Rogue One Donnie Yen is Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One

[scarlet-witch]

*puts bag over his head*
"are you kidding me? I am blind"

got a HUGE reaction in the theaters

Same. I love how he delivered that line, it was so different from everything else.

I couldn't help but think of Kanan while he was fighting.

 

[Smilodon]

I too initially had problems with a star of Donnie's caliber being relegated to "blind, spiritual, wise asian martial artist" in a Star Wars film of all things, but was pleased with Donnie's performance in the end. Truly a worthwhile role for the great Donnie Yen, whose Chirrut is played with so much pathos.

He had incredible scene after incredible scene and awesome lines to boot. His bromance with Baz was also great - props to Jiang Wen on his English. They were an awesome homage to Tahei and Matashichi from Hidden Fortress. I hope we see more and more Asian actors make the leap to a galaxy far, far away. I'd love to see someone like Fukuyama Masaharu appear in a SW flick.

 

[chamber-music]

I hope this leads to Donnie yen getting some good roles in western movies. The last notable Hollywood role I recall seeing him was in blade 2

 

[Reverse-Zoom]

He was the best part of the film.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

He was probably one of my favorite new characters but as with most of the movie, is weakened by the lack of much of a backstory.

 

[fancyarcher]

Donnie Yen was so badass in this film, unsurprisingly. The blind-man act could have gotten old fast, but boy he did he sell his role.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Yen was good. I'm not as in love with his characters as others but it was nice to see a sort of "ground's eye view" of the Force. They didn't go overboard with his handicap as schtick. As with a lot of characters it would have been nice to round out their history a bit more but overall he was good and added to the story by adding the religious context of SW universe into the mix of this particular story.

 

[Marvolo]

Like a lot of secondary star wars characters he will probably be rounded out in comics or books.

 

[DrCosmic]

I did notice that Donnie Yen's character essentially stepped out of a Kung Fu flick and into the SW Universe. I thought it was a bit lazy, but I'm not sure I felt it was any more cliche than any other Kung Fu character.

I think it's odd that the producers insist the character is not Force-sensitive. Certainly that would have almost flown if he were seeing and just intended to be an incredible melee fighter, a sort of Force-fanboy, but from the moment he picks out Jyn's hidden Kyber Crystal from a distance, sight unseen, you know this guy is sensitive to things that everyone else just isn't.