Thoughts on Rogue One

[Dudester]

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE.

My youtube algorithm gave me a bunch of Rogue One reaction videos this weekend. The more I watched this movie the more I not only liked it, but I also began to think of it a truly classical movie. Easily, it is the best written of all the Star Wars movies. The dialogue is snappy. Also, it is a throwback to movies of another time. The first 20 minutes of Casablanca (1942) is character building and with Rogue One the character building takes a bit longer. It takes longer for us to get to know and get attached to characters. What is also important is that the movie does not begin with a text crawl, like episodes 1 through 9. We have to watch and pay attention and some people just have to play with their smart phones during the movie-so they forget what the movie watching experience is supposed to be.

This is also a war movie. There are battles and people die. A five year old cries while she is caught in the middle of a crossfire. People sacrifice themselves and we really don't see that very much in the episodes. Yeah, a character dies here and there, but in this movie there is a considerable body count and all of the protagonists die, all of them, this is war. They died to further a cause, willingly giving all, like the beaches of Normandy, the outskirts of Gettysburg and the battle of Somme.

In the American civil war, some people saw the war literally fought in their front yards and as a result it was 33 years until we were in another war. We Americans are spoiled. We fight our battles in other people's countries, in other people's front yards. In movie form we neatly tie it all up with a bow at the end, but Rogue One doesn't do that. It ends with a vital message getting to the right person but there was a great cost for it to get there and some people just don't get the whole sacrifice thing. They want at least one familiar face to survive but as Rogue One was filmed 40 years after the movie it was to proceed, there is no way to do this unless we make serious changes to three of the movies.

For me, this movie has transcended the sci fi genre and joined the list of modern classics, like Sleepless in Seattle and The 10 Things I Hate About You.

[DurtyDurtyGirl]

I have to disagree.
I can understand them thinking they having to stick to the same old formula for the main starwars films, but with Rogue one they had the chance to make a grown up film for grown up starwars fans.
I actually believe they intended to do a darker more adult film but at the final cut they pissed their pants and ran away.
Take Forest Whitikers character for example. Could have been (and i think was probably meant to be) a much more developed character portraying the true horrors of what war does to people and what it drives them to do. Instead the final cut had him down to virtually a cameo appearance. And the final sequence was the same old thing - shut down the shield to let the fighter destroy the big space thing while the jedi wave their glow sticks about.
I loved starwars. But am so disappointed in the utter lack of imagination or vision that Disney has brought to it.
Xxx

[Dudester]

And the final sequence was the same old thing - shut down the shield to let the fighter destroy the big space thing while the jedi wave their glow sticks about.

While I believe you're right about Whittaker's role, there was no jedi in the movie. The closest example was the blind monk, but he didn't have a "glow stick." Whittaker's role was probably cut down to save screen time-perhaps there should have been a "director's cut" to find out why he was missing legs and had damaged lungs.

I loved starwars. But am so disappointed in the utter lack of imagination or vision that Disney has brought to it.
Xxx

For episodes 7-8-9 and Solo, you are 100% right. I didn't bother with Solo, but if the movie was rated R, which a Solo movie should have been, then I'd be interested.

[DurtyDurtyGirl]

I could have sworn there was a bit of a saber action in their at the end.
My bad.

I may have to go back and watch it again, as maybe I lumped it in with the others too quickly.

xxx

[Dudester]

Darth Vader does make an appearance right at the end, but that is only so that they can tie Rogue One to episode 4. Without that scene, everyone would say WTF?