#307

I think that’s generous. I remember thinking it was good in the immediate aftermath of watching it, but I think that was just because the last half hour was an enjoyable spectacle. I think the actual plot barely hangs together for the most part.

#308

That bit made me slam my face into my palms.

#309

Why?

#310

Just horrendous grandstanding to people who’d watched the first film. Pointless and silly to reuse a bunch of old clips like that. They served no purpose: the nostalgia was already there, it just made it clear how little actual understanding the makers really had of the film they had to make.

This is the sort of thing that makes prequels such a pain: constant bawdy 4th wall breaking winks to the audience to remind us they know what’s coming next.

There were other issues, too. This definitely wasn’t the worst but it just made my heart sink a bit because it set its stall out early that they really had reached a bit of dead end on where the film would go next.

#311

I didn’t mind those bits. Like surely everyone went into the film knowing it would merge into ep IV in a way so why not include those appropriate visuals?

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#312

they were some of the best parts of the film for me, and I don’t even like star wars that much.

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#313

I can see your point, the prequels were more ham-fisted in this regard, but the timeline of R1 is such that people like Jon Vander and Red Leader would be involved in such an attack.

And they hardly rammed them down our throats in a “Look what we’ve done, aren’t we great” kind of way - it was a nice surprise, I had no idea before that first viewing, and it was probably the thing that made me feel the most nostalgic until we reached the Tantive IV.

I think TFA was sold more on nostalgia and pulling on people’s hearts strings then Rogue One was.

7 Likes
#314

It was rammed down our throats in our view. It’s not so much that having the same characters in is bad, it’s the fact that different takes or no, as a viewer it was the exact same bit of the film dropped in effectively.

It’s not the worst stuff by any means and I’ve covered that in our thread on the film AFAIK so I’ll not go into it now.

Still 7/10 stands for me: there’s stuff in there that’s bloody excellent. I love where we’re seeing other bits of the SW universe. I just found using Ep IV as more of a crutch than absolutely necessary to be lame.

Comparing to TFA: actually had this discussion recently on FB and my comment was pretty much along these lines:

Rogue One is great for being a different sort of SW film, for attempting stuff that is different in all kinds of ways, but the execution is just poor. It fails to really deliver on its promise and in a lot of parts the nature of the reshoots really show up and make the whole thing uneven.

The Force Awakens, however, goes the other way. When it should have striven for its own new narrative it just rehashes a lot of original trilogy stuff, not just the first film, although mainly that. But weirdly the execution is note perfect. It doesn’t matter how uninspiring the main plot is, all the characters are played so well, the beats are there, the timing between them is there. So in the end it’s a great film to enjoy. It does what it needs to even if it’s a shame it doesn’t do more.

1 Like
#315

i kind of like how little chemistry the characters in rogue 1 have though, it gives it the feel of these disparate rebels working together because the bigger cause is more important than any one of them. they feel awkward and thrown together, like they dont know each other. dont get me wrong, i really enjoy the fact that rey and finn are best pals straight off, but its nice that rogue 1 doesnt do the chummy banter; theyre terrorists fighting against the empire

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#316

That’s a really nice way of putting it.

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#317

Yeah, I mean nothing wrong with that. Reckon the original Star Wars has a lot of that about it although it’s hard to forget the later films and our knowledge that Han’s basically a good guy, Chewie really wouldn’t hurt a fly and Threepio is actually devoted to Artoo…

Again, it’s more about minor differences that just jar for me a lot while watching Rogue One but I will say the group dynamic isn’t something I had a particular problem with…

@andyvine

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#318

Enjoyed “It’s a wrap!”

#319

Production photo of Snoke - looks pretty good.

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#320

Pretty, pretty uncomfortable with this.

#321

I’m intrigued - go on…

#322

The series isn’t great with the “visual deformity = evil” trope as it is. This is the least subtle example yet.

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#323

It’s fine but really it’s about how realistic it looks in the film. If they can make it work then that’s great but his CGI-ness was a big let down of The Force Awakens for me. Especially given how much more realistic fake-Tarkin looked in Rogue One a year later.

Also his resemblance to Jasper Carrot has been noted.

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#324

I’m not sure the design is the be all and end all of his ‘evilness’ - Snoke is the leader of the First Order and depicted as above from the off, not like a dragged out like Palpatine’s morph.

#325

I don’t think that makes any difference.

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#326

HA! Snoke = Wiggy

There is an actual puppet/animatronic Snoke used within The Last Jedi, so it’s not going to be all CGI this time. I think he looks equally cool and grotesque especially for a film not rated higher than a 12a.