Rogue One

[Chuck to Chuck]

DPD - I do think the character work on Rogue One was pretty bad, for the record. But it was still an overall enjoyable movie.

The second time through I actually thought they did a better job on Jyn than I thought the first time watching it. Her conversion from cynic to leader felt forced and way too sudden, but watching it again and realizing both her adopted father figure (Saw) and her real father died right after begging her to do the right thing/save the rebellion/destroy the Death Star, her development didn't feel as rushed.

Cassian was a cypher, and just having him vaguely allude to his tragic past as justification for his behavior is still weak, we really needed to know his story.

I'd have liked more on why the pilot decided to defect, why Galen meant so much to him, and there's a good story to be told about Chirrut and Baze being Jedi-worshipping monks who have to find their place in a world after basically watching God die. That movie did not tell it.

So yeah, I get the character criticism. About halfway through my first watch of the movie I wasn't sure I was even enjoying it, but the ending really packs such a punch I don't care.

Also the benefit of being an uber-Star Wars nerd who reads all of the books and comics and watches the shows is that I know I'm going to get plenty of tie-in media that eventually fills in all of the holes to my satisfaction anyway.

It also seems clear from the news stories about the rewrites done / 40% of the filming being reshot is that the character work was done and it came out pretty bad. I'd guess they saved the film by cutting all of that out and just showing action. I'm very curious to see what Edwards gets next. His IMDB page doesn't show a current project.

[SKO]

DPD - I do think the character work on Rogue One was pretty bad, for the record. But it was still an overall enjoyable movie.

The second time through I actually thought they did a better job on Jyn than I thought the first time watching it. Her conversion from cynic to leader felt forced and way too sudden, but watching it again and realizing both her adopted father figure (Saw) and her real father died right after begging her to do the right thing/save the rebellion/destroy the Death Star, her development didn't feel as rushed.

Cassian was a cypher, and just having him vaguely allude to his tragic past as justification for his behavior is still weak, we really needed to know his story.

I'd have liked more on why the pilot decided to defect, why Galen meant so much to him, and there's a good story to be told about Chirrut and Baze being Jedi-worshipping monks who have to find their place in a world after basically watching God die. That movie did not tell it.

So yeah, I get the character criticism. About halfway through my first watch of the movie I wasn't sure I was even enjoying it, but the ending really packs such a punch I don't care.

Also the benefit of being an uber-Star Wars nerd who reads all of the books and comics and watches the shows is that I know I'm going to get plenty of tie-in media that eventually fills in all of the holes to my satisfaction anyway.

It also seems clear from the news stories about the rewrites done / 40% of the filming being reshot is that the character work was done and it came out pretty bad. I'd guess they saved the film by cutting all of that out and just showing action. I'm very curious to see what Edwards gets next. His IMDB page doesn't show a current project.

Yeah, RESHOOTS are usually thrown around as a big red flag and people like to just automatically assume the evil old studio is trying to crush the auteur director but a lot of times studio interference saves shit like this. There were all kinds of rumors about Disney running off the director for Thor 2 and Ant-Man and yet both movies ended up legitimately fun, entertaining blockbuster fare.

Sometimes directors go overboard, too, and studios really do have to rein them in. The rumors are that the Edwards cut was far darker and far less hopeful than what they got. I understand wanting to do a gritty, nihilistic "war is hell and both sides really lose" kinda thing but that doesn't really work as a Star Wars movie. There are shades of grey but "empire bad, rebels good, stopping Nazis who blow up planets is necessary work" is kind of essential to the story.

[CT III]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

[Tonker]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Twain.  Things get cleaved in twain.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Twain.  Things get cleaved in twain.

Dude, he's not even going to remember this post.

[Eli]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

[CT III]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

[Chuck to Chuck]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Yawn. That old trope?

[SKO]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

[CBStew]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Twain.  Things get cleaved in twain.

I agree with CT.  If you are going to use words like "cleaved" it is obligatory that you use the word "twain".  Mark my words.

[Tony]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

I thought Tarkin looked great, but Leia seemed off to me.

The whole movie was worth it just for Red an Gold leaders.

[Bort]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

I thought Tarkin looked great, but Leia seemed off to me.

The whole movie was worth it just for Red an Gold leaders.

I endorse this post.

[SKO]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

I thought Tarkin looked great, but Leia seemed off to me.

The whole movie was worth it just for Red an Gold leaders.

I endorse this post.

My wife has probably only watched A New Hope all of the way through with me once, and so she did not remember that Luke was Red 5, so she shot me a weird look when I started chuckling as soon as they showed the original Red 5, since you knew immediately that guy was a goner.

[Tony]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

I thought Tarkin looked great, but Leia seemed off to me.

The whole movie was worth it just for Red an Gold leaders.

I endorse this post.

My wife has probably only watched A New Hope all of the way through with me once, and so she did not remember that Luke was Red 5, so she shot me a weird look when I started chuckling as soon as they showed the original Red 5, since you knew immediately that guy was a goner.

I DVR'd all the Star Wars movies when they were on TV a couple months ago, and decided to show it to my kid who is not even 2 yet assuming he'd be bored because it wasn't animated. Well, I was wrong. He's obsessed with it. He requests it every damn day. When the Star Wars logo comes on the screen he points and screams and kicks his legs. He waves goodbye to the words on the opening crawl. And he loves R2-D2. That's how he asks for the movie. He hands me the remote and and say "Artoo...Artoo!". So we've watched A New Hope basically every day for a couple months.

When Mrs. Butthead and I left the theater after seeing Rogue One I said something about Red 5 assuming she would be as excited as I was about it because we've watched the battle of Yavin a million times recently, but I got a blank stare back. I guess I didn't marry a nerd.

[SKO]

I've finally just seen it. Some mild SPOILERS below:

I loved it. The characters were a bit thin but I'm a guy who loves the shit out of Kelly's Heroes and the only characters I can even name from that movie are the titular Kelly and Oddball.  And Don Rickles, who is playing Don Rickles.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Rogue One. It had what I wanted: a filthy, lived-in world. Periods of violence, punctuated by a robot or monk cracking wise.  And a third act battle that goes down as maybe the finest combat sequence this series has ever put on screen.

I could have done without a couple of the extra video game contrivances thrown in the way of the heroes transmitting the plans (since we knew it was going to happen) but I can forgive just about anything of a movie that gives me a convincingly filmed scene featuring one Star Destroyer cleaving another in twain before absolutely WRECKING a planetary shield.  If you were looking for something that gave a deeper insight into the SW universe, I can understand why you'd be disappointed.  I wasn't, and I'm not.

Pretty much all of this. The last 30 minutes or so was especially fantastic.

My only minor disappointment was that the final Vader scene had been built up by so many people that it ended up being a little underwhelming for me. Probably just a product of expectations though.

Agreed on the Vader bit. It was good but what I'd just seen blew it away.

However that goes both ways, because while Tarkin's presence in the film was built up to be anything from a disappointment to a disaster, it didn't really bother me at all.

Yeah one review I had read before the movie said Tarkin's presence was so distracting it was like a "PS4 character standing in a room of real people" so when I actually saw him I was like "Christ, it's nowhere near that bad" so it never bothered me.

I thought Tarkin looked great, but Leia seemed off to me.

The whole movie was worth it just for Red an Gold leaders.

I endorse this post.

My wife has probably only watched A New Hope all of the way through with me once, and so she did not remember that Luke was Red 5, so she shot me a weird look when I started chuckling as soon as they showed the original Red 5, since you knew immediately that guy was a goner.

I DVR'd all the Star Wars movies when they were on TV a couple months ago, and decided to show it to my kid who is not even 2 yet assuming he'd be bored because it wasn't animated. Well, I was wrong. He's obsessed with it. He requests it every damn day. When the Star Wars logo comes on the screen he points and screams and kicks his legs. He waves goodbye to the words on the opening crawl. And he loves R2-D2. That's how he asks for the movie. He hands me the remote and and say "Artoo...Artoo!". So we've watched A New Hope basically every day for a couple months.

When Mrs. Butthead and I left the theater after seeing Rogue One I said something about Red 5 assuming she would be as excited as I was about it because we've watched the battle of Yavin a million times recently, but I got a blank stare back. I guess I didn't marry a nerd.

Same. My son is only about 20 months old but he's already way into it. I'm sure knowing me people think I forced it on him, but no, from the moment that kid saw Darth Vader he fell in love. He walks around doing the breathing noise, playing with an R2 D2 I got him and saying BEEP BOOP, fighting with a lightsaber. I brought all of my old figures home from my folks house and he loves to play with them. We get home every day and he runs to the case and yells "SHABER" which is his way of saying I need to get the Darth Vader figure out and put his lightsaber in his hand.

When he freaks out in the car you can get him to calm down by playing the Imperial March.

It is all I could ever have hoped for as a dad.