The first half of RO is a real chore. The characters are so empty, the girl is like a little lost lamb and the only thing I remember about the main bloke is he has a crooked nose. When there is no action in this film there is nothing entertaining going on at all, luckily when the action arrives it's done really well, but it's a real chore to get to the second half.
Wow, really?? I
loved the first half. I felt that it set up the second half so beautifully and really added a lot of dimension to the Star Wars universe as a whole.
Anyway, having finally seen it for myself, I liked it a lot. I liked the overall dark tone. It was different, and it was very appropriate for the film. It also managed to do one very important thing better than any prior film in the franchise, IMO. To me, this film made the empire feel far more menacing and oppressive than it had in any of the prior films. And, perhaps not coincidentally, I think it made Vader feel more menacing than in prior films (although, granted that Vader did feel pretty menacing in IV and V; it's just that after seeing him redeemed in VI and then ruined and reduced to a whiny, petulant, immature brat in the prequels, it's harder to remember the emotional response that character originally evoked in IV and V).
Again, I liked it. A few minor things bothered me. Perhaps they will not after seeing it again, but here are just some random thoughts:
-CGI Tarkin and Leia: The CGI took me out of the moment more than once. Perhaps I over-scrutinized because I knew it was coming. But it just took me out of the moment of the film. I am kind of surprised because CGI doesn't usually bother me, and I think we've come farther in both the technology and in film techniques such that it should be easier to hide that it is CGI. I mean, for Tarkin, for example, couldn't they have used a body double with makeup and prosthetics, and used CGI on the face simply to enhance? And then simply avoid closeups so as not to call attention to anything that still may not look 100% convincing? I know that's tough because he was a very important character in this movie (and I really like what they did with him). I dunno. I just feel it could have been done better. I am not usually one to complain, but, again, I felt that it took me out of the moment, which didn't happen with anything else other than the CGI.
Opening: I liked the opening scene...except for the fact that Jyn managed to remain hidden from the Imperials. They were bent on finding here. They knew she was there (the shuttle flew right past her in the opening sequence!). And they still didn't manage to find her? I just don't find that believable. That should have been handled differently.
R2/C3PO: The cameo was silly. But it was fine. And it was expected. The only thing that bugged me a little bit was that I don't think they should have shown up on Yavin 4. They could have just as easily and more effectively been shown for a brief cameo aboard Leia's ship. Maybe they felt that the callback with Leia at the end would have been diminished by having the droids appear too close to that scene? I guess I could buy that.
Vader's castle: That scene was cool on so many levels. But it seemed very rushed, almost to the point of being a throwaway. I mean, maybe that is intentional. Having just a glimpse had a huge impact, and maybe showing too much would have been unnecessary and taken away. But showing so little and having no explanation whatsoever of what Vader was doing there or why almost made it feel like the whole thing was gratuitous to the point of being pointless.
Leia's ship: This is a tough one. The ending sequence with Vader going nuts and killing everyone, and literally having the data tapes be just inches away and almost in his hands was perhaps THE best scene in the entire Star Wars franchise. So just having that scene pretty much makes everything else forgivable. And in a way, they were sort of boxed in with what they could do with Leia's ship because of Ep. IV and a lot of the dramatic setup of the battle of Scarif. Ep. IV established that Vader knew the plans had been beamed to the rebels and traced to her ship. The way the battle unfolded, they had to beam it to a ship close to the planet's surface, and not somewhere halfway across the galaxy. And if it was beamed to a ship close by, and then a copy beamed away, that would have been lame. So they had to have the ship there. But having Leia there was lame and didn't work, for at least a couple of reasons: (1) There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that you would put a diplomat and noncombat royal official in the middle of an intense combat mission. None. It doesn't make any sense at all to have her there. (2) Having her there and having Vader know she was there makes her argument to him at the beginning of Ep. IV that they were on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan, and that she had no idea what he was talking about, just ring completely hollow and stupid. I mean, of course she was not being truthful with Vader. But at least in Ep. IV, it came across as, "Yeah, we may both know the truth, but you have absolutely no hard evidence that I am a rebel and that the plans were here, so I'm going to deny it." Now, that goes away, and her argument just looks stupid. And since Leia is decidedly NOT stupid, this just feels like a continuity error that they created by not figuring out a better way to handle getting the plans to her ship. I dunno. Maybe this will work itself out and not bother me as much later after seeing it again. But as of now, that is THE biggest gripe I have that bothers me about the film.
Otherwise, I thought it was great. I had such low expectations leading up to this film. I wasn't really interested in seeing HOW the plans got stolen. Part of that was because, as we learned with the prequels, revealing and explaining too much of what "happened" in the past can sometimes actually do damage to the story instead of just leaving it to our imaginations. And part of it is that it was going to undo a perfectly good story of Kyle Katarn stealing them, which I didn't really want to see undone. But that all changed once I saw the first trailer, and I got genuinely excited about seeing this film. It didn't let me down.
Topic: Star Wars Discussion Thread v. Rogue One (Read 463888 times)
