 December 16, 2016 - 7:36am | For those that have seen Rogue One, let's discuss it. As the title suggests: SPOILER ALERT!!! It's your own fault if you continue reading now that you've been warned twice.  |
December 16, 2016 - 7:49am | I found the lack of an opening crawl disturbing, however the triumphant return of an in-your-face musical score was most welcome. Equally shocking was discovering said score was not from John Williams. Overall a decent story of the events leading up to New Hope. Despite not having a lot of screen time, Vader was awesome, and we finally get a glimpse into his reputation in New Hope & beyond that was lost in the prequels. Gratuitous cameos were fun nonetheless, Ponda Baba (aka walrus man) & Evazan ("we're wanted men"), R2 & 3PO, and the final scene with CG young Leia (voiced by Fisher) on the bridge of Tantive IV were nice touches. The characters were developed in a satisfactory manner, and their demises although harsh would lend good support to the opening crawl of New Hope and the rest of the story that follows. I'll see it again, although I am not tempted by 3D due to the obvious lack of effects that would be enhanced by spending the extra money on glasses. |
 December 16, 2016 - 8:32pm | I can say that this is the best Star Wars movie I've seen since Episode IV "A New Hope" The recent movie with Darth Tantrum and "Gee what can we do to wow the fans? Wait I know lets make that Death Star planet sized instead of moon sized, that will really, Wow the fans!" Yawn! Force Awakens was hoaky and Rogue One is like a "Good blaster at your side" Rogue One is the movie that Force Awakens should have been. It ties characters from all the 6 movies together with some nice nods to the original. Vader is chilling in this and that was awesome after Darth Tantrum. I liked having Grand Moff Tarkin back. The movie didn't have to try to redo the cool stuff and laughs from ther other movies as is common with sequels it just did its own thing. Pretty sure I saw an ifshnit in this movie. It was the original Zebs artwork ifshnit not the truer to the discription ifshnit seen in the SFman. I agree with Shadow the lack of the Openning crawl was disturbing in a star wars movie but perhaps they decided it would set this apart as a one off story. Extremely gratifide that they cast Alan Tudyk (Walsh in Firefly/Serenity) as K2SO and that he was a bad arsed robot (no whining like C3PO) and the comic relief at the same time. In fact he is pretty much the sole source of comic relief in this movie where all the characters are serious and dont have any funny one liners like Han Solo. Great line: "Rebellions are built on hope." They did some cool things, cinematically, with the death star. Not that it shot stuff and what have you but that the views of it were cool. Like when it hyper jumps to the final star system and characters on the ground look up and see it rising above the horizon like a bad moon rising- very cool- we've never really seen it quite like that. Yep best Star Wars movie since episode 4. and sadly the star wars movie Force awakens should have been. This dralasite gives 4 thumbs up. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 16, 2016 - 9:40pm | The more I think about it the more an opening crawl would be difficult to create. After all we see the backstory develop as the movie developes, we really don't need to read about how 30-something years following ATOC that a Genoshan design is finally nearing completion because, well...it takes the lead character's father to design the actual weapon itself (thus suggesting the Genoshans only drummed up the conceptsystem of a super weapon rather than being able to design the weapon itself, after all this is a society that uses beasts of burden to tow repulsor lift wagons, not exactly an advanced society capable of designing such a weapon of war). Still, I think I would have at least enjoyed a brief narrative a la Clone Wars cartoon over "long long ago in a galaxy far far away" followed immediately by the movie. Beyond that my only other disappointment was the lack of an audience on opening night. Having read how Fandango shattered first day pre-order records I was expecting more than the paltry sub-40% occupancy for the first viewing at the theater I attended. I can only speculate that these alleged Fandango records reflect the official December 16 opening date and people didn't realize that some theaters would be showing it a day sooner when they ordered. This was anything but the opening night experience I enjoyed with every other SW movie I attended (save for the original, I lived in a backwater town that didn't get it until August instead of May but we saw it on opening day for that theater). |
 December 17, 2016 - 3:39am | Good show. I rate it with Empire. It stands on its own and I fogave them the lack of the opening svore and scrolling back story after the story got to Jyn's delivery to Yavin IV. At that point I was hooked on the story. I was shocked to loose all the characters but bought the necessity of doing it. They really synched the loss of the Bothan (sp) Spies. Concerning Shadow's note thst one man would be needed to guide the building of the Death Star, I see it this way. The Empire is a humans only racist group. Once Palpatine got the ball rolling and all the racial loyalty preached they had to drop the Genosians. Notice you never see any alien empirials. Only the rebels enlist aliens. Also, alien home worlds are identified in the movies, but never a human home world. Palpatine is stoking the fire with the human history of expanding to every known place in the galaxy to justify empire and totalitarianism. Now for the project size and dependency on just one man, the movie address that. Jyn's father knew he was not needed and only did it by force and as an opportunity to sabotage it. This answers why it was so easy to destroy and reveals the arrogance that had built into the mindset of the empirial leaders that they were invincible. The director is the one who believed he needed Jyn's father, not Vader or Tarken. Tarken waited to take over when it was finally a military asset. Until then he kept building his position to be sure he would have command of it. Vader was busy being the blunt instrument Palpatine kept him busy at. They all saw the building of the Death Star as inevitable and had no thought that one man was needed. Their big concern was over raw materials and the pain Saw was giving them over obtaining them. I liked all the cameos and really liked the robot. I liked that he finally got armed. I thought Leia was a bit fat faced in the CG. -iggy |
December 17, 2016 - 4:00am | Yeah the gag with the gun and the droid was great. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 17, 2016 - 11:29am | They really synched the loss of the Bothan (sp) Spies.
No Bothans were harmed, injured, maimed, or killed in the making of this film. That didn't actually happen until the events leading up to the second Death Star in ROTJ.  |
December 17, 2016 - 12:03pm | They really synched the loss of the Bothan (sp) Spies.
No Bothans were harmed, injured, maimed, or killed in the making of this film. That didn't actually happen until the events leading up to the second Death Star in ROTJ. Correct! Two points to Shadow. Five bonus points for the cool No Bothans were harmed line. -iggy |
 December 17, 2016 - 4:03pm | I rate it 4th. The reason is pacing. it needed to be edited by about 15 minutes. As such, I actually rate it less, only slightly, than Jedi. I also did not like the Tantive IV being on the flagship at the end. It creates a continuity problem with A New Hope. Why in the hell would they act like they were on a diplomatic mission if they just left a battle? There needed to be a step in between. But I did like how they explained why there was a flaw in the design. |
December 18, 2016 - 9:11am | Yes it bothered me that the Tantive IV was at the battle and not a secret rendezvous by a fleeing courier ship. Leia's lie now seems very weak. -iggy |
December 18, 2016 - 10:10am | Still this is Vader as he should be. Menacing and bad to the bone. Not the tortured Anakin Skywalker of episodes 1-3 He feels even more menacing in this movie than in episodes 4-6 I can overlook the continuity error. its rather small in the larger scheme of things and not at all on par with the continuity issues JJ Abrams introduced to Star Trek. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 18, 2016 - 11:06am | Yes it bothered me that the Tantive IV was at the battle and not a secret rendezvous by a fleeing courier ship. Leia's lie now seems very weak. Not really, Vader's immediate response to that weak lie was "You are part of the Rebel alliance and a traitor, TAKE HER AWAY!!!" After all, Vader was there killing Rebel troops as they tried to escape to the nearby Tantive, he did not need to use the force to discern the truth since he was there as it happened. Also noteworthy, depending on the time frame between Rogue One's ending and New Hope's beginning (to which I would equate to be hours that can be counted on one hand), Leia probalby didn't know Vader was in the adjacent hold, her troops merely received the data tapes handed through a jammed airlock who probably did not see Vader either. Still this is Vader as he should be. Menacing and bad to the bone. Not the tortured Anakin Skywalker of episodes 1-3 My point exactly, Episodes 1-3 (especially 3) had every opportunity to develop Vader's reputation that was earned in the OT, and failed miserably. By New Hope most of the Imperials feared Vader (which could probably be ammended to "all" following the force choke scene), and by ESB nobody dared to cross Vader, especially the officers in charge who were readily dispatched for their failures. Yet we never saw any of this fearful reputation developing in the Lucas prequels, this was the Anakin/Vader I wanted to see in Revenge of the Sith. |
December 18, 2016 - 12:54pm | I still can't understand why they don't run their scripts by me so I can point out flaws. |
December 18, 2016 - 2:55pm | So we need another movie by these guys (the makers of Rogue One) showcasing Vader as he goes all dark and kills Anakin so that Obi Wan is speaking more of a truth to Luke in Jedi than we ever suspected. Something like the newly minted Vader hunting down some escaped Jedi that were dear to the young aliance and his killing them right in front of young Aliance officers starts that great fear. The killing Anakin part can be done some spooky way like in the good serial killer movies. Have one or two personal events (better than Lucas tried) that newly minted Vader in black helmet does that sinch it all. I know there is material on this type of stuff in the cartoons and literature but I don't spend that much of my time chasing Star Wars. -iggy |
December 18, 2016 - 8:37pm | I know there is material on this type of stuff in the cartoons and literature but I don't spend that much of my time chasing Star Wars. While Lucas openly honored the Expanded Universe (RPG, novels, comic books, etc) as canon --- without actually coming forth and claiming it for the sake of continuity since with scores of production sources that continuity would never line up if they tried since it was so heavily saturated --- Disney has openly stated that all of those sources (save for the Clone Wars & Rebels cartoons) are NOT canon. I agree with the production team, I hope at least a fraction of them will return for Episode 8.  |
December 19, 2016 - 5:54am | So we need another movie by these guys (the makers of Rogue One) Any movie by these guys would be good. If the creative team behind this movie made anything I think I'd watch it. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 19, 2016 - 1:27pm | I dig the easter egg where Red 5 was shot down thus leaving an opening for you-know-who in New Hope. |
December 19, 2016 - 2:58pm | I missed the Red 5 Easter egg. Dang, now I have to watch it all over again. I've been thinking on Leia being at the battle more. Since she was there it not only makes for Vader's quick dismissal of her as a traitor, it also gives Palpatine the excuse to dissolve the Senate due to her senator status. Palpatine can persuasively argue that the old senate is rife with rebel sympathizers and traitors and the zealots will happily ransack the place and drive out any senators who try to withstand. -iggy |
December 19, 2016 - 9:03pm | I got the Red 5 easter egg, wonder if they go the original actors for Red Leader and Gold Leader? Or were they also CGI? Tarkin must be CGI, He looks younger. Just saw it a second time, got to say I love the K2SO robot, Freaking 500% better than the BB robot from the other new movie. Wow the other new movie is pure crap next to this one. It wasn't as bad as Episode 1 with Jar Jar and the young anoying Anakin but compared to Rogue 1 it sucks vacuum. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
December 20, 2016 - 8:24am | Tarkin is CGI (Cushing died about two decades ago), however I have read that the red & gold leader scenes are restored footage that was not used in the original film. |
December 21, 2016 - 12:08pm | All this makes me think of my favorite series review of what was wrong with the prequals. It seems as if they finally listened on this film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI |
December 21, 2016 - 8:09pm | I tend not to subscribe to the internet rage posted everywhere, but I will say this much about the prequels: The suckage stems from Jar Jar Binks and bad actors portraying the main star (Anakin/Vader). |
