Rogue One Review (Spoilers)

I just saw this last night. Wonderful film. I'm not really one for ranking stuff, but I'll say that I consider this around as good as IV, V, and VII. The tone was really great, serving as a 'darkest moment before the dawn of a new hope' - I loved moments like Jyn saying, "May the Force be with us" to the low cheer from the troops (and Donnie Chen's character smiling), the bravery of men and women in a desperate, doomed battle, and the irony of Krennic getting to look down the barrel of his own gun. It retrospectively made the events of the original trilogy that much more desperate - we now know just how much was sacrificed so that the farm boy could turn off his targeting computer - and included enough nods to the prequels and the TV shows (that I've not seen) to serve as a good bridge between the two. Of course, the excessively shiny prequel technology remains a binder, but that isn't going away short of re-filming the entire prequel trilogy - which I wouldn't put past Disney. The characters had real presence and personality to me, and I felt every death as it came, especially since they were all so well acted. The capstone to it all was the horrific but exhiliarating corridor scene, with the rebel troops fighting and dying just for a chance that the plans could make it out. The first scene with Vader felt a bit unnecessary, but that one was really excellent to me - and now we know that Leia truly had brass balls, to go and smart-talk Vader the day after he nearly cut his way onto her ship. Also, her line there is now hilarious - "This is a diplomatic ship!", to which Vader clearly should have replied, "Senator, I just saw your ship detach from a Rebellion frigate in the middle of a warzone."

I understand that Disney viewed this film as an experiment - do something Star Wars but not about the Skywalkers, see whether people are interested in just general stories in the universe. Since it is making crazy money, it seems safe to assume that we'll get other spinoff stories; I'm hoping that they stay away from other 'gapfilling' exercises (Young Han! Young Lando! What happened between II and III!) but instead branch outwards.

Appears they cut a lot based on trailers. Go watch the trailer and there's 1 obvious scene that doesn't happen in movie

One question for the people who compare it to 4-6. Maybe its my age/age of when I saw it. Did anyone who saw rogue 1 have any emotional attachment to the characters. Big spoiler for 6 but when Yoda died my wife literally shed a tear (remakes that came out in theaters as she didn't see them as a kid). I normally don't argue about peoples views as the special effects/battles in rogue 1 are very good.

Charles Rampant said:

The first scene with Vader felt a bit unnecessary, but that one was really excellent to me - and now we know that Leia truly had brass balls, to go and smart-talk Vader the day after he nearly cut his way onto her ship. Also, her line there is now hilarious - "This is a diplomatic ship!", to which Vader clearly should have replied, "Senator, I just saw your ship detach from a Rebellion frigate in the middle of a warzone."

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"That was aggressive negotiations."

I understand that Disney viewed this film as an experiment - do something Star Wars but not about the Skywalkers, see whether people are interested in just general stories in the universe. Since it is making crazy money, it seems safe to assume that we'll get other spinoff stories; I'm hoping that they stay away from other 'gapfilling' exercises (Young Han! Young Lando! What happened between II and III!) but instead branch outwards.

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Too late.

Just about to watch it for a second time!

Imaculata said:

This movie is probably going to leave fans divided.

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You were right, [MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION]: some fans hate the movie (you), some love it (everyone else).

Just read the first post and wow I agree almost 100% with Imaculata. My fault as I jumped in 7 pages later. I'd like to for someone to prove most of those points as inaccurate (sorry never noticed music). I will watch it again but im not rushing out to see it.

I think the studio bailed out the director based on what should have happened.

I'm also not sure why Vader didn't have a more prominent role in the movie. More vader (the legend of vader) is what the fans really want and more the most part we have been teased on this.His part in the movie is probably 1 of the greatest parts of the movie and its basically less than a minute

If someone who loves this movie can u explain/hide it in spoilers why old Forest Whitaker does what he does. Around that section of the movie its a complete mess

Wow. Second viewing I loved it even more. I started noticing and appreciating the detail.


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edit: WARNING: I can't seem to make the spoiler tags work. beware!

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wicked cool said:

I think the studio bailed out the director based on what should have happened.

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Well... from what I have read, the director was going for [spoilers] the "miraculous escape" thing because he assumed that Disney would never allow the way it ended. [/spoilers]. But to his surprised they let him go ahead with the darker version

If someone who loves this movie can u explain/hide it in spoilers why old Forest Whitaker does what he does. Around that section of the movie its a complete mess

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It could be better, definitely.

wicked cool said:

I'm also not sure why Vader didn't have a more prominent role in the movie. More vader (the legend of vader) is what the fans really want and more the most part we have been teased on this.His part in the movie is probably 1 of the greatest parts of the movie and its basically less than a minute

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For me the lack of Sith / Jedi / The Force in this movie was a huge selling point. Those things are all fundamental to Star Wars and I'd never want to jettison them, but it is so good to see a movie set in that universe which doesn't revolve around them.

Vader had just enough screen time. I could have happily done without his scene on Mustafar, but that scene did at least set up his interest in the project to justify his arrival in the final act.

wicked cool said:

One question for the people who compare it to 4-6. Maybe its my age/age of when I saw it. Did anyone who saw rogue 1 have any emotional attachment to the characters.

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Nope, no attachment whatsoever. But then I knew going in that this was a Dirty Dozen style movie. I didn't expect any of the characters to live through it. (well, other than anyone who was in IV+....) So I'm not really concerned about not caring.

Now what could be interesting is if (when) more of their stories prior to R1 get revealed (be it in books/movies/animation/games/etc.) There's just ALOT of SW stories that could be spun using them. Jyn was supposed to have been the best fighter in what-his-names band at age 15 before he ditched her. The Capt. said he's been fighting the Empire since he was 6! A lot of potential.....