get better as it is developed by it's use in films like Rogue One.

[Guvernator]

gregs656 said:

To be fair the Tarkin CGI is the best example of that effect to date, and it will only get better as it is developed by it's use in films like Rogue One.

Not sure if it's exactly the same technique but I thought Disney's own Tron Legacy had a better stab at CGI facial character mapping where they managed to re-create a young Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner in a more convincing fashion and that film was made 7 years ago.

[Halb]

Guvernator said:

Agree, the original works, this one is just a bad joke and surprisingly even Earl Jones can't save it, I bet even he was cringing when he said it.

I agree the character CGI wasn't great but I wasn't 100% pleased with the Space CGI either, especially the matte finish Star Destroyers. In fact overall it was quite patchy, some of the effects blew me away and yet others didn't work at all. Quite surprising for a film of this calibre really, some of the effects almost feel rushed, I guess that's the price for trying to release a film a year on such a tight schedule.

The CGI parts did seem a tad, cheap. I hope they just ditch it.

The old line, 'apology accepted', it works and is taken by the audience as a joke, because it's very funny, but I'm not sure Vader means it as a joke, Vader doesn't seem to joke. Everything in the original three shows Vader to be a totally humourless, machine, whose only existence is to serve his master and terrorize those under him. Bet that dinner at Bespin was a laugh a minute.

Edited by Halb on Friday 30th December 21:24

[gregs656]

Guvernator said:

Not sure if it's exactly the same technique but I thought Disney's own Tron Legacy had a better stab at CGI facial character mapping where they managed to re-create a young Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner in a more convincing fashion and that film was made 7 years ago.

It's not the same technique. One thing that helps for TRON is that Jeff Bridges played his younger self. In R1 they mapped Peter Cushings face, which they had mapped from his existing Star Wars footage, onto Guy Henry (who also voiced him).

[davepoth]

gregs656 said:

It's not the same technique. One thing that helps for TRON is that Jeff Bridges played his younger self. In R1 they mapped Peter Cushings face, which they had mapped from his existing Star Wars footage, onto Guy Henry (who also voiced him).

And that's what makes it so bloody impressive. I watched it at a fairly small cinema, but I didn't get the "uncanny valley" vibe like I did watching Tron Legacy - he looked like a person and it didn't jar that much even though he was one of the main characters. My understanding is that they looked at everything Cushing was in around the time of Star Wars, not just the film itself, to try and get more data.

Certainly the shots were limited but I can imagine anything else would have been very difficult.

All in all I was entertained by the film - possibly a bit more than Episode 7 as my expectations were lower. It's been much bigger than Disney thought it would so hopefully we'll get more films in future.

[wibble cb]

Watched it a couple of days ago, and now have some thoughts:

While I am always enthusiastic about a Stars Wars film, this one left me a little cold, its not Phantom bad, but neither is it ESB, its filler, no more, no less.

How many times can they recycle the 'get the shield down, perform a task/win the day' type plot?

Timelines are still a little off, as we are supposed to believe that this was literally just before ANH, yet Luke and Leia are perhaps in their early 20's.....Ergo Obi Wan should perhaps have only been 45-50, yet in ANH he is patently it least in his 70's.

Peter Cushing CGI'd was not great, he looked like an extra from the Polar Express, no matter how good computers get, they will not be able to replicate a human.

Overall they captured the look and feel well, although the blind bad ass lazer proof monk seemed incongruous.

Mention was made in ANH that it took a while to move around a planet to 'see' the rebel base in order to target it with the death star, fair enough, but mention was also made of preparing to got to hyperspace/lightspeed in R1, so how come they didn't get the coordinates correct to not manage to block themselves behind a planet, if I were the commander on that death star, I just might be having words with my navigator.

[Ahbefive]

Watched it yesterday and really enjoyed it.

[Moonhawk]

Halb said:

Watched it.
Some thoughts.


Loved how the macguffin from Star Wars is the plot of Rogue One.

I like that too - however:

Given it was intentionally designed that way - it kinda makes the second Death star's destruction, and especially the star killer base destruction all the more ridiculous. I can forgive ROTJ as the empire thought the shield would keep the rebels out - but the starkiller base having yet another macguffin was just a step too far IMO. The Force Awakens would have been a much better movie either without the Starkiller base subplot, or if it had been extended over all three movies - culminating in it's destruction in EP9. It just felt rushed.

[Halb]

Moonhawk said:

I like that too - however:

Given it was intentionally designed that way - it kinda makes the second Death star's destruction, and especially the star killer base destruction all the more ridiculous. I can forgive ROTJ as the empire thought the shield would keep the rebels out - but the starkiller base having yet another macguffin was just a step too far IMO. The Force Awakens would have been a much better movie either without the Starkiller base subplot, or if it had been extended over all three movies - culminating in it's destruction in EP9. It just felt rushed.

Not gonna comment on starkiller, TFA has it's issues.
Death Star 2 was under construction, they could only blow it up thanks to the large gaps still left due to this, if it had been completed, it wouldn't have had a weak spot. I think.
But I do tink that anything th\t deals with large amounts of power (nuclear station?) will always have a glass jaw somewhere.

[gregs656]

wibble cb said:

Timelines are still a little off, as we are supposed to believe that this was literally just before ANH, yet Luke and Leia are perhaps in their early 20's.....Ergo Obi Wan should perhaps have only been 45-50, yet in ANH he is patently it least in his 70's.

The time between the end of R1 and ANH is open ended but the timeline will never really fit because the Star Wars story as we know it didn't exist when ANH was written.