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The I've Seen Rogue One Thread (spoilers OBV)


captainbleh
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I've seen it a total of 3 times now. 2D big screen, 3D big screen and a 2D more intimate screening.

 

I've gone from man-flu grump in the first viewing to acceptance in the 2nd and complete convert by the 3rd.

 

Overall, my main concern remains: it's very patchwork. Much like the worst part of the prequels you can tell that there was significant rework.

 

The most jarring is Jyn's interaction with Saw at the base. It feels like they kept Jones' original performance and rehsot Whittaker. The two don't really share a frame...and when they do I think they use what I assume is a stand in for Jyn and keep her blurred in the foreground with an infocus reshot Saw in the back.

 

Similarly the interaction between Mon Motha and co with Jyn at the initial rebel base interrogation...you can tell it's a bunch of different takes none of the dialogue actually fits together...the come backs and answers Jyn provides don't really relate to what the character before her has laid down...both in actual words, tone and delivery.

 

Other than that, by the 3rd time seeing it, I was pretty relaxed about Tarkin and Leia's effects work. I still think, like the character of Qui-Gon in the prequels, that Tarkin was unnecessary and they could've just folded back his posturing work to more developed Krennic character...instead of diluting Mendelsohn's contribution.

 

I think the biggest praise I can give the movie is scale. Edwards managed the impossible: to make the Star Wars universe look cluttered yet massive, new yet old, familiar yet fresh.

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The only thing that ESB would fail on by today's standards is the pacing. Modern audiences would complain it was boring since a lot happens in the middle without major action. Even TFA and R1 don't go more than 20 minutes without some action. This is a throwback to action films when it was decided at some point that every reel of a film (reels are roughly 20 minutes) needed an action beat. That got beat into the Hollywood hivemind and remains in the digital age.

 

Thanks to that extended chase scene between the Millennium Falcon and the Imperial fleet that basically lasted the through most of the middle third of the movie (only briefly detoured by flying into a monster's belly), I think The Empire Strikes back meets that standard. Closest to a 20 minute lull might have been between Han's trick where he latched onto the Star Destroyer and when Vader showed up on Bespin, but even during those 20 minutes we still had the payoff of Han's trick, the Dagobah cave scene, C-3PO getting shot up when he took a wrong turn, and Luke racing away from Dagobah to save them.

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The only thing that ESB would fail on by today's standards is the pacing. Modern audiences would complain it was boring since a lot happens in the middle without major action. Even TFA and R1 don't go more than 20 minutes without some action. This is a throwback to action films when it was decided at some point that every reel of a film (reels are roughly 20 minutes) needed an action beat. That got beat into the Hollywood hivemind and remains in the digital age.

 

Thanks to that extended chase scene between the Millennium Falcon and the Imperial fleet that basically lasted the through most of the middle third of the movie (only briefly detoured by flying into a monster's belly), I think The Empire Strikes back meets that standard. Closest to a 20 minute lull might have been between Han's trick where he latched onto the Star Destroyer and when Vader showed up on Bespin, but even during those 20 minutes we still had the payoff of Han's trick, the Dagobah cave scene, C-3PO getting shot up when he took a wrong turn, and Luke racing away from Dagobah to save them.

 

They key is characters being in danger, not action. Han pulls off his little trick but we see Fetts ship follow him and then Luke has his vision of them all in danger. So there is hardly a moment of the movie where some main characters are not in basically immediate danger.

 

Same goes for ANH, Leia is taken prisoner in the first sequence. Then even when the crew escapes the Death Star we find out immediately that they are being tracked

 

To me thats why TFA works so well, characters are always in danger. Very few moments where they aren't. When they go to Maz's they seem safe but as soon as we get there that spy informs The First Order.

 

I don't need actual action in a movie constantly but I do want to feel that action can happen at any moment.

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For years when I was younger, ROTJ was my favourite movie almost purely because of the Battle of Endor. It wasn't until I around 18 or so before I had a rethink and realised that ESB was superior, not just because it's a better movie, but also because whilst ANH established the lore, ESB really built on it even more, and a lot of the iconic Star Wars imagery and pop culture references actually come from ESB, not ANH. Yoda, "I am your father", AT-AT walkers, "I know", the Executor, Rogue Squadron, Boba Fett, etc.

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Also not saying Empire cannot be surpassed. In fact nothing would please me more. Just saying I think Empire is a great movie and I can't go into any movie expecting greatness. I love Star Wars and all the trappings of it. So if you make a good to very good movie with those trappings around it I am going to love it. Which, for me, is what has happened with The Force Awakens and Rogue One.

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To me thats why TFA works so well, characters are always in danger. Very few moments where they aren't.

 

I would point out that the mindset that you always have to put in an action sequence every so often resulted in the Rathtars sequence. I don't think I've heard anyone defend that little side-quest as of yet.

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They just seemed too suited for Guardians of the Galaxy or something rather than Star Wars. This is an unquantifiable way of thinking, I know. I just didn't like 'em.

 

I also didn't care for Han Solo as Harrison Ford pretending to be Han Solo with the gangster sequence.

 

Maybe I'll rewatch TFA soon to see if some of this stuff still bothers me.

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I'm very okay with this

 

As excited as I am to see Tarkin in this (I've been disappointed all throughout production when there was no hint of an appearance for the character, so these spoilers are delicious), I think I'm most thrilled about Red and Gold Leader. Never would've occurred to me that they'd be included or even involved in the creative process at all, so it sounds great.

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I'm very okay with this

 

As excited as I am to see Tarkin in this (I've been disappointed all throughout production when there was no hint of an appearance for the character, so these spoilers are delicious), I think I'm most thrilled about Red and Gold Leader. Never would've occurred to me that they'd be included or even involved in the creative process at all, so it sounds great.

Of all the really cool moments, easter eggy and otherwise, this was the one that perked me up the most. I thought it was so damn cool.

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46 shots not in Rogue One: https://vimeo.com/196155136

So pretty much the entirety of the first trailer never made it into the final film.

 

It's pretty clear now that the reshoots changed the journey of the plans themselves. It looks like they originally had the plans snagged by Jyn, K2 and Cassian, who then ran them out straight into the AT-ACTs, as part of a larger battle between the commandos and the garrison than the one we saw in the final film. I get the feeling the ending (transmitting the plans to the fleet) was unchanged, but how the plans got from the vault to the transmission tower did change.

 

Also, I just learned that Veruna Blue, the 501st member who played the female stormtrooper in TFA, also voiced the transmitter tower computer, and that Rian Johnson played one of the troopers standing in the Death Star laser tube as it fired.

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Red and Gold Leaders was great. Total in the moment surprise. But yeah, there wasn't a big monster sequence really. But after the PT and TFA I could do without another cgi monster showdown.

 

I'm starting to think that TFA was the SW movie the world needed, but R1 is the movie fans wanted. Curious to see final box offfice.

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Was awesome, but I still prefer TFA.

 

I liked that it was a bit of a side story, without any of the principal characters or Jedi. Made Vader menacing again by keeping his appearance sparse and violent which was cool.

 

Loved all the street scenes, aliens etc..

 

Didn't particularly care about any of the characters...

 

Didn't get any chills down the spine moments, or any sense of nostalgia or euphoria but it was a very entertaining watch.

 

If anything, its made me excited for EPVIII

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Was awesome, but I still prefer TFA.

 

I liked that it was a bit of a side story, without any of the principal characters or Jedi. Made Vader menacing again by keeping his appearance sparse and violent which was cool.

 

Loved all the street scenes, aliens etc..

 

Didn't particularly care about any of the characters...

 

Didn't get any chills down the spine moments, or any sense of nostalgia or euphoria but it was a very entertaining watch.

 

If anything, its made me excited for EPVIII

On second watch you'll get the characters journeys more I reckon. A few people didn't understand why Chirrut and Baze were there after first watch.

46 shots not in Rogue One: https://vimeo.com/196155136

Room for an extended edition??

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