December 19, 2016
Well. That Was Not What I Expected.
Star Wars: Rogue One is is not a space opera.
It is not simply a re-hash of previous plots in the franchise.
It is also completely devoid of infuriating Mary Sues who are effortlessly good at everything.
Despite its very different tone and style (It is actually a re-skinned Samurai film....complete with Zatoichi!) this is not a rejection of the franchise, its fans or its conceits, but rather a labor of love in homage to the whole kit and kaboodle, complete with geeky references to the trilogy, the prequels and the TV series of the sort that were cute but awkward in the prequels. Here they are done masterfully.
Likewise the female lead is an action girl done exactly right.
The movie's effects are everything one would expect from a Star Wars film done by Disney...and more. This is a gorgeous film with visuals that even by today's standards are stunning and it breaks new ground in FX as well as necromancy (which, upon reflection, I'm pretty sure is a Sith art).
This is a story about desperate bitter people in a dark time who are not all that nice who are at the end of their rope while those they look to for guidance are giving in to despair.
Rogue One is also a story of honor, redemption, hope and courage that manages to be uplifting and inspiring despite its gritty take on the Star Wars universe. This is a beautiful and awesome film that fits in perfectly to the Star Wars canon without the sense of forcing the issue that permeated the prequels.
My only gripe is that the score is not anywhere near as epic as one expects from a Star Wars film, except where John Williams pieces are dusted off and used. This is not as egregious as it normally would be given that this is a very different sort of story.
The Force is strong with this one.
Rogue One is awesome.
Go see it.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
09:00 PM
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1
Good to hear, it could so easily have gone horribly wrong.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tue Dec 20 10:58:47 2016 (PiXy!)
2
I may ruffle feathers, but I think it has set the standard as the best of the SW movies; even better than TESB. Why do I say that?
Simple -- TESB suffers from being the middle movie, with a couple of major unresolved plot points at the end. (Solo captured, "there is another"). At the time, we were all disappointed by the first and intrigued by the second. It was only in retrospect, after the third movie, that fans enshrined the second; moreso after the godawful prequel trilogy.
Rogue suffers a bit from not having a fight near the beginning -- but it's an espionage movie (until it goes full Action/Adventure), and that would have actually hurt it more, I think. So, yes, its slow, but I didn't feel like it was because I'd been warned, and adjusted my expectations.
During the final fight, there was an ebb and flow to the battle, and certain objectives the Rebels had to meet. I was telling myself, "This isn't a pure SW movie; it's a WWII movie -- and then another commentator identified the exact movie: It's the Dirty Dozen. With the caveat that these guys are all volunteers, yes it is.
Simple -- TESB suffers from being the middle movie, with a couple of major unresolved plot points at the end. (Solo captured, "there is another"). At the time, we were all disappointed by the first and intrigued by the second. It was only in retrospect, after the third movie, that fans enshrined the second; moreso after the godawful prequel trilogy.
Rogue suffers a bit from not having a fight near the beginning -- but it's an espionage movie (until it goes full Action/Adventure), and that would have actually hurt it more, I think. So, yes, its slow, but I didn't feel like it was because I'd been warned, and adjusted my expectations.
During the final fight, there was an ebb and flow to the battle, and certain objectives the Rebels had to meet. I was telling myself, "This isn't a pure SW movie; it's a WWII movie -- and then another commentator identified the exact movie: It's the Dirty Dozen. With the caveat that these guys are all volunteers, yes it is.
Posted by: ubu at Tue Dec 20 12:36:21 2016 (SlLGE)
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