Rogue One Rate/Review - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

[Hunter Rider]

I thought it was brilliant, a great espionage war movie in it's own right but filtered through the magical world of a Galaxy far, far away! This really did feel like a classic oldschool war movie focusing on a small resistence mission against the overpoweirng Imperial War machine. At first I wasn't sure it was going to feel like a Star Wars movie, especially without the classic music cues, but after about 15 minutes it began to feel like a live action version of a great Clone Wars episode.

I know some felt the first half was a bit slow but I didn't, I thought the story progressed at a natural and engrossing pace, giving the characters a chance to be seen and for us to get to like them.

Of the Rogue One team Kaytoo and Chirrut were both cool and had some good one liners, my favourite being Chirrut's when they put the bag on his head. I like Jyn, she was a lot less bland than she came off in the trailers, but my favourite was Cassian, it's the first time we've really seen a character in the movies from the Rebellion side shown in a darker light and I thought Diego Luna did a really good job of giving him a soulful quality.

Obviously the bulk of the action was contained in the films final hour with the stunning battle of Scarif, but I loved the Market place sequence on Jedha, Jyn and Chirrut both had badass moments here and it was cool to see the Rebel's laucnhing an attack on the Imperial occupation, and I loved everything on Eadu, one of the most atompsheric and visually striking sections of any Star Wars movie.

I have to mention the Battle of Scarif seperate, Star Wars pioneered the intercut giant blockbuster finale and this is arguably the best to date, from the ground battle between the sets of soldiers and the return of the monstrous AT-AT's (I don't care that they have a slightly different name ) to the X-Wing's and U-Wings flying in to help out, to the space battle above the entry gate to Jyn and Cassian's desperate attempts to get the plans transmitted, it all knits together beautifully with some stunning shots that really capture the scope of the battle, to some more intimate moments that are both badass and emotional. The finale on the platform with Jyn, Krennic and Cassian was perfect.

The thing that really surprised me was how much tension there was despite us knowing what has to happen, and they did enough with each of the Rogue One team to make their deaths impactful for me.

The film has so many little nods to the OT, my favourite being Jyn and Cassian bumping into the two alien pirates that confont Luke in the Cantina on Mos Eisley. It was also great to see 3P0 and R2 keep up their record of appearing in every Star Wars movie. I also loved that they used technology to put Tarkin and Leia in the movie.

Last but not least Vader, the GOAT! He was perfectly used, I loved the ominous way we first see him in the jacked up Bacta tank before putting Krennic in his place, we have never seen Vader in those kind of suuroundings before and the exhcnage was on point. Then we get the moment *Lightsaber ignites* Vader is illuminated and cuts a swathe through a corridor of Rebels like an unrelenting monster, it was absolutely glorious!

The movie ending at basically the moment A New Hope starts was the ideal way to go and presents a great double feature option. Rogue One is both a great stand alone sci fi war movie, and a riveting exapnsion of the central saga.

9.5/10

 

[Brem]

I enjoyed it, but it didn't grab me like The Force Awakens did. I feel like that first half hour, which should have been used to set up these characters far better than it did, flew by too fast and left me feeling rushed. I wanted to know more about Jyn and Cassian, but I feel that, after the one viewing I have had so far, I don't really know who these characters are. Whereas after a half hour of The Force Awakens, I had a better idea of who Poe was, who Finn was, who Kylo Ren was etc.

And as much as I loved the battles, I felt that, at the end, it was let down by the constant cutting back to Jyn and Cassian stealing the plans. I'd have much preferred to see those scenes from the trailers showing them fleeing from the base, plans in hand, fleeing out onto the battle field. Then you have that moment where their escape is cut off, and then you have the inevitable realization it's a suicide mission.

I did love the little throw backs, but for all the bloody talk that The Force Awakens "threw back too much", I felt the same could be said with Rogue One. It did lay it on a bit thick at times.

I wasn't keen on the soundtrack, and once again, as much flak as The Force Awakens and John Williams got for the score, I still felt it was in the spirit of Star Wars and it sets all the right moods and tones for the moments the music was used in. Again, this film laid it on a bit thick at times, and it didn't hit me the same way, say, Rey's Theme did when I first heard it, or Kylo Ren's theme did when we got that wonderful shot of his ship landing.

I feel, overall, this film is in dire need of a second cut being released on Blu-Ray. It needs something more to flesh out these characters because as it stands, I just don't feel any attachment to them and I didn't have the feelings I'd have hoped for over the ending. At least for the pilot - sorry, I just can't remember the names of most of these new characters, unfortunately - and the two other chaps they pick up along the way.

But, overall, I did enjoy it and I am excited to see it again next week. I loved seeing Darth Vader again, and I did not mind the CGI cameos. Like people have pointed out, maybe having R2-D2 and C-3P0 pop up throws it all off a bit, but eh. The story itself is fine, but with some off pacing, poor development of characters. If it had that extra ten or fifteen minutes, it might have felt more enjoyable.

It just does not beat last December, though. Maybe none of the side stories will. I'm just a sucker for that opening crawl, slow pan down and then we start the film. That's not to say I don't mind the fact there was no crawl here. It's just another one of those things that, for me, sets The Force Awakens aside as the better of the two films. It made last December exciting.

Still, I hope a second viewing helps.

 

[Matt]

I enjoyed it, but found it forgettable. I saw it a couple hours ago and already can't really remember anything about it other than Vader's bad ass scene, the awesome battle, and how creeped out I was by CGI Tarkin and Leia.

Don't get me wrong, it was a good enough movie, I enjoyed it in the moment. But nothing really stood out to me or captivated me or felt magical. That may have been by design, as it is a war movie and was meant to explore the less fantastical elements of the Star Wars universe. But never the less...more grounded shouldn't mean forgettable. I really cannot remember the name of any characters but Gin. The characters were all pretty forgettable, no more memorable than the Howling Commandos in First Avenger. I can't really name any defining trait about their personalities or backstories. I don't know their motivations. I never felt a connection to them. That made their deaths feel so much less impactful. The only character I truly found memorable was the droid and the villain.

The latter is for all the wrong reasons. The Director was easily the weak link of the movie. In that opening scene, I thought he was going to be a really interesting character. He tells Mads Mikkelsen that he is working for the Empire to protect the galaxy. I thought we were going to see the side of the Empire that wasn't just power hungry megalomaniacs, actually meet someone who truly believed in the cause. Instead, he was a pretty cookie cutter villain. And not a terribly competent one at that. All he does is mess up, whine, make excuses, and get undermined by people on his own side. He is basically Cobra Commander.

I mean, I didn't even buy him as a competent military leader. When the rebels attack and Tarkin is informed, it takes him literally seconds to realize that the Rebels are going for the plans. Meanwhile, despite knowing that the man who designed the Death Star was feeding the Rebels information, he didn't figure out what they were up to until 3/4s of the way through the battle. Every move he makes is the wrong one. The Rogue One mission feels successful more due to his actions than anything the Rebels do.

Speaking of, the Rebels are kinda the worst. I get that the whole "we don't want to fight, we want to hide and surrender," moment is designed to build dramatic tension. I thought it was cliche and makes the Rebel Alliance come across as cowardly and ineffective. It makes the noble, freedom fighting, heroes of the Star Wars universe feel like a group of shortsighted cowards that was ruled by a useless bureaucracy and won in spite of its self.

Also, can we talk about Tarkin for a minute? I'm sorry, but its creepy and in poor taste. It pulls the viewer out of the movie. The CGI looks like a human had sex with the conductor from The Polar Express...its just really...yeah. Recast if you must. They did it with Mon Mothma. A new actor is far less distracting to a viewer than that abomination. I just found it very unsettling. I love the character of Tarkin. He is one of the most interesting of the SWU, a guy who can hold his own with Vader and Palps despite no extraordinary power. So I liked seeing him explored. But I'd very much have preferred a recast.

If it sounds like I am being critical, I'm not. I really did enjoy the movie, aside from these little nitpicks. Its easily an 8/10. But at the end of the day, I just don't think it was a very memorable cast or a story or characters that really stick with a viewer after they leave the theater. And isn't that what a Star Wars movie ought to be? Isn't that why Star Wars has had such a lasting appeal? This movie lacked the magic that is Star Wars.

 

[Tony Stark]

Matt, you're not alone in that. Other than Jyn, and K2 (who was the only character I really connected with in this film), I couldn't name any of the other characters without having to look them up first. The characters in this film are paper thin, and there was nothing else to really make me care about the characters.

I like the film for the visuals, but I'd be lying to say I wasn't extremely disappointed. And I always hate it when I see a movie where there are multiple scenes that I remember from the trailer that don't end up in the film, which is what happened here with all the reshoots.

I would have loved to have seen someone like Joss Whedon take a crack at this, who's great at really filling out backstories for these types of characters and adding some much needed humor, where other than K2, we didn't get any.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I gave it an 8. Lots of fun, but the character development was lacking.

The last 30 mins or so of it was completely spectacular. Loved the battle scenes.

 

[Steyin]

I don't know how I feel about this film. The first third or so bored me, but the rest was fine. The last portion was great, but a lot of scenes felt rushed (probably reshoot stuff). The lack of the opening crawl was sad to say the least, and the many scenes from the trailers that were cut out was a huge miss. Characters were pretty meh, and CGI Cushing was a big distraction. The film looks gorgeous, hell even the 3D was great, but what this film lacks is the classic Star Wars charisma/essence.

I'll have to see it again to solidify my feelings, but TFA was so much more enjoyable and made me giddy. This was just a little too stale. 6/10 for now.

 

[The Shape]

Rogue One is the best Star Wars fan film ever made.

This is a fairly accurate statement, in many ways.

 

[CaptainWagner]

I would have loved to have seen someone like Joss Whedon take a crack at this, who's great at really filling out backstories for these types of characters and adding some much needed humor, where other than K2, we didn't get any.

Can we not act like every blockbuster has to be a laugh-fest. They had just the right amount of humor here, any more would have hurt the tone.

 

[marcvader]

I got all the backstory I needed for the secondary's, Bodie, Imwe, Malbus, and K2SO, as wells as enough of Jyn and Cassian's to satisfy me enough to care. It's very similar to films like the Dirty Dozen or Magnificent Seven. These character's served the story which was an exciting one to me just like the two other classics I mentioned.

 

[Frodo]

I got all the backstory I needed for the secondary's, Bodie, Imwe, Malbus, and K2SO, as wells as enough of Jyn and Cassian's to satisfy me enough to care. It's very similar to films like the Dirty Dozen or Magnificent Seven. These character's served the story which was an exciting one to me just like the two other classics I mentioned.

Yeah. I really didn't need some in depth back stories for the new characters. It was more than sufficient for me.

 

[Tony Stark]

I can see the similarities especially with the dirty dozen, but the difference being is I watched those movies for the actors. I certainly didn't see this movie for the actors and none of the actors other than Alan Tudyk made me enjoy the film.

If Jyn's backstory wasn't important then they should have cut the entire opening scene and just introduced her as a refugee who's father worked on the death star. It's like they go through all this trouble to talk about how vital it is to get to Saw Gerrara and they use Jyn to get to him, but he turns out to be completely unimportant and his death scene is just laugable.

The film is good because it has some of the best action scenes of any of the star wars films, but it's among the worst star wars films because it's impossible to generate any empathy for the characters when they are boring and uninteresting.

 

[Overman27pj]

4/4 stars.

9.5/10

Exactly what I needed to recharge my very much so depleted star wars enthusiasm batteries.

 

[TheVileOne]

My rating is 7-ish out of 10.

 

[antoineflemming]

Haven't been here in a long while. I really enjoyed the film. It's up there with Empire. Why am I not surprised to see people here who hated the film yet loved TFA?

 

[Smilodon]

I had high expectations for this film and was just completely blown away. What an moving and wondrous experience.

The only drawback for the film is really the whole deal with Saw and Jyn, which was obviously cut down considerably. But besides that, I was into it from the get go. Edwards' knack for displaying scale was on full display in this film and he did a marvelous job of expanding the SW world, even more than TFA.

The third act as everyone has mentioned was incredible. Disappointed that certain awesome shots from the trailer were removed, but the reworked third act seemed to be for the better. What a captivating and enthralling finale though. Props to everyone involved.

Shoutouts to K2SO and Chirrut. As everyone had mentioned before, these characters are great standouts. Big props to Donnie and Alan. I really loved all the characters in general and didn't feel as if there were any trouble empathizing with them. Were their stories relatively light? Yeah, but I thought they were brought together in a meaningful way and their ultimate fates were graceful and thoughtful manner.

That Vader scene, just wow. I just got chills from seeing us inch closer and closer to the beginning of ANH.

9/10

 

[JtheDreamer]

Finally saw this last night.

I'd say it was the most authentic SW movie to the original trilogy as far as aesthetics are concerned. Just downright beautiful, a movie George Lucas wishes he could've made back in the late 70's early 80's.

The story was fairly straight forward, but did take quite a bit of time to develop and there was too much locale jumping in the beginning. Ultimately, it hurt the character development and I felt relatively unattached to any of them - with the exception of K2-SO a freaking droid. The acting was also rough in spots for characters like Cassius, Saw Gerrera, and Chirrut Imwe. But hey, the latter is played by Donnie Yen and he kicks some ass like a good Donnie Yen should.

I think they should've done a better job incorporating the spirit of the Jedi in this as it was a bit weird seeing Imwe constantly reciting lines about the Force, but you're not made aware of how his knowledge of it comes to pass. Felicity Jones handled the lead "Jyn Erso" just fine - nothing spectacular, but didn't struggle either. The score was really butchered here btw. It seemed like they were trying to remix the original SW theme and it didn't work at all.

Luckily the 3rd act and climax was marvelous. If only my family had not sand bagged me on wanting to see it in 3D because I'm sure it was worth the price of admission. What's so great about this film is there's no logical sequel. It was a setup film for the original Episode IV: A New Hope: so there were serious stakes ...... and many deaths. Speaking of which - that Darth Vader sequence at the end tho! Definitely the most adult Star Wars film in the franchise.

7.5 to 8 out of 10.

 

[JtheDreamer]

It was nice to see Vader back but there was something off about him. That lumbering, intimidating walk was missing. The mask had a cheap look about it which once again took me out of the movie. Instead of rolling with the scene I'm looking at him and thinking this is the first time you reveal Vader and somehow find a way to screw it up with this shoddy looking cosplay? Didn't really like the pun either. At least the second scene kind of made up for it. Not enough to get me back in the theater and sit through another round with these uninteresting characters though.

Felt the same as you regarding the lack of engaging characters and the Vaders stuff. Man the neck and lower mask area of him was really bad. He was also quite the ***** cat for most of his discussion with Krennic, which was kind of jarring - that is until he choked him out.

 

[Brem]

Felt the same as you regarding the lack of engaging characters and the Vaders stuff. Man the neck and lower mask area of him was really bad. He was also quite the ***** cat for most of his discussion with Krennic, which was kind of jarring ........... that is until he choked him out.

Well, he had just gotten out of a nice warm bubble bath. t:

 

[JtheDreamer]

Well, he had just gotten out of a nice warm bubble bath. t:

 

[fancyarcher]

Finally saw Rogue One. It was very solid. The action and last act was the best part, but there were a lot of good scenes in general. While I felt Jyn was an underdeveloped protagonist, and most of the other characters could have been development better as well, I found the overall story very solid. Plus extra points for seeing Vader be a bad-ass again.

Giacchino's score was also very good, though perhaps a bit too epic, and leaning too much on previous themes.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

My thoughts are pretty much the same as he posters above, I really liked it, but man that last 30 or so mins, especially the final Vader scene, was amazing stuff. It actually made me pine for a Vader movie in between this and ROTS.

I agree Jyn and the crew weren't quite developed enough, but I did think K and Chirrut stood out. I liked that there were characters like Andor as well to show the Alliance had a dark side also. I personally never found the movie slow at all like others have, but the disjointed comments I do agree with. Overall though I really enjoyed it, and will be seeing it again, it's a great time to be a Star Wars fan, 8.5/10

 

[Filmfan93]

Felt the same as you regarding the lack of engaging characters and the Vaders stuff. Man the neck and lower mask area of him was really bad. He was also quite the ***** cat for most of his discussion with Krennic, which was kind of jarring - that is until he choked him out.

Vader was looking and acting exactly as he is supposed to. As for the mask, he is wearing the same suit as he did in ANH. Did you complain about the neck and lower mask back in '77 ?

 

[Karelia]

The CGI was terrible? I'm sorry... but that's probably some of the best CGI I've seen, as far as trying to recreate an actor. I could only tell sometimes with some of the movements. It was pretty amazing if you ask me... or most people.

That said, I wasn't going to rate this until I saw it at least two times. I did two days ago, so, I'd give this an 8/10.

Loved the story, the CGI was great, the cinematography was great. Just wish I cared a little more about the characters. And that one scene at the end... lawdddd, how can anyone hate that?

 

[JB33]

I personally don't think there is any problem with Vader's movement in that last scene. It's simply a matter of accepting that the originals are old films and choreography wasn't like what it is now. Think about it, you're just not going to get the same kind of continuity with things like that when you're comparing movies almost 40 years apart. Yeah, the fighting is going to look different.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

The CGI was terrible? I'm sorry... but that's probably some of the best CGI I've seen, as far as trying to recreate an actor. I could only tell sometimes with some of the movements. It was pretty amazing if you ask me... or most people.

That said, I wasn't going to rate this until I saw it at least two times. I did two days ago, so, I'd give this an 8/10.

Loved the story, the CGI was great, the cinematography was great. Just wish I cared a little more about the characters. And that one scene at the end... lawdddd, how can anyone hate that?

I thought the Tarkin CGI was great, only a couple of off moments for me with him.

Leia looked a bit worse though for me, much more noticeable as CGI.