I have the urge to see this again knowing that the tone is so different. It isn't totally devoid of humor, but it's much more serious and dry than the other SW movies. I knew it was supposed to be darker, but I think I'd enjoy it more now knowing the extent of it. It's less endearing for SW, but refreshing as something new.

It actually has the most enjoyable droid "humor" of all the latest movies. It's not so overthetop, or "In your face" as the others. K2 is my new droid hero.

It also has plenty of easter eggs for various other Star Wars media, like several tie-ins to "Star Wars Rebels".

Some of the footage of Red Five and Biggs was found in the basement as the Skywalker Ranch, and was footage cut from A New Hope they redigitized and added into the movie.

I dunno, I thought they copied a lot of K2's personality from HK-47 (from Knights of the Old Republic).

I can guarantee that none of the screenwriters or Alan Tudyk played KOTOR.

He said a lot of his lines he ad libbed and they put them into the movie.



The Jedi Master

Tried to find the first seasons of SW Rebels a while back and couldn't find them, just Clones. Recorded most of season 3 but haven't watched yet hoping to start from the beginning.
What little humor there is in the movie refrained from being "cute". About time.

I have them all on BD, Clone Wars and Rebels.
It is good to watch Rebels from the beginning, there are through lines that will be a bit odd if you skip ahead.

Also, many Clone Wars characters have appearances.




The Jedi Master

Largely spoiler-free until minute 21:

That is a hilarious review. It may sound deprecating and offensive at times, but keep in mind these guys are Star Wars fans too.

I agree with some of what they said, but it would have been difficult to get anything commercially viable from Disney without the constant SW self referencing.

I have made myself that question since I saw my first screening - If you remove all the previous movies' references and characters, do you still have a movie that stands on it's own as a good movie?

Character-wise, I have to say, no.

But as it is now, it is a good Star Wars' fan service movie, and I do not expect anything else from it.

And also, for so many fans that complained about TFA copying ANH's plot... they should watch The Guns of Navarone.

Just back from the theatre, watched it in 3D. Great movie.

The only thing I really didn`t like, was the missing of Williams music (I know why, but still...)

Saw it tonight. Kids loved it, I thought it was ok. ( WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD )

Two things that bugged me about it: in ep4, the theft of the DS plans were ( it seemed to me ) implied to be the result of covert action or spycraft; this movie makes it out the be a full on fleet action.

Secondly, Vader sees the rebel ship escape - and yet in Episode 4 the crew members claim when boarded that they are on a peaceful diplomatic mission..... DESPITE THE SHIP JUST UN-DOCKING FROM THE F'ING REBEL FLAGSHIP RIGHT IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY.

I hate prequels.

Didn't the Ep4 opening crawl always imply that the theft of the plans was part of some kind of major engagement, a noteworthy victory against the Empire:



At the beginning of EP4 the Tantive IV is exchanging fire with the Star Destroyer. When boarded they prepare to fire upon the stormtroopers at first sight. That is not the behavior of an imperial senators crew on a peaceful diplomatic mission. They already know that they've lost their cover and there is no hope anybody will buy this story.

Well, there is a new hope.

Also telling was that prior to the unauthorized mission launch in Rogue One the Rebel leaders were indeed demoralized and despairing after seeing the Death Star. That battle and the stealing of the plans gave them hope. Luke's arrival and destruction of the Death Star cemented it.



The Jedi Master

Dropping a lot of Star Wars conventions helped, IMO, to make it a better movie on its own merits. To that extent I am fully satisfied with what I got. That the characters may not have been as strong as in some of the other movies is acceptable, given that most of them die anyway. No, it was a good film. I would even rate it to be one of the best.

If I had to show kids Star Wars for the first time, I'd be hard pressed to set a sequence, but I think it'd look like this:
Episode IV, V, II, III, Rogue One, VI.

Episone I simply isn't necessary to understand any of the storyline, and it has a lot of JJB in it. Two reasons to drop it from screening. If the kids were screaming for more, I'd then tell them that there was also Episode I, if they insisted on it. And then I'd show them Episode VII (because it starts a new storyline (and, at the same time, says good-bye to a lot of established characters), plus, it's essentially a remake of Episode IV, and we don't really klnow how the story will continue from there.

Starting with IV and V is, I think, a really strong opening. Then go back to see how Anakin becomes Vader, and conclude his story arc with Episode VI. Throwing in Rogue One before watching Episode VI helps to keep spirits high, and by the time that they are through with four Episodes kids will probably be able to handle Rogue One, and recognize the tragedy of Vader by the end of Ep VI.


All in all, the departure of George Lucas seems to do the whole franchise good. I'd rate Rogue One rather high, to be honest. Episone I is the pits, I suppose we all agree on that, and The Force Awakens ... well, the best thing that can be said about it is that it manages to revive a withering spirit, I guess. It had its moments.

Well, I saw it tonight, and, I'm probably alone, but... meh.

The dialogue was bad, the characters were cardboard, and the first half was so skitzophrenic they never allowed any substance to develop.

I cared about the robot the most. That's saying something. The robot was more relatable than the humans. The main character needed significantly more time in the beginning to flesh out why we should care about her and her father. Just shooting her mom wasn't enough. I wanted to see more her #%&*$# life before she became significant to the rebellion. We got none of that. As a result, I didn't care about her or hardly any other of her crew... other than the robot.

I finally got around to watching it this past Saturday. A few observations:

1. Mon Mothma sure did age a LOT in the couple of years between ANH and Return of the Jedi!

2. I guess cloud computing doesn't exist in the Star Wars universe. That hard drive/data farm was fricking huge!

3. Did the estate or family of Peter Cushing get compensated for his likeness being used so significantly in the film?



I enjoyed Rogue One significantly more than Force Awakens.

http://www.vulture.com/2016/12/rogue-one-peter-cushing-digital-likeness.html

it's almost certain that Disney did their due diligence in making sure that the use of Cushing's likeness was legal; when reached for comment, a Disney representative pointed to two mentions of Cushing in the credits: "With Special Acknowledgment to Peter Cushing, OBE" and "Special Thanks to The Estate of Peter Cushing, OBE." Actors' union SAG-AFTRA, meanwhile, issued this comment: "Using a digital or virtual re-creation of a performer, deceased or living, in a film, television show, video game, or any other audio-visual work, requires, at minimum, prior consent of the performer or the performers' beneficiaries. The issue for us is straightforward and clear: The use of performers' work in this manner has obvious economic value and should be treated accordingly."

Thanks for that info Falstar. Kudos to Disney!

I'm going to see it tomorrow.I don't usually go to the cinema but my bro said I need to,plus he wants to see it for the 3rd time.

I saw this for a second time, and I honestly cannot get myself to like it as much as others do. To me, this is closer to the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series than to any of the movies in the saga (from that context, I am OK with it).

I bet that without looking into the web NONE of you could remember the names of all the main characters.

You'd go: -"Well, there's Jen, and K2-something, and the Han Solo kinda guy, the Donnie Yen blind guy with the other guy, Forrest Whitaker guest appearance.... and the other... and the Director was the bad guy."

...and Vader, and Leia, and C-Threepio and R2, and Walrus face and AT-STs and Tie Fighters, The Death Star and... (you get the idea).

Characters that are bored to be in a war. With the only motivation to fight and die - Death Star is bad.

In comparison to ANH - Luke wanted adventure, to go to the academy, then he saw Leia's Hologram and wanted to know more, which took him to Obi-Wan, his family dies, meet Han Solo - character arcs.

The movie brings nothing of its own. It's a Fan film. A good fan film at that, but I cannot come to compare it to Empire Strikes Back. Yes, ESB was dark-er than ANH, but at least that one brought its own thing. Moved the SW universe forward.

I'm willing to bet that even if you did not like it as much, you had a better picture of the characters in the Force Awakens. Enough to know what you liked and did not like about them. In Rogue One they are cardboard archetypes, and generic at that.

Sure, it is "dark" and "gritty"....and in Star Wars, if you like Brown Spicy mustard, and your choices are French Yellow mustard and Hellmann's mayo, you are going to go with the yellow mustard... which means, even if it is not a movie that can stand on it's own merits, the fact that it is dark, automatically makes it your favorite.

Lastly - this story has been made in the old SW EU and in games in the past. A few of those were more interesting, and made more sense in the continuity of the story than Rogue One.

Fascinating post Bib and I agree with quite a bit of it.