Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (spoilers)

[-Akronite-]

After watching The Force Awakens I felt strongly that it was better than the prequels but didn't crack into my top 3 with the OT (I also love Jedi way more than the consensus opinion). After watching Rogue One I came to the same conclusion, putting it right ahead of TFA and right behind the original trilogy. Though that's more because I have a couple hangups with TFA, even though I think it may actually be a better movie. Not sure.

Anyway that's just a bunch of words without consequence I felt expressing.

Apparently Disney has plans into 2030 with Star Wars. I think they are doing too much but $$$MONEY$$$. We're getting Han Solo and they are cranking out this trilogy too fast and we'll probably get an Obi-Wan movie and God knows what else.

Here's hoping they get creative with it at some point.

 

[Jack Brickman]

After watching The Force Awakens I felt strongly that it was better than the prequels but didn't crack into my top 3 with the OT (I also love Jedi way more than the consensus opinion). After watching Rogue One I came to the same conclusion, putting it right ahead of TFA and right behind the original trilogy. Though that's more because I have a couple hangups with TFA, even though I think it may actually be a better movie. Not sure.

Anyway that's just a bunch of words without consequence I felt expressing.

Apparently Disney has plans into 2030 with Star Wars. I think they are doing too much but $$$MONEY$$$. We're getting Han Solo and they are cranking out this trilogy too fast and we'll probably get an Obi-Wan movie and God knows what else.

Here's hoping they get creative with it at some point.

I'd say the plus side is that we're likely to get a lot of unique stories within the Star Wars universe made by some talented people. There will almost undoubtedly be some duds, but it's just cool that the entirety of the universe is so open now to a variety of Hollywood filmmakers, whereas before it was basically just Lucas hoarding the rights and doing fuck all with them.

Rogue One seemed to prove that, at the very least, there are other filmmakers out there capable of making great Star Wars films.

 

[-Akronite-]

Rogue One seemed to prove that, at the very least, there are other filmmakers out there capable of making great Star Wars films.

Technically we've known this since Empire.

It'll be nice when they come up with original stories that actually expand the universe rather than relying on old shit. That's one thing you can give the prequels credit for, they attempted to create new worlds and bring new imagery in. A lot of cluttered crap was the result for much of it, but they tried.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Technically we've known this since Empire.

It'll be nice when they come up with original stories that actually expand the universe rather than relying on old shit. That's one thing you can give the prequels credit for, they attempted to create new worlds and bring new imagery in. A lot of cluttered crap was the result for much of it, but they tried.

Honestly, I'd consider Rogue One to be pretty original. Yeah, it's set before A New Hope, but it featured almost an entirely unique cast of characters, with only a few cameos from characters we know. And those cameos were more to tie the film directly into the intro of New Hope than they were essential to the story.

 

[Triplethreat]

I can at least see the argument that it's the best. It was a very good film. I agree that Empire was better, but I think I liked Rogue One better than Return and probably better than New Hope as well, although admittedly it's been years since I watched the original trilogy. It's also worth noting that Empire had the advantage of being the second movie in a trilogy, which means we all knew and liked the characters right from the first shot. They didn't have to spend any time introducing us to them.

I don't see how you could rate Rogue One before any of the OT. What makes the OT so great is the character progression you see throughout each movie. You can't take away from the movies because they already had the characters set up in a previous film, it's all part oft he experience that makes the OT so phenomenal.

 

[Jordan]

Well...I may agree with you. The only thing that even approached a wrong note to me was her Felicity Jones' speech to the council to convince them to help her. Didn't think it came across well.

But other than that, I just loved the whole tone of it. I like Diego Luna's role and performance more every time I see it. I find it interesting that my teenage son and his friends were kind of "meh" about the whole thing. Not enough Force-type stuff for them, which is probably one of the things I appreciated the most about it.

Rewatched it last night and I'm glad somebody else felt this way too. The speech was whiny and not effective, in my mind anyways. Otherwise the movie was damn near perfect. Almost as good as Empire, which frankly, was fucking perfect.

 

[SmudgeHog]

they are cranking out this trilogy too fast and we'll probably get an Obi-Wan movie and God knows what else.

The Jar Jar Binks Chronicles: Rise of the Gooberfish

 

[Jack Brickman]

I don't see how you could rate Rogue One before any of the OT. What makes the OT so great is the character progression you see throughout each movie. You can't take away from the movies because they already had the characters set up in a previous film, it's all part oft he experience that makes the OT so phenomenal.

I think you're looking at the original trilogy through the eyes of nostalgia. Empire is undoubtedly a great film, as is New Hope, but the entire Ewok segment in Return is pretty ridiculous and out of place.

I also don't really understand the argument that no film could ever hold up to the OT. Why not? I thought Rogue One was an excellent Star Wars film, and easily belongs in the conversation as one of the best Star Wars films yet made.

 

[Chris]

I think you're looking at the original trilogy through the eyes of nostalgia. Empire is undoubtedly a great film, as is New Hope, but the entire Ewok segment in Return is pretty ridiculous and out of place.

I also don't really understand the argument that no film could ever hold up to the OT. Why not? I thought Rogue One was an excellent Star Wars film, and easily belongs in the conversation as one of the best Star Wars films yet made.

I've been saying this a while. This whole "OT can do no wrong" thing is kind of silly.

 

[col63onel]

We're getting Han Solo and they are cranking out this trilogy too fast and we'll probably get an Obi-Wan movie and God knows what else.

I am pretty sure we get a "Boba Fett" centered movie. Not necessarily a film about him, but a movie about bounty hunters in the SW universe and he's the most notable.

Also think we get an Obi Wan movie as well. Eventually they'll do an Old Republic movie, but that's down the line.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

I don't see how you could rate Rogue One before any of the OT. What makes the OT so great is the character progression you see throughout each movie. You can't take away from the movies because they already had the characters set up in a previous film, it's all part oft he experience that makes the OT so phenomenal.

My personal opinion is that the character development, for the most part, was pretty predictable and somewhat trite. I hate to play the Joseph Campbell card there, but it's kind of hard to avoid. There was some great humor with the droids and Harrison Ford, "epic space opera" was a hugely untapped market that hadn't really been touched since the Flash Gordon serials, and it added just enough mysticism with "The Force" to make it something more than a typical hero tale. The only characters that developed at all were Luke and Vader, and I'd say that even their "development arcs" were telegraphed.

I mean, if you're thinking of checking out some films known for their character development, I don't think the Star Wars franchise is where most people would start.

Rogue One wasn't a "character development" movie either (although Jyn developed to some extent), but rather a plot-driven action movie. I just think the plot was stronger than in any of the originals except ESB, it had a more consistent tone than either ANH or ROTJ, and did a much better job of making minor character relatable than did any of the three original movies -- at least in my opinion.

My point is that Rogue One is a sufficiently different movie from at least ANH and ROTJ that it would be fair to prefer either to the other. The closest comparator to RO was ESB, and even the biggest fans of RO generally acknowledge that ESB was a great movie overall.

 

[Jack Brickman]

My personal opinion is that the character development, for the most part, was pretty predictable and somewhat trite. I hate to play the Joseph Campbell card there, but it's kind of hard to avoid. There was some great humor with the droids and Harrison Ford, "epic space opera" was a hugely untapped market that hadn't really been touched since the Flash Gordon serials, and it added just enough mysticism with "The Force" to make it something more than a typical hero tale. The only characters that developed at all were Luke and Vader, and I'd say that even their "development arcs" were telegraphed.

I'd say Han developed too.

 

[Kbiz]

I am pretty sure we get a "Boba Fett" centered movie. Not necessarily a film about him, but a movie about bounty hunters in the SW universe and he's the most notable.

Also think we get an Obi Wan movie as well. Eventually they'll do an Old Republic movie, but that's down the line.

I remember hearing somewhere that a Boba Fett movie was in the original plans but not sure if that has changed since. Another villain i'd love to see return in some capacity is Darth Maul.

 

[col63onel]

I remember hearing somewhere that a Boba Fett movie was in the original plans but not sure if that has changed since. Another villain i'd love to see return in some capacity is Darth Maul.

Yup. Josh Trank was originally going to direct it (never made official, but IIRC it was pretty widely reported), but after Fan4stic tanked, he was let go. Still a lot of rumors that a Fett/bounty hunters movie is made. My guess is that at Celebration in a few weeks, they'll officially announce the 3rd spinoff. 80% chance it's Fett/bounty hunters, 19% it's Obi Wan, 1% something else.

Also, Maul returned during the Clone Wars and Rebels TV series, if you want to revisit that character.

 

[Sebastian]

Not going to spoil it, but I don't think Maul is getting a movie.