Just watched a Doctor Who episode from series 4, The Unicorn and the Wasp - the one where Tennant meets Agatha Christie - in which Felicity Jones just happened to have a role. 
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
- Thread starter Gonk the Insane
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Boneman
Well-Known Member
Ah - so that's the difference between an AT-At and AT-ACT - the latter is basically a bigger AT-AT with cargo storage:
AT-ACT walker
AT-ACT walker
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I watched Star Wars Up The Kyber Pass last night and thought it was pretty good, but not amazing. I was expecting The Wild Bunch and it was more like Butch Cassidy. Random thoughts:
- The structure felt slightly off. The early part of the film seemed to be building towards a "kill or rescue" question, which I expected to involve an argument between ruthlessness or forgiveness that would end up as the moral crux of the film. The last chunk, whilst cool, felt slightly extra.
- I quite liked the villain. The filmmakers resisted the temptation to make him into either Sauron or a raving Nazi. He isn't terribly memorable, but he felt quite credible. The team of heroes was good, although it took me a little while to get the hang of them. There were a lot of men in tatty robes.
- I thought Tarkin's CGI was excellent, but Leia's was pretty poor (and unnecessary).
- Forrest Whittaker's bit felt heavily edited, or else just underused. Something was missing there, although I'm not quite sure what.
- Full points for diversity. There were people in it who sounded like me and were neither evil, cowardly or incompetent! That said, the Star Wars universe now needs Alexander Armstrong as a badass pilot.
- I've heard debate as to whether the two characters from the temple are meant to be gay. I didn't get any sense that they actually were, although I can't see why not, either. But if the fact that two men are friends sends the internet into a fit, we are in dire straits.
- I don't know why, but I was expecting the ending to be more raw and violent. As it was, the Death Star strike looked rather pretty. But I think Star Wars works best when it's closest to a war film, rather than a children's film or a martial arts film, and I generally liked the tone.
I'd give it a solid 7/10.
- The structure felt slightly off. The early part of the film seemed to be building towards a "kill or rescue" question, which I expected to involve an argument between ruthlessness or forgiveness that would end up as the moral crux of the film. The last chunk, whilst cool, felt slightly extra.
- I quite liked the villain. The filmmakers resisted the temptation to make him into either Sauron or a raving Nazi. He isn't terribly memorable, but he felt quite credible. The team of heroes was good, although it took me a little while to get the hang of them. There were a lot of men in tatty robes.
- I thought Tarkin's CGI was excellent, but Leia's was pretty poor (and unnecessary).
- Forrest Whittaker's bit felt heavily edited, or else just underused. Something was missing there, although I'm not quite sure what.
- Full points for diversity. There were people in it who sounded like me and were neither evil, cowardly or incompetent! That said, the Star Wars universe now needs Alexander Armstrong as a badass pilot.
- I've heard debate as to whether the two characters from the temple are meant to be gay. I didn't get any sense that they actually were, although I can't see why not, either. But if the fact that two men are friends sends the internet into a fit, we are in dire straits.
- I don't know why, but I was expecting the ending to be more raw and violent. As it was, the Death Star strike looked rather pretty. But I think Star Wars works best when it's closest to a war film, rather than a children's film or a martial arts film, and I generally liked the tone.
I'd give it a solid 7/10.
I've been thinking about Rogue One a lot recently, and find myself unsettled by two main criticisms:
1. Inconsistent - This script feels rushed together. We can see that clearly with Jyn's opening scenes to establish her beginnings, yet some of these same scenes later appear in a flashback. It's as if there are two people writing different scripts, and what we ended up with was a mash-up of both with the joins being smoothed out. Additionally, the script feels incomplete - really, what we have is a series of special-effects montages with not much holding them together. There's no real character-building - people appear on screen, then go off, with little attempt to build audience empathy for them.
2. Lack of Continuity - Another problem is that Rogue One does more to tie-in with the Clone Wars cartoon series, rather than the Big Three original films. Darth Vader cracking puns, living in a lava castle, and doing his "bad-ass" moment at the end have absolutely nothing to do with the original trilogy, but do tie-in with the cartoon. Which begs the question of why Disney catered for what surely must be a minority audience compared to the original fan base. I know there's an argument to keep to "canon", but IMO the original trilogy defined that - anything else is superfluous.
The biggest kicker is that without the Star Wars details, Rogue One would likely be rated as a mediocre film - something perhaps enjoyed for its special effects, little more. The connection with Star Wars lifts it beyond of that - but unless you're a dedicated fan of the cartoon series, probably not much more.
2c.
1. Inconsistent - This script feels rushed together. We can see that clearly with Jyn's opening scenes to establish her beginnings, yet some of these same scenes later appear in a flashback. It's as if there are two people writing different scripts, and what we ended up with was a mash-up of both with the joins being smoothed out. Additionally, the script feels incomplete - really, what we have is a series of special-effects montages with not much holding them together. There's no real character-building - people appear on screen, then go off, with little attempt to build audience empathy for them.
2. Lack of Continuity - Another problem is that Rogue One does more to tie-in with the Clone Wars cartoon series, rather than the Big Three original films. Darth Vader cracking puns, living in a lava castle, and doing his "bad-ass" moment at the end have absolutely nothing to do with the original trilogy, but do tie-in with the cartoon. Which begs the question of why Disney catered for what surely must be a minority audience compared to the original fan base. I know there's an argument to keep to "canon", but IMO the original trilogy defined that - anything else is superfluous.
The biggest kicker is that without the Star Wars details, Rogue One would likely be rated as a mediocre film - something perhaps enjoyed for its special effects, little more. The connection with Star Wars lifts it beyond of that - but unless you're a dedicated fan of the cartoon series, probably not much more.
2c.
Having watched Rogue One for a second time last night, I completely rescind all of the criticisms above.
I enjoyed it far, far more the second time around, and additionally understood a few plot points better (not least regarding the Mon Calimari vessel).
I guess the above post came about not least because of watching a number of YouTube videos that discussed missing footage. However, it didn't seem like a big issue when I was watching it this time around.
I enjoyed it far, far more the second time around, and additionally understood a few plot points better (not least regarding the Mon Calimari vessel).
I guess the above post came about not least because of watching a number of YouTube videos that discussed missing footage. However, it didn't seem like a big issue when I was watching it this time around.
A bit of fun:
Having watched Rogue One for a second time last night, I completely rescind all of the criticisms above.
I enjoyed it far, far more the second time around, and additionally understood a few plot points better (not least regarding the Mon Calimari vessel).
I guess the above post came about not least because of watching a number of YouTube videos that discussed missing footage. However, it didn't seem like a big issue when I was watching it this time around.
having seen it again , entertaining.
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I saw this again a little while ago and I think it's very good - probably the best Star Wars thing I've seen, with the possible exception of The Mandalorian.
The introduction is rather choppy and messy, so that Jyn's early life is quite hard to follow and Cassian's killing of an informer seems more like panic than cold professionalism. That said, it all sets the unusually brutal and nuanced tone quite well. The first third (what my friend calls "Space Morocco") feels rather awkward, as if too much material was cut. This is especially the case with Forrest Whittaker's character. What is that strange blancmange doing climbing over Riz Ahmed? Nobody ever mentions it again, although I expect the conversation would have been pretty awkward.
However, Rogue One gets steadily better as it goes on, which is surprisingly rare. The middle third (the assassination attempt) is solid and moody, and the last chunk is superb. Two things I like particularly: the lack of Jedi and fancy Force stuff, and the way that characters are allowed to disagree without being either stupid or evil. When I first saw the commanding officer, because his accent is quite like mine, I expected him to be an idiot, a coward or a Nazi - it turns out he's just someone who disagrees, which makes a nice change.
I like the way that there's no subplot about turning someone from the Dark Side: the closest we get is whether Cassian should kill Jyn's father. I find the Dark Side subplot unconvincing, especially now it's been done more than once. The war-film-type scenes towards the end are really good, and the moment where it becomes clear that we're not messing around in terms of character death is good, too. The robot is very entertaining.
I think one of the tests of this kind of film is how well it handles the "We can do it together" scenes that almost all such films have, and whether it's convincing or just cheesy. Overall, I find Rogue One convincing. While there's room for improvement and some elements hold up better than others, there's very little in it that jars me out of enjoying the film.
The introduction is rather choppy and messy, so that Jyn's early life is quite hard to follow and Cassian's killing of an informer seems more like panic than cold professionalism. That said, it all sets the unusually brutal and nuanced tone quite well. The first third (what my friend calls "Space Morocco") feels rather awkward, as if too much material was cut. This is especially the case with Forrest Whittaker's character. What is that strange blancmange doing climbing over Riz Ahmed? Nobody ever mentions it again, although I expect the conversation would have been pretty awkward.
However, Rogue One gets steadily better as it goes on, which is surprisingly rare. The middle third (the assassination attempt) is solid and moody, and the last chunk is superb. Two things I like particularly: the lack of Jedi and fancy Force stuff, and the way that characters are allowed to disagree without being either stupid or evil. When I first saw the commanding officer, because his accent is quite like mine, I expected him to be an idiot, a coward or a Nazi - it turns out he's just someone who disagrees, which makes a nice change.
I like the way that there's no subplot about turning someone from the Dark Side: the closest we get is whether Cassian should kill Jyn's father. I find the Dark Side subplot unconvincing, especially now it's been done more than once. The war-film-type scenes towards the end are really good, and the moment where it becomes clear that we're not messing around in terms of character death is good, too. The robot is very entertaining.
I think one of the tests of this kind of film is how well it handles the "We can do it together" scenes that almost all such films have, and whether it's convincing or just cheesy. Overall, I find Rogue One convincing. While there's room for improvement and some elements hold up better than others, there's very little in it that jars me out of enjoying the film.
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It's been a while since I've seen it, but i remember it being the best of the Disney movies.
I particularly enjoyed certain nods to Star Wars. While i'm not a huge believer of fan service, i thought that the use of cut footage and voice overs from Star Wars was quite clever.
I particularly enjoyed certain nods to Star Wars. While i'm not a huge believer of fan service, i thought that the use of cut footage and voice overs from Star Wars was quite clever.
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As I've mentioned before, 2nd best Star Wars film (after ESB) , and easily the best prequel movie for any franchise.
Swank
and debonair
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I didn't care for the "heartwarming" moments of heroism. Such romanticism is out of place in Star Wars.
The various plot tie-ins to SW were too much. SW says these were spies, R1 makes it into a major battle for Death Star plans.
Loved the droid and Jyn.
Hated the design of most of the ships and weapons. Their craft was too small for its capacity compared to every other ship in SW history. Using an M16 as the base for the sniper rifle was a bad choice - those are on the news constantly.
Leia looked gross. The uncanny valley is calling her home.
I haven't seen Mandalorian, but R1 was the best non-trilogy installment. Nice to see that someone remembered that the SW universe is mostly not about the Force, or even people that know what it is.
The various plot tie-ins to SW were too much. SW says these were spies, R1 makes it into a major battle for Death Star plans.
Loved the droid and Jyn.
Hated the design of most of the ships and weapons. Their craft was too small for its capacity compared to every other ship in SW history. Using an M16 as the base for the sniper rifle was a bad choice - those are on the news constantly.
Leia looked gross. The uncanny valley is calling her home.
I haven't seen Mandalorian, but R1 was the best non-trilogy installment. Nice to see that someone remembered that the SW universe is mostly not about the Force, or even people that know what it is.
Rogue One was ok (3 out of 5 stars). It was better than the sequel trilogy, and Solo. Then again, just about anything is better than the sequel trilogy and Solo.
The best scene for Rogue One? The twenty-first century version of American Film Institute's third greatest villain of all time, at the end with his lightsaber in the hallway. That scene was perfect.
The best scene for Rogue One? The twenty-first century version of American Film Institute's third greatest villain of all time, at the end with his lightsaber in the hallway. That scene was perfect.
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