So I had a few days to think this movie over…
I don’t really get how you can criticise the movie for being too serious and not enough humour. There’s no way possible you can make a film of this matter with a ton of humour or anything other than a dark tone, as they said in the original triology “many people died to bring us these plans”, it gives meaning and more severity to what was done. And the same people that moan will be the same ones wanting a darker Episode 8 just like Empire was after a New Hope. One mans “too serous” is another mans Empire Strikes Back, one mans “too dark” is another mans Dark Knight or alternatively Jim Carrey dancing in spandex. The film needed to be serious and was. And those giving the “cash grab” stick sit somewhere between the “valentines day and fathers day is a cash grab” and “every sequel is a cash grab” or “that can’t be real because there’s no sound in space”, they might be, be no one cares if the movie is good and you’re not a genius for pointing it out either.
You can say a lot about this movie but at least it was original, in my view this movie had it way harder than TFA, basically getting a whole new story with new characters and knowing you’re restricted to the confines of New Hope, I think overall they did a remarkable job with Rogue One.
It’s not perfect. CGI Tarkin looked weird and stuck out immediately, probably shouldn’t have had so much focus on a CGI character as it probably won’t age well, in fact the CGI for me was 50% in terms of good/bad overall. Leia was OK as were a few others, but they seemed to overdo the nostalgia with the “death sentence on 12 systems” inclusion over the top as was have C3PO/R2 scene which was lame and unneeded. First hour of the movie was OK but did drag at times, I didn’t mind Forest Whitakers character although his death was stupididly pointless. I think the TFA had simple names for a reason with Finn, Rey, Ren, Poe etc, and I’m thinking Rogue One missed a trick here. Character development could have improved slightly, but how much did anyone know about Leia’s backstory other than she was a princess or senator, or that Han was a smuggler and scoundrel? No, you didn’t have an entire story arc on their lives. I think people are being a little unfair there. I understand it, but you’re not getting a detailed lifes story from every character. And if you’re wondering why Vader was watching the ship blast off at the end there and not get sucked into space then go watch something else, Star Wars ain’t for you.
I think the last half hour or so was magnificent, right up there with the best of the series. Those Walkers on the beach and the entire land battles all looked fantastic and beautiful, the space battles I’ll say are the best of the series in fact I dare say are. People complaining because of the rebel ship killed those 2 star destroyers? PLEASE, Return had 1 rebel ship crash and destroy an entire SD. The robot was funny I don’t care what people say. People complaining because Vader said the “choke on your aspirations” comment, have you watched the original series?? Vader is the most sarcastic c*nt going around! The first one that springs to mind is the “apology accepted” line after he kills someone. Vader slicing through them at the end was pure gold.
Overall the first hour being slowish and too grounded with the last half hour being great bought it back from being a great movie to just a very good one. TFA had an easier job and basically an entire universe of pre-made characters ready to go at their disposal, whilst Rogue One had the majority that had to introduce and kill off and TFA basically remade New Hope more or less. I hope Episode 8 has the same dark tone as this one, but both are good movies and I enjoyed both.