Star Wars Anthology Films (Rogue One, Han Solo, etc.)

X-SOLDIER

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
LOVED all the connections to other things in the Star Wars universe, and you can really tell that Dave, Pablo, & the rest of storygroup was involved from that (glad to catch their names in the credits).
• The Hammerhead ship that pushed the Star Destroyer is one of the Old Republic's recently canonized ships that Leia acquired for the Rebellion in Rebels — hence why she was with Blue Squadron on their Capitol Ship.
• Saw screenshots of the Ghost from trailers, but missed the potential mention of General Syndulla, but will certainly keep ears out for it on a rewatch.
• Chirut being a "Guardian of the Whills" was an awesome nod back to early Star Wars script names and canonizing that term.
• LOVED Vader's base on Mustafar and regeneration in the facts tank, in addition to the fact that he has Sith-robed underlings attending to him there. VERY confident that Rebels is gonna use that after it comes back at the start of the year.
• I bet there are about a KAJILLION Easter Eggs in the Imperial Codenames, I know there was one that was a nod to Darksaber, but can't quite recall what it was off the top of my head. That little bit is a gold mine for sure.
• Fun seeing Ponda Baba & Evazan.

Also, very happy to see the female pilots in Blue Squadron and the other fighters, on account of all of them that were filmed and unused in the original films.




X :neo:
 
Ghost X

Ghost X

Moderator
Seen it.
Was all right, but nothing groundbreaking. No twisty-twists. Straight forward story line, which frustrates me :p. 3/5 stars. I liked the robot :monster:. Lots of things missing from the trailers too.
 
Ite

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Seen it, and I managed to avoid all press surrounding it beforehand.
I enjoyed it, and was grateful in the ways they deviated from the Star Wars style, and maybe I wanted it to be even more different? Like, the movie was almost gritty but pulled back several times.

The actors and the characters were great! Glad to see Genevieve O'Reilly reprise her role after being inexplicably cut from Sith. Bittersweet cameo from poor doomed Jimmy Smits as Organa and while I think Tarkin was more animated than Cushing I think the CG overall was very good. (Is it weird that I still think Dr. Cid from FF:TSW is still the most realistic CG character?)

What else? Loved Alan Tudyk, he stole the show. Whitaker was also amazing. Hated Vader's one-liner (seriously? SERIOUSLY!?) Loved all the action sequences. The movie was a very mixed bag for me but I liked that it's story had a conclusive ending (what a shock!)

Was NOT a fan of the soundtrack, it plodded along boringly or else jumped centre-stage and pulled the focus for too long without much to offer -- the exception being that desert scene which was also unsurprising the least like a John Williams impression. Giacchino also did the new Star Trek soundtrack and it has the same problems but a solid melodic anchor, whereas this... felt like a Williams impression.

3/5 Overall I think for people on the fence I would recommend giving it a watch when it comes on Netflix.
 
Charles Xavier

Charles Xavier

Pro Adventurer
Watched it last night. A good solid SW film, loved the space battles, some of the best since 'Return of the Jedi'.

Watching Vader in action even for a half-minute was entertaining, characters aren't as memorable as they should be but Jyn Erso makes a passably likeable protagonist and I enjoyed K2SO's dry and occasionally blunt humor. Laughed at C3PO and R2-D2 cameo as well.

Found the ending a tad abrupt but makes sense. Pretty dark film overall and not quite for the squeamish.

I really wish Jyn had a better death sequence than the one she had. Just wasn't very... tragic.

Verdict: solid 4/5.
 
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Fangu

Fangu

Great Old One
Re: Rogue One, this review sums it up pretty much for me.

Although the movie has tons of nods to the older movies, which I enjoy beyond words, it appears heartless, flat and pretty much void of proper plot. In the end it left me disappointed, which I was disappointed to find. It does a lot of small stuff right, but fails on the big stuff, and it makes me wonder where exactly the production failed.

That being said, end scene with Darth Vader (right before Leia) made the money spent worth it anyway. I'm not sad I saw it. I guess I was just expecting something a bit more inventive. The movie plays way too safe.
 
Interslicery

Interslicery

.....
I felt a lot of the Easter eggs were a bit annoying. Like for example the blue milk being in the foreground, center screen, for a good 5 seconds. Just to be sure you didn't miss it.

It was fun though. Nothing special, but good, fun moments. Nice to see a movie Donnie Yen has a semi-large role in do big numbers.
 
Ite

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
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Ite
Fangu said:
Re: Rogue One, this review sums it up pretty much for me.
Click to expand...

...that review that says "Attack of the Clones" is the best SW movie?

But yeah other than that it's a spectacular takedown of the movies' flaws but I enjoyed myself throughout.
 
C

Clement Rage

Pro Adventurer
I went into this with misgivings, and...

It was pretty good. I had one large creative difference with the writers, and some nitpicks, but overall it was pretty well put together. They used their cameos well, I have nitpicks but no major complaints.

Tarkin bombing the base was stunningly in character. Vader making puns was not. HK Droid and defected pilot were great.

Creative Difference Rant:
They explained the exhaust port.

They explained the exhaust port?

THEY EXPLAINED THE EXHAUST PORT!

People have been nitpicking this since 77, probably, and it is and always has been a stupid thing to complain about. Unless you actually know how to build a Death Star and have one parked outside the theatre, you are not in a position to decide whether that is something easily remedied or not. Engineering is all about tradeoffs, we don't know what they could or couldn't compromise on. But making this a deliberate trojan horse is odd, because it's so insanely hard to take advantage of that it's a terrible attempt at sabotage.

Imperial weapons seemed a lot more fragile here that they usually are (those Star Destroyers?)

Edit: Can we flag Rebels spoilers? I haven't seen it yet.
 
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Ghost X

Ghost X

Moderator
I find the common Darth Vader complaint about the pun interesting. I didn't mind it. I actually disliked the sequence at the end where he goes on that murder fest :p. Didn’t seem convincing to me.
 
Carlie

Carlie

CltrAltDelicious
AKA
Chloe Frazer
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Lord Noctis

Lord Noctis

Harbinger of Darkness
AKA
Caius Ballad
I just saw the film today. I liked it a lot. It was a bit disjointed across the first two acts, but the climax was fucking amazing. I don't think its quite as good as TFA, there are some problems that hold it back, but its by far the best Star Wars prequel we've ever gotten.

That scene with Darth Vader in the corridor was the most awesomely brutal slaughter I've seen in a long time, and easily the best Vader moment we've had since Empire.
 
Ghost X

Ghost X

Moderator
@Yop:
I'm not saying Darth Vader being involved in a murder fest is not convincing, if that's what you're asking :monster:. That end scene in Rogue One just came across poorly acted. Hard to explain. It was wooden? Robotic? Inb4 "Well, duh. He is largely a machine."
 
Ite

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
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Ite
I was actually surprised by how much flesh and skin he still had. I assumed most of his body was gone, like, he was more Grievous than anything under the suit. Guess the fine folks at Disney disagree.
 
X-SOLDIER

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
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Mr. Ite said:
I was actually surprised by how much flesh and skin he still had. I assumed most of his body was gone, like, he was more Grievous than anything under the suit. Guess the fine folks at Disney disagree.
Click to expand...

You basically see how much of a corpse stump he is in Episode III. Given Bacta tanks and all of that medical technology aside from the cybernetics, this seems to be very much in line with that. I assumed most of his limbs and body that weren't cut off and were under clothes would've been in close to the same condition as his face (which we've seen since RotJ), and that seems to be the case.

This definitely isn't some Disney-specific thing like you seem to be implying.




X :neo:
 
Shademp

Shademp

420
Finally watched this. Best Star Wars prequel. I don't think they are gonna top this one. I have very little hopes for the Han Solo movie.

Rogue One bridges the gap between Episode III and Episode IV so well that I'd almost recommend it as obligatory viewing for somebody going from the third chapter to the fourth.

- Glad they had the balls to kill off everyone in the main cast. It was the right move to punctuate the atmosphere of the entire movie: The despair of being a "normal" rebel, with little to no Jedi/Force powers to aid you. There was no activation of God Mode here.

- When Saw's minions attacked the Imperial forces in Jedha I got some SERIOUS vibes of stereotypical middle-eastern war zones. For a moment it felt like I was watching a war movie taking place in Iraq. I don't see anything personally wrong with it, but my immersion was interrupted because of internal speculations about how others might construe the scene as offensive or at least uncomfortable.

- Saw was an enjoyable character. Too bad he left the movie so early. It might have been *too* funny to see this Vader-wannabe killed by the actual Darth Vader.

- I only felt the uncanny valley with CG General Tarkin in his first scene. In the subsequent scenes they either improved the CGI or my mind auto-adjusted to him. Great work either way.

- Uncanny valley was ALMOST removed in Leia's brief appearance. They still pulled it off way better than I expected. That final scene with Leia made me tear up. Nothing else in the movie had the same powerful emotional effect. It was half because of Carrie Fisher's death, half because of the "Crisis Core" feelings. Like the ending of Crisis Core hits you with massive nostalgia in anticipation for the original FFVII, so did the ending of Rogue One fill me with nostalgia for Star Wars Episode IV.

- The name of Jyn's father, Galen, was amusing and embarrassing to read in the subtitles. Why? Because "Galen" is the Swedish word for "crazy/mad".

- Ip Man- uh I mean Chirrut Îmwe was a nice addition. They found the middle way between Jedi and not-Jedi by having somebody who is more of an acolyte to the Jedi and who may or may not be aided by Force sensitivity when he fights. A great deal of what he does can be explained by the heightened senses of a blind man, but there is still enough to make you wonder if he did sometimes tap into the Force.

- The only callback to the original Star Wars that felt forced (lol) to me was when Jyn bumped into Ponda Baba and Dr. Cornelius Evazan. The rest of the references were appreciated.

- The return of Bail Organa was a much appreciated acknowledgement of the prequel trilogy. Normally, the references are all based on your nostalgia for the original trilogy (and for good reasons). But I remember Bail Organa fondly from Episode III (the only movie where his appearance mattered) and I squee'd to see him here in Rogue One.

- In Episode VII, some faces of the rebel alliance took me out of the experience. "Oh look, that's the psychic from Lost!" "Oh look, that's the mind reader from Heroes!". The faces were just too recognizable, not having changed enough from the media where I remember them. I still get annoyed when thinking back to this piece of immersion-breaking.

Here in Rogue One, a familiar face popped up but they had altered his appearance so much that I had to look twice and thrice to confirm that my eyes were not fooling me. The disgruntled rebel played by Fares Fares, who is essentially a Swedish celebrity. Not only did it make me smile to see him there, but to see him blending in with the crowd and the Star Wars atmosphere impressed me.

- While the final scene with Vader is among the coolest things ever, in hindsight it doesn't make sense. The rebel holding the data disc wasn't far away. All Vader would have had to do was force pull that disc to retrieve it. Instead Vader takes his time killing the rebels slowly. On one hand there is the argument that a Sith's good judgment may be trumped by their desire to be DARK, on the other hand the mission to retrieve the stolen plans is so mega important that I can't buy Vader being so sloppy in this situation. I'll still watch this clip over and over in glee, but I'll always be aware of how the scene doesn't make sense.


As a movie, Rogue One has to be the best written and structured Star Wars prequel there is. I say this, but I'm probably more likely to watch Episode III again. Why? Because I find much more indulgent escapism in that problematic movie. Rogue One doesn't make me want to watch it again (same as with Episode VII) but damn was it a great watch.
 
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X-SOLDIER

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X


Minor spoilers, but a good look at the effects a great many people want to know about.




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