Rogue One - Spoilers ALLOWED!

[_Dr. Shades]

WARNING: SPOILERS ARE *ALLOWED!*

I've seen Rogue One twice now. I didn't notice too much amiss the first time I saw it, but while waiting for my second viewing to start my brother pointed out several things that I had missed entirely. Anyway:

KUDOS

1. I thought it was a rollicking good time. The return of all the original "hardware" that each of us grew to know and love was like a drink of fresh water in a desert: Star Destroyers, the Rebels in their original uniforms, AT-ATs ("Imperial walkers,") TIE Fighters in their original color schemes, X-Wings, etc. We even saw short clips of an AT-ST ("scout walker") and a brief flash of a probe droid. Other than the necessary inclusion of entirely different main characters, this looked like a fourth member of the original trilogy.
2. My beloved Y-Wings finally got some love. It might've been nice to see more, though.
3. The original Death Star got much, much more screen time, adding to its ominous-ness.
4. They used old footage of Red Leader and Gold leader to bring them back. My brother told me that they also used the same actor who played the Rebel in the original crow's nest on Yavin IV to be in the crow's nest this time around, too.
5. The exhaust port turned out to be a deliberate inclusion by a covert saboteur, finally accounting for a seeming plot hole that made it so hard to believe that such a massive facility could have such a glaring weakness.
6. They re-created Grand Moff Tarkin. That character really deserved more screen time.
7. Stormtroopers, stormtroopers everywhere. Everything gets better if you add stormtroopers.

CRITIQUES

1. They didn't use David Prowse to be Darth Vader's actor. That would've added legitimacy to the show.
2. They didn't use Hayden Christensen to be the actor in the bacta tank. Although he wouldn't've been recognizable, his name in the credits would've also added legitimacy to the show.
3. They needed to use the Lambda-class shuttle (the one from Return of the Jedi) more. For example, the shuttle we saw at the beginning of the movie should've been one of those. You know, more original hardware to tie this movie into the original trilogy.
4. The Rebels' morality was orders of magnitude more ambiguous. I very much dislike that; I want my Rebels to be universal paragons of virtue. I prefer to restrict my gray areas of the human condition to other movies; let's leave Star Wars purely dichotomous.
5. There were too many gratuitous new characters. For example, when you think about it, Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus were completely unnecessary to the plot of the movie.
6. There wasn't nearly enough emotional range among the good guys. Let's face it: By far the greatest "range" we saw was from K-2S0, and "he" wasn't even human!
7. Cassian Andor's accent was too thick. Why didn't they hire an actor to play a main character who could be as easily understood as possible?
8. In the original trilogy, the Rebels all had American accents, while the Imperials all had British accents. So to keep with tradition, Jyn Erso should've had an American accent instead of a British one.
9. How did Darth Vader's star destroyer track the Tantive IV after it made the jump to light speed? The original trilogy made hyperspace out to be a universal "safe zone."
10. In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke said, "That armor's too strong for blasters," thus necessitating the switch to using tow cables. But in this movie, the armor was clearly not too strong for blasters.
11. They brought back Red Leader and Gold Leader, but they didn't bring back Biggs, Wedge, and (most importantly) Porkins?

I'll probably think of more items to add to each list after I click the "Submit" button.

So, how about you? What did you like about Rogue One, and what didn't you like?

[_DoubtingThomas]

Rogue One, and what didn't you like?

Trump supporters: leading roles were for a woman and a minority, again!

[_Dr. Shades]

Trump supporters: leading roles were for a woman and a minority, again!

Let's leave politics out of this, please.

[_moksha]

My concern would be having to sit through yet another light saber fight.

[_Some Schmo]

The Rebels' morality was orders of magnitude more ambiguous. I very much dislike that; I want my Rebels to be universal paragons of virtue. I prefer to restrict my gray areas of the human condition to other movies; let's leave Star Wars purely dichotomous.

To me, this is what made the whole story come to life. This is what ended up giving the original trilogy the real weight it deserved. It completely makes sense that the rebels wouldn't be this monolithic movement of morality; it would be an assembly of individuals with several different viewpoints. People do dubious things for what they regard as the greater good.

This was what made the whole series a true conflict for the whole galaxy, not just between Jedi types and Siths. It put the "war" in Star Wars.

[_honorentheos]

The Rebels' morality was orders of magnitude more ambiguous. I very much dislike that; I want my Rebels to be universal paragons of virtue. I prefer to restrict my gray areas of the human condition to other movies; let's leave Star Wars purely dichotomous.

To me, this is what made the whole story come to life. This is what ended up giving the original trilogy the real weight it deserved. It completely makes sense that the rebels wouldn't be this monolithic movement of morality; it would be an assembly of individuals with several different viewpoints. People do dubious things for what they regard as the greater good.

This was what made the whole series a true conflict for the whole galaxy, not just between Jedi types and Siths. It put the "war" in Star Wars.

Very much agree. I really hope to see more of this in other non-Skywalker movies. The insurgency feel of the rebellion made it much more enjoyable and surprised me as well.

Blue squadron getting through the shields, thus not making it into A New Hope...cool.

Losing Red 5, sad for him but good for a certain Skywalker. Cool.

The last scenes of Saving Private Ryan but with stormtroopers? You bet cool.

Good guys being...who actually? Jen? We get the idea she's not that good. Her dad isn't that good. Cassian straight up murdered a guy at the start of the movie with no question he shot first. I like that this movie wasn't about good v. evil. It was about dealing with a greater evil lead by the ultimate law and order candidate days before the galactic senate is broken up. Cool.

Vader redoing the opening scene out of a New Hope without stormtrooper back-up...that hit me square in the little kid feels and reminded me of watching the first two movies for the first time. No Star Wars since Empire has done what Rogue One has done and I can't intellectualize that fact away. At a gut level, I was a kid in a memory (meaning, how I remember it felt to watch Star Wars originally, not what it's like to go back and rewatch them because,...well, "Shoot the panel, kid!"). And it felt modern.

Best Star Wars ever. It edges out Emprire for being more gritty. None of the others come close.

ETA: It also made me wonder if I was wrong to imagine if some force battles and lightsaber flashing was awesome then more lightsabers and Jedi fights would make for the best movies the Star Wars universe could offer. Maybe the promise of the force, limited lightsaber action, and a lot of room for imagination are keys to greatness when it comes to Star Wars?

[_subgenius]

First, this was the second movie under the Disney reign and it has proven to be a good move by Lucas, thus almost atone ing for the atrocities of his "episode" debacles.
While I considered R1 to be a storyboard homage to Return of the Jedi, it was good and modern movie making without over reaching. I thought the hand of Disney was more visible in this production but enjoyed the rather deliberate, dismal, and dark ending.
Perhaps the most successful aspect of this movie is that it doesn't make us regret the fact that a new movie is being delivered every year for the next few years.

And with due respect to Shades having Hayden disappear from the series is a blessing, his acting was as bad as Portman's and they both provide the same foul tasting burp of a meal that is destined to resurface into the porcelain chair.

[_cinepro]

I thought it was a rollicking good time. The return of all the original "hardware" that each of us grew to know and love was like a drink of fresh water in a desert: Star Destroyers, the Rebels in their original uniforms, AT-ATs ("Imperial walkers,") TIE Fighters in their original color schemes, X-Wings, etc. We even saw short clips of an AT-ST ("scout walker") and a brief flash of a probe droid. Other than the necessary inclusion of entirely different main characters, this looked like a fourth member of the original trilogy.

And don't forget the blue milk!

My brother told me that they also used the same actor who played the Rebel in the original crow's nest on Yavin IV to be in the crow's nest this time around, too.

It wasn't an actor in Episode IV. The film crew that hauled the equipment down to Guatemala to pick up the shots just used one of their crew members. Don't know if they got the same guy for Rogue One.

They didn't use David Prowse to be Darth Vader's actor. That would've added legitimacy to the show.

David Prowse is persona non grata at Lucasfilm these days, so it probably wasn't going to happen. Also, he may not have physically been able to move around like that. Be sure to watch the documentary "I Am Your Father" on Netflix to see what he's up to these days (including the documentary filmmakers attempting to re-shoot the final unmasking scene of Return of the Jedi with Prowse!)

There were too many gratuitous new characters. For example, when you think about it, Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus were completely unnecessary to the plot of the movie.

By all accounts, the final movie was massively different from the original script and shooting (the original trailer has many shots that didn't make it to the final film). So it's possible the peripheral characters had more to do originally.

How did Darth Vader's star destroyer track the Tantive IV after it made the jump to light speed? The original trilogy made hyperspace out to be a universal "safe zone."

Princess Leia did claim in Episode IV that the Empire could track the Millenium Falcon through hyperspace, so if they got a beacon on the Tantive IV, they could have tracked it. Or, we don't know how long it took Vader to catch up.

My biggest problem was the Tantive IV being there in the first place (and inside the other ship?) That makes Vader's first interaction with Leia in Episode IV non-sensical.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke said, "That armor's too strong for blasters," thus necessitating the switch to using tow cables. But in this movie, the armor was clearly not too strong for blasters.

Luke was in a Snowspeeder, which may have had much less powerful "blasters" than an X-Wing or other ship. Now kids can ask "Why didn't they use X-wings on Hoth when they knew how good they were against AT-AT's from the Rogue One battle, and from The Force Awakens and Rogue One that X-Wings can fly really well and do battle near a planet's surface?"

[_Molok]

My only critique is that I'm already sick of Star Wars and there's going to be a new one every year for the rest of my life.

[_cinepro]

My brother told me that they also used the same actor who played the Rebel in the original crow's nest on Yavin IV to be in the crow's nest this time around, too.

I know everyone was dying for the details on this, so here is how it's described in J.W Rinzler's book "The Making of Star Wars."

(In March of 1977, Richard Edlund (ILM effects supervisor) and Richard Alexander (another FX crew member) journeyed to Guatemala with their film equipment. After several days journey by plane through the jungle, they found the right spot.)

Having found their location, Edlund hired two guards with shotguns to stay overnight with the equipment. "The first day with the baggage, that was okay," Alexander says. "The second day, we got up at four o' clock in the morning. It was just dark and ridiculous."

One of the key shots consisted of a Rebel in his lookout nest - which was yet another ready-made prop. "The biggest box in our luggage was a trash can," Alexander recalls. "The guard's little post was really two $28 trash cans joined together and stuck on an aluminum pole with guide wires. We'd already tested it in the middle of Sepulveda Dam, before we'd left. As soon as I'd shinnied up the pole, the police came along and stopped to look at these idiots in a trash can twenty feet up in the air."

After climbing the pyramid number three once again, they took the trash can out of the crates, found chinks in the stones to keep the poles stable, and then placed the trash can on top of the poles so it had a commanding view overlooking the jungle. "We got it up there - but then nobody wanted to climb into it," Alexander says. "So first a local did, and then I did - and I must admit, it was kind of scary looking down. The temple dropped away at an angle, but I figured that if I fell, I'd probably get stuck in a tree halfway down."

On the third day, model-maker Lorne Petersen joined the trio in Tikal - and was immediately coaxed into the crow's nest. Edlund also had him dress up as the Rebel who tracks the pirate ship with what's supposed to be some sort of fantastic contraption, but which was really a Minolta spot meter, with a tube and batteries taped onto it like a gun, "to make it look sci fi."

To the original point, it looks like Lorne didn't revise his role in Rogue One:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0677285/#actor