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
- 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.
- My beloved Y-Wings finally got some love. It might've been nice to see more, though.
- The original Death Star got much, much more screen time, adding to its ominous-ness.
- 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.
- 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.
- They re-created Grand Moff Tarkin. That character really deserved more screen time.
- Stormtroopers, stormtroopers everywhere. Everything gets better if you add stormtroopers.
CRITIQUES
- They didn't use David Prowse to be Darth Vader's actor. That would've added legitimacy to the show.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- 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?
- 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.
- 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."
- 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.
- 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?