FACEBOOK: / chrisstuckmann TWITTER: / chris_stuckmann OFFICIAL SITE: www.chrisstuckm... Chris Stuckmann P.O. Box 1028 Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223 Chris Stuckmann reviews Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with full spoilers!
The princess was fine but Tarkan was annoying....it just had that feeling like when something is stuck in someones tooth....it could be a super model....but if she has food stuck in her tooth....you're just gonna stare at that instead of the fact that you're talking to a gorgeous model. It didn't really hurt the movie, but it could have been done better.
What the guy above me said. Damn I loved that scene more then any other in years. Its Vader being exactly what hes suppose to be, bad ass and evil. Please GIEF me more. However when James Earl Jones made the voice in the first scene I seriously got chills. I love that man! It was so amazing to hear him again!
It’s one of my favorite scenes of any movie I’ve ever seen. There’s something so chilling about seeing something he created looking back at him with no remorse
Krennic was the best co villain to Vader. Every scene with him and the Death Troopers was menacing and added suspense to this war flick....this guy was arguably, Tarkins competition...Galen Erso as the scientist that engineered the blueprints to the Death Star, was an interesting plot to a massive story...
Kristoffer Skjørestad Yeah but with that further back flashback, you see that her and her father lived happily with the empire so she probably got the doll then. I doubt her dad would've got rid of his child's doll because he fell out with them.
That was to signify the overall presence of the empire. If you read some of the other canon or watch rebels, it explains how people would join the empire because they believed it to be the right thing. Even some of the pilots in the rebellion originally joined the empire before they knew how bad it was. The doll kind of symbolized how people did think the empire was for the best.
@@adamhsr its one of the few movies thats genuinely gotten better with each viewing. IMO its for 2 main reasons: the space battles and VFX are the best looking in the franchise and the style of humor is much better and much more memorable than the sequels.
Also, didn't a lot of kids in the real world grow up with some "bad guy" dolls? You want some bad guys to play with so your good guys have someone to fight against. Heck... simple example... how many Darth Vader figures sold back in the 70s and 80s? ;-) Just because you have a doll of something, it doesn't mean you have to love them.
Not having Vader in it much and then having him cut loose for the first time ever in a Star Wars film was unbelievably satisfying. I genuinely got chills. Amazing moment.
Because some people like myself disagree it was perfect? If one movie should have had a lot of Vader tearing apart half the Rebellion it was this one. Probably no time left to make a sick Vader movie given James Earl Jones' age.
Terarex92 this was about Rogue One, not Darth Vader ft Rogue One, there will be a time and place for that I'm sure. Can't have EVERYTHING in one movie.
NaSir Osorno Yeah, it really wouldn't fit if he was the main villain in this because the story is more about the construction of the Death Star which is clearly not his job. The reason he started as the main villain in A New Hope was because, as we find out, he was assigned to find the stolen plans, which is the main focus of this movie.
Really enjoyed the review. But I don't agree with some of what you said; first of all, about the characters. You don't need flashbacks or some overextended exposition to connect with some characters; Leia was a princess, part of the rebellion, and that's it; you know Han Solo is a bandit because a bounty hunter says it, and because Han shoots him first; Han Solo and Chewbacca have a great relationship, but it's not explained how that actually came to be, and it doesn't matter; R2-D2 and C-3P0 are... droids. And there you go; they're developed through their actions, you learn to love them because of what they say and what they do. The true backstory for Han and major development for Leia come in Episode 5, but they were great characters already nonetheless. In this movie, for example, Cassian gets an amazing introduction and through that and his actions, you actually connect with his character, you know who he is, even if he doesn't say what he did and why he did it since he was 6. About the temple defenders; their relationship is endearing, but why should we know how they got together? We know what they are, and their relationship is explored through their dialogue, and through their actions. I don't believe you actually need backstory for every single character in order to care about them, or to connect with them; better this than the Suicide Squad treatment. Another point I'm not really with you on is the Tarkin issue; I was actually surprised on how good the cg was. Could I tell it was CG? Yes, but mostly because I knew Peter Cushing is dead. And you can tell most of the ships are cg, and even K-2SO is cg - which is pretty clear once he starts walking - but it's really good cg nonetheless. I felt like it held up really well, much better than that disaster that was Supreme Leader Snoke in episode 7. Lastly; thank god everyone died. I know it's not that surprising, but it was still a clear sign that Disney - and the screenwriters - had the - pardon my french - balls to actually do it. They could have easily made Jyn take an Imperial ship and run away, so that they could make a sequel. But they didn't; it's the story of a suicide mission. And Vader on the beach... The Empire would have won. There's no way a screenwriter puts Vader in the actual fight without destroying Jyn's plan in two split seconds. And don't forget; the Death Star destroyed that beach. You put Vader in there, you have to dump the Death Star's attack. Now I want to add something I feel was one of the best things in this movie; this is the first movie in which I've actually felt the horror Rebels felt when facing the Death Star, and when they faced Darth Vader. You know Vader is a power to be reckoned with, but I've never, and I repeat, never felt THAT MUCH terror from his presence. Those last 20-30 seconds of him slaughtering rebels is actually pure terror. Also; you know the Death Star is able to destroy planets, you know it's that strong. However, I've still never felt the terror of it being a mass destruction weapon until this movie; in this, you can really feel why the Death Star is so dangerous, and not just under a strategical point of view. It's just like the atomic bomb; one second, and you destroy a city and the whole county around it. I've found it much more impressive than Alderaan's destruction in episode 4.
Something that also bugs me about this review is that Chris ignored Cassian's arc. Cassian's character starts out a very hardened rebel that does what he's told and focuses on the mission first hand with no personal input or evaluation of his actions, but over the course of the film he changes to trust his own principles rather than just following along with the rebellion, which is made evident by him refusing to shoot Urso's father and gathering volunteers for the climax. It's subtle, it helps us identify with the character, it isn't preachy, and it doesn't take up time. It's a solid little arc for a supporting character and more importantly, it has no less depth than what Han was given in A New Hope. It honestly seems like some of Chris's points are a bit half-baked.
Peter Sanders, I agree with everything you've said. I was hoping i wouldn't see a lightsaber in this film, but when I did see it I shit my pants, which is exactly what I wanted. Jedi and Sith and all that are suppose to be powerful legendary wizards, but ep1, 2, and 3 make it seem like everyone, including babies, are jedi. I want to feel how cool Jedi are, but its so common I cant. Vader lighting up his laser sword in that dark hallway, 2 hours in to the film, slicing people up no problem, smashing people against the ceiling with his dark wizard skillz, blocking bolts with this gloves like on empire... daaaaaamn. only way they could have made it better is if he was squeezing fools to death until their guts flew out.
I disagree with the Tarkin argument. Jurassic Park's dinosaurs don't look totally realistic, neither does Gollum in the two towers. Films need to push the limits of CGI, and I think it looked OK.
Not sure what everyone is talking about. Tarkin looked really good for CGI. Lei looked fake. I would have been ok if someone else played her or better if they just took unused footage from a new hope and manipulated it
Not a good SWBF player See that's what I thought too because there was no card in the corner telling us where we were. However it's been confirmed to be Mustafar. It's on the Wookieepedia page of Mustafar.
My favorite was K2SO: "Congratulations. You are being rescued." "Do you want to know the odds? They're bad. They're very bad." Amazing snark coming from a droid.
Jyn's father was working for the empire, which is shown in one scene(this was before Galen denounced them went to live on as a farmer), so her childhood toy being a stormtrooper is understandable.
Right but Galen hates the empire by the time the movie starts. But I think it’s like she has an attachment to it and won’t let them get rid of it kind of thing. It can still work, true.
@@iforgot87872 i understood it as Galen hated the empire but understood they were very powerful, and probably wanted his daughter to grow up on the side of the empire to stay the safest
Kal-El fan 49 Well, Han Solo was a guy who owned a ship, makes sense he'd have someone else helping out, like a crew. And Han and Chewbacca don't die at the end of New Hope, we saw their relationship for two more films. Donnie Yen and Jiang Wang (I think) guys could've used more backstory like the rest if the characters
Xxunstoppable KilaxX Yeah I honestly felt so bad for those rebels like they stood no chance against him. 😧 one of the rebels tried to blast him but he was choked and thrown like nothing😧😧
I recognise that Empire is the best film of the franchise (and one of the best films of all time), but no film has hit me with as many emotions as Rogue One
unfortunately, I kinda mixed with how the characters written in the beginning. So I felt the last act, even though it was amazingly done, it didn't have enough emotional impact to me. Except K2SO, his sacrifice affected me more the most because his character is just so great.
I believe she had a Stormtrooper doll because in a flashback we see she and her parents were stationed on an Empire base or Star Destroyer. I guess those were propaganda toys.
That flashback scene was written in Catalyst, the precursor novel to Rogue one, and ALL of that backstory is explained. They were living on Coruscant, since Galen was working for the Empire in their most important science facility. That scene is from their living quarters on coruscant, which is explained in GREAT detail in Catalyst.
Catalyst only explains how Saw Guerrera and the Ersos got to know each other and the backstory of Galen and Krennick's relationship, with a smattering of Tarkin vs Krennick. Read the book, it's really good, and it'll answer a lot of the questions related to the Ersos.
Well.. yeah. But I agree a little with him though. Personally I didn't like the main villain, because his character.. well he had no character.. he's personality was none. He was just a normal director from the empire.. So if they do not have enough time to develop a villain I do think it would've been worth it to use a villain that was already developed.. However, I would be ok with them not using Vader in the movie, but since they are why not use him to a slightly bigger potential? I mean, all the characters died at the end at the hands of soldiers.. like seriously soldiers we didn't even get one line from are the "characters" that killed the main characters? Why not have some of them die at the hands of Vader? Or even the main villain? I'm just saying that (in my opinion) it would've been a much better ending to have Vader be a complete savage and murder the main characters, at least one or two of them.. He was useless.. and I didn't think the main villain was useful either. To be honest, the characters dying at the hands of soldiers would've been actually intersting for me and dramatic, but I didn't feel like it was because: 1. I didn't care about any of the characters except for Jym and the blind guy (I only cared for him because he felt so inspired and hopeful, even when he was dying, that it felt a little sad to see him go) 2. They only died once they became completely useless to the story.. like if you're going to have them die in the middle of war that is alright, I would've liked it because it would actually add that "realistic" aspect that many people told me this movie had.. but I didn't think so. When the blind guy was introduced he took out like what, 20 stormtroopers? All of them with a gun and barely any fired? Then when another crew of stormtroopers appears, the robot simply throws a grenade at them and they all die? Then when they use the deathstar to fucking explode the planet that the main cast is on, they manage to barely escape in time? Well then what the fuck, why is it that only in the ending does the main cast became mortal to the stormtroopers and the death star? If they are going to establish that these characters are all going to easily escape, survive and succeed against the precense of such things, and they're supposed to be such a big precense on the finale, it is going to feel like these characters are going against something of small scale.. if they didn't represent a larger scale previously, it wouldn't have been a problem. The battle would've felt more intense and dramatic for me if the movie wouldn't have given these characters the ability to die only when they were useless to the plot.. which isn't realistic at all. So.. if these characters are here for a real purpose and should die when they have no more purpose, why not let them die by the hands of something that serves even more purpose.. Why not have all of them die at the hands of vader or even the main villain... because otherwise it doesn't feel like the story is being realistic or epic.. it feels like.. they have an epic purpose to these characters and then are willing to throw them in the garbage after that purpose is gone.. I'm not saying you have to make the whole movie about Vader though.. what I'm mad about is actually that the death of all of the main characters had no impact on me. And I was expecting most to die at least, when I came into the movie. I thought to myself "that would be so fucking dark and shit, it would be really cool to see it but I'm sure a star wars movie wouldn't do something like that". And then they did it and I felt nothing.. it was even a negative to the movie IMO, because it felt so pointless. Again, if it felt realistic before, it would've felt realistic when it happened. If I cared more about these characters, it would've felt more sad to see them go.. If they died to serve a bigger purpose, (like dying at the hands of darth vader when it looks like everything would've worked out to show the strength of the empire) it would've felt more epic to see them go... < Just to explain, the characters did serve a bigger purpose, but their deaths were useless.. they could've gotten away and the movie would turn out the same > So yea, the impact that I think I would've felt from witnessing all of the main cast die wasn't there.
Kujakuseki01 Yea, also we have to consider that if Disney used Vader too much, there would've been a bigger chance of making mistakes with a character you can't really aford to make mistakes with. I would say that my complaint was more with the death of the cast than with Vader to tell the truth.
agree. it really kinda created the mythos of darth vadar. especially for those soldiers that survived that hallway scene.. the horror stories they will pass along of a black figure plowing through all your friends.. scary. And rogue one wasn't really about darth vadar.. so this was enough: (in my opinion.)
Why is Force Awakens shit on of all a sudden? It seems like there is nothing but TFA hatred in this comments section. Sure, TFA isn't perfect, but no we're near as awful as people are making it out to be.
beestplayer44 I think people don't realise how much TFA had to do in one movie,,,it had to bridge the gap between new and old fans and bring in new fans while at the same time be familiar AND new.
beestplayer44 I def agree & its so strange to me tht people see this as a weakness in the film... a lot of the scenes (for the most part) aren't ripping off ANH in the slightest, they're evoking & paying homage to George Lucas's imagery that made the franchise work to begin with. The Force Awakens has it's problems, sure but visually it is masterful, JJ Abrams had always been a strong visual storyteller, & seeing the similarities between ANH & TFA makes me feel more confident in tht assessment. As far as I'm concerned, those upset about plot structure mirroring ANH are missing the point. What's most important to holding this new era in the franchise up are the characters! & thts wat TFA absolutely nails. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Issac & Adam Driver breathed such life into familiar yet clearly distinct characters, & JJ confidently directed them into nuanced, dynamic performances. I genuinely don't get how anyone could see the movie tht I saw & be so cynical as to think of it has a cash grab. Also so homages to the original is a bad thing? Can some people just for a minute understand why JJ & Disney did this to set up this new series of movies. it's a sequel to a 6 film legacy it was never going to be original. just like your cookies you have to start from scratch with the basic ingredients when you start baking. Oh look everyone likes the cookies they made now that you know they can make pretty good sugar cookies the next batch will be a little different we can now experiment & maybe add chocolate chips, dried cherries, walnuts, add brownie bits etc. but what you wanted were brand new cookies made from wheat grass, sorghum, rice flour, raisins, mango bits, kale & gluten free.
I love every single Star Wars movie. The problem is that now a days nobody knows how to have fun with movies anymore. Everyone takes them so seriously and nitpick a beyond belief until at least one person thinks that a certain film is garbage even though it is a great film.
beestplayer44 No hate here! I loved Rogue One but as of now love Force Awakens even more!!! Did so much setting up those amazing characters and such a fun ride, felt like Star Wars!
It's like this: TFA is not a bad movie , but if you're star wars "purist" or die hard fan, it is very disappointing. Both rogue one and TFA are obviously products of milking, but Rogue one was tasty milk, whereas TFA was kinda bland tasting milk.
I don't understand how someone like Chris who criticises and apparently makes movies himself, admits that the new trilogy has pretty major flaws but he still defends them to this day.
@@BirdieImagineeBCH Because if you actually look at Rouge one from a film perspective and not a fan boy perspecrive you will see why he didnt like it. And one reason he mention is the lack of characterization. There is simply no attempt to make these character memorable or reason why should we care about any of them. You could remove the entire plot about Jym father being architect of death star and replace with some arbitrary reason on how Jyn was able to find out where the death star plan and its weakness it wont change her character and emotional stake she hold. And that is kind of problem. It flash no substances. There are little reason to care for any of them hell i dont even remember their name. The fact rey the character fan hate for being mary sue is more memorable than literally any of rougenone squad to the point self proclaim rouge one fan cant even name a single one of them is a problem. Sequel has flaws. It lack a consistent vision due to disney let director have creative control but when you look at movie like the last jedi and see why Chris like so much you see it a movie that focus on characterization and theme and hammer on why story of star wars was so meaningful.
its unfair judging the characters background based on just one movie, It would feel convoluted, botched and overcrowded if every rebel got a solid back story. we had a whole trilogy to know luke, leia and han and even in all the original trilogy, we still didn't know anything about Han and chewie's friendship but we loved them any way. same here, the characters had amazing chemistry despite the short length. its amazing what they achieved!
***** we did even get a lot of development from the characters, like for example K2SO started out as a selfish robot but ended up sacrificing himself. Base who believed in the force by the end and more
WellFedArtist But somehow we encourage all other movies outside the Star Wars series to establish their characters in one movie like most good standalone films should do?
Benjamin Jones it depends on the movie. If in-depth backstory is needed to explain a characters reasoning then yeah. But that's not this movie or story.
Is 8 already done filming ? Wow thats cool , this might sound weird , but i hope that in the movie she will die , a little less harsh as han ... but it must happen . It would be the best thing ..
Jadi Peperzak my understanding is that she doesn't die. And yes. They finished 8. Her death was really unexpected and they had planned to use her in 9. Now they have to scramble to figure out what they're going to do. But yeah. It would have been perfect if she had died in 8. I get that. It was still cool that she's the last character featured in R1. Touching
The reason why the AT-AT's were easier to take down is because they aren't AT-AT's. They're AT-ACT's which are much more vulnerable because they are NOT designed for combat.
They did hit walker with portable rocket and it didn't really mind, which implicates these aren't some tinfoil plated barrows. I assume that starfighters wield some serious firepower unlike airspeeders.
@@jasoncw455 ugh...the last jedi was easily the worst star wars film made...horrible, disconnected, made no sense - the whole series of events leading to the casino world was the biggest waste of time!
@@chimneychanga6947(SPOILERS for The Last Jedi) Oh really? Becuause luke throwing away the lightsaber totally doesn't undermine the ending of The Force Awakens, and it totally makes sense for Luke to leave a map that leads to his destination, while he wanted to be unfindable. Because of The Last Jedi, for the first time in Star Wars, ships suddenly struggle to catch up to other ships, depend on fuel, have limited jumps to light speed, which wasn't present in the 7 movies that came before it. It makes total sense for Holdo to not tell Poe what's going on so that Finn and Rose can go on the completely unnecessary side quest that adds an extra 30 minutes to the movie. This is only the tip of the iceberg you uninformed casual Star Wars fan.
Notice that there where huge empty spaces in the "AT-AT's"? That's cause they were supposed to be a cargo carrying variant called the AT-AC, so it doesn't have the same capabilities of the AT-AT's. Still wasn't explained well to anyone who went in blind, so I understand why you were confused why they were taken down by X-wings :D
Pomai Kajiyama you're welcome :D yeah, before I knew they had weaker armor, I originally thought when they shot a rocket at the AT-AT (as I thought it was at the time), it looked like it blew up, and I was all like "where were those on hoth?!?". Then in a later trailer they showed that it didn't work, and I thought "oh, that makes sense", then the X wings come in and successfully destroy it! I thought "they DID have those on hoth, so why wouldn't THOSE do it?!?" And I was getting ready to go on a nerdrage, when suddenly, "they aren't made for combat, they're made for cargo". So I guess they get away with it now.
From what I remember, the X-wings fire directly into the open cargo bays, which would bypass any armor they had. Also, they were on a planet surrounded by a planetary shield, so I think the Empire figured that no one would ever be able to invade the planet.
BAM Films LOL. wow, or the fact that an old guy from 1977 looks the same in 2016. that didn't throw you off at all. no, it's because I had to remind myself that he's dead.
The human brain is made to detect anything that isn't real. That is why CGI that is so realistic can still be seen by us, because it's so close to reality that our brain sees the smallest non-human features or movements.
As much as I understand your gripes about Tarkins CGI, the story COULD NOT have happened without him. They don't go over it much in the movie, but krennic and Tarkin hate each other. I think they cut a lot of that out, because it seemed a little odd that he got *that* upset about losing command of the DS, and constantly whined about being referred to the emperor. In Catalyst it fleshes out how badly he wants to be at vaders level.
Also, AT-ACTs most likely aren't as strong as the AT-ATs, as they have less weapons are are mainly meant for hauling cargo. At least that's how my brain justified it.
Ryan Meaker True, but most of Tarkin's dialogue could have been done as a hologram, or in wide angle shots, or in shadowy settings. Instead they opted to do long, drawn out, close up scenes in very well lit settings. A perfect recipe for tacky CGI.
The thing is that the writers made that choice years ago, even before Rouge One was started. In the Tarkin novel (released in 2014) they set-up that the Emperor gave Tarkin the job of overseeing the entire Death Star project. It would make no sense within the rest of the fiction that is out there for Vader to be near the project because that isn't what is role is in the universe. It had to be Tarkin because the novel with his name had already set-up that he was in charge for 14 years. So when they wrote Rogue One and Catalyst they had to write it in a way that makes sense with the material that came before it.
she had a storm trooper doll because she and her family lived in a imperial facility. The imperial toy store has no rebel scum. Only troopers, vader and the glorious Emperor figure.
I disagree that the film was emotionally lacking. People say it's because none of the characters have deep back stories...but so what? That doesn't automatically render the ending unemotional. We know they are rebel fighters, each fighting to bring down the Empire and establish a new hope, and when they succeed in acquiring the Death Star plans and then die tragic deaths on Scarif, along with brilliant music and visual scenes of the explosion, it is very sad and emotional. I tear up each time I watch the ending, and almost everyone leaving the theatre was sniffling too. The ending is stunningly sad.
I loved the fact that these characters didn't have huge backstories - to me, that was the point. They each recognised in the others they came across that if they were in any other situation they probably wouldn't have met, much less had to trust or work with each other, yet they knew that this was much bigger than each of them individually, so didn't ask too many questions knowing their own story and past actions were equally as murky to the other. Their pasts were irrelevant to the mission, each person added their own skills and abilities to take each step to get to their goal, and their actions during their time together were all the others needed to know about them, to make it to the next step, to complete the mission. I cried, and my 11yo daughter also cried during the ending of the film, because in that short amount of time, with how little we knew about each of them, yet felt their urgency, their need to complete this mission, and how they each realised that the mission was bigger than themselves, and it was worth it to sacrifice themselves for the good of everyone else, and their redemption from whatever they had done in the past, or felt about themselves about it.
those AT-ATs werent AT-ATs. They were AT-ACTs. They are not designed for battle but instead for transporting cargo; therefore, they have weaker armor on their midsections
But why where they there? It made no sense, since a huge walking cargo thing might make sense on a large expanse of ice or desert, but the geography of Scarit is small strips of sandy beach and palm trees, and they already have a heavy rail transport system. An AT style vehicle makes no sense here. This is what is ruining the new movies, they seem to force in references to the old films even when it makes no sense.
I think the darkest. seeing the rebels in pure fear knowing they are stuck and going to die. vader not saying anything and not stopping until all the rebels in the hallway are dead.
jays gaming Just imagine how terrifying it'd be being one of those rebels. Your ship is disabled and everything's dark, you're trapped in that room and you see Vader brutally killing everybody in front of you
It was pretty epic. But one of the reason it's so epic, is that we had several years of Star Wars movies where were told that Vader was a badass but never actually got to see it. And now BOOM! There it is. That scene made me jump in and out of my seat. I was going craaaaazy.
It's cool yet strange imo, like based on what happened like 10 minutes before in Rogue One it was like no one gave a fuck when it came to a New Hope. How could C-3PO be bitching about going into that escape pod after watching what the rebel fleet did like an hour ago?
Kinda makes it strange that Leia was acting like they were on a diplomatic mission. Vader - "But I just saw your ship leave the Rebel flagship in the middle of the battle like 5 seconds ago"
You can thank Disney for the sloppy editing at times. They're the ones who called for having over half the movie re-shot for whatever reason. I think the creators of Rogue One originally had a good movie cooked up, then Disney came in and told them to change a bunch of crap probably to make it more "family friendly," and it ended up making the editing sloppy at times. About wanting to have more Vader, I think using him sparingly made his final scene much more impactful. The main reason why his scene was so startling and amazing was because we didn't really see him throughout the movie, then all the sudden he comes out of the woodwork and slaughters everyone. The element of surprise was a big part of the reason why the scene was so incredible.
I'm not going to pretend how I know what really happened behind the scenes but I really wish people gave up on this "Disney made it family-friendly" BS. Do you know that Miramax was _under_ Disney when it made Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs? Ever wondered why Disney doesn't even credit itself in the Marvel or SW movies that are made by its _subsidiaries?_
Same. His last moments aren’t him being comforted before he goes, it’s him realizing with absolute horror that this is how he is dying. His last moments were absolute fear. And we as an audience got to see that.
yeah, I mostly liked how competent the Empire looked. I mean sure, the troopers and others cannot hit the heroes (until the end) and get knocked out a bunch (note that scene, though, when one is used as shield and his armour works against blasters, takes a lot of punishment). But they kill everything as they finally get red shirts to shoot at, finally not just hero characters (since New Hope and Hoth, pretty much). That space battle felt so much more exciting than (the great, btw) at the Battle of Endor, where we only see Imperial ships blowing up. Here, TIE fighters are killing X-wings and others left and right, even damaging and destroying cruisers and stuff. In general it felt like a real nice slug fest between the rebellion and Empire, ended in a slaughter for the Rebels after the shock of the surprise attack wore off. Really liked this movie, if ya cannot tell. :P But yeah, the characters overall were a bit bland. The blind mand and machine-gun guy were the most fun and interesting outside of the Imperials, I felt.
Um...look, I liked the film and all, but I don't remember anywhere in the film that explained that in any way. Besides, the only reasons they're in the film is for nostalgia's sake, so they might as well have been AT-ATs.
It was simply very visible (well, for one who's watched the Battle of Hoth million times and a big nerd for the vehicles of the Empire in particular). Visible yellow containers on each side of the main body (centre area). When those are missing, there's big empty space on the main body of them (one snapped in half when X-wings hit vulnerable part of that empty area) as well as lacking the chin guns. Different head. Etc. Also very visible in all the trailers, toys and google searching: "rogue one cargo at-at" (for example Simple as that. They are AT-ATs, but cargo versions (or possibly more adaptable versions of the ones used in Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi). :) Ah, actually found entry for this thing in the Star Wars wikia page: starwars.wikia.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Cargo_Transport
GrimmjawJack also this story happens before ESB, it's quite logical that the AT class was weaker this time around, and has been further developed later
I know this is an old video, but I always have to say this about the Peter Cushing/Tarkin scene. I believe that if the character is identical in their appearance and demeanor, it is still respectful for passed away actors.
Seeing how this movie alligns with the original trilogy, I'm personally very happy how they did Vader in this movie, because those few scenes we get with him are now his very own buildup. Someone who is new to the francise and wants to watch all of the movies in order is gonna see Vader and think "OMG this guy is so awesome, I'm so excited to see more of him in the next movie!" And they had Tarkin, who, in my opinion, died far too quickly in "A new hope", in this one as the big bad guy, which I very much enjoyed. Having this big allignment of villains gives you a sense of the might and scale of the empire, kind of like how, despite this entire movie being about the death star, they only teased the power that we got to see in the 4th and 6th episode. Giving Vader more screentime in this movie would've just felt like cheap fanservice to me, especially since he really had no reason to be majorly involved in this plotline.
In fact I actually liked Tarkin turning around and seeing his full face. Was not distracting to me at all. You only knew it was CG because you know Cushing is dead. If you didn't you wouldn't know it was CG.
myfavoritescenes exactly my point to people putting down the CG. Most people who did not know that Peter Cushing is dead will think it's the real actor. Those that know Peter Cushing is dead look at it in a biased way because they know that it can't be possible because he is dead so it must be CG and then that opens themselves to see the imperfections.
WhirlOmar The 3D seemed pretty obvious to me with Tarkin. Could immediately tell and could tell throughout. It was pretty annoying. And no, it's not that we knew they couldn't get the actor. It's the way 3d is animated and rendered.
First of all they’re not AT ATs they’re a weaker version that were essentially prototypes used by the empire in a battle they felt was unimportant and a good opportunity to test them. They’re called AT ACTs and they’re armor is in fact weaker and was improved by the empire by the time episode V rolls around. Also x wings are equipped with proton torpedoes which you can clearly see them using on scariff. Snowspeeders are not and are equipped with ion canons which are much weaker. Hope that explains your complaint.
Omar Correa Second two were taken down by Blue Squadron. Reason being is because they aren't made for battle. Their armor is weak and they're used to transport cargo.
i think leia was a better one than tarkin, somehow peter cushings face is more detailed, carrie fisher was very young at the time and had a very smooth face
Usually when people use "but" after they say they love something, they say something bad about what they were first talking about. I would say that your sentence would make more sense if you would have used "and" instead of "but".
the thing with this is that we know is cgi besides that our eyes and knowledge tell us is cgi because Carrie Fisher didn't look like that anymore and a legandary actor that died in the 90's not looking exactly the way he looked in 1977. But I think the Cgi is just distracting for like 2 -3 seconds tops. The cgi that takes me out of the movie is Maz Kanata in TFA is just too distracting, there was no way to have Lupita Nyong'o in that movie just being her or at least a less complicated face shape and color cgi character?
to be honest..i did expect one or maybe two heroes to die...but EVERYONE? that was pretty hard. Oo and i did care about them. i did care about K-2SO because he had to take so much damage by the end, it literally hurt me. :/ he slowly "died" in that facility. Chiruut and Baze....well, they had very few character development, but i still liked them and it was sad to see both of them die. even though Baze being...WAY too overpowered. killing all of the death troopers....well....the hero bonus. and especially that moment when Cassian and Jyn died in arms on the beach...it was really really sad. i didn't want them to escape because that would just have been the same thing like earlier in the movie on Jedha. and the same escape from the death star explosion again? come on...that would've been stupid. i like it how they realize they can't get away....and this final scene was supposed to show us how powerful the empire is! because....EVERYONE dies! not just Rogue One! the whole rebel fleet gets destroyed! the General (Blue 1) dies, the Mon Cal Admiral, EVERYONE! just the Tantive IV and Squadron Red can escape, and this gives us a good explanation why there were just so few rebel ships left to defend Yavin 4. guess the rest of the rebel alliance returned when alderaan or the death star was destroyed. anyway...this final battle had a great impact on me, i liked the characters, i cared about them....it was sad when all of them died, together with the ENTIRE rebel fleet...but it also felt right. for the story.
I feel like it would have been cool if only Jyn escaped and Vader hunted her down. If she were the rebel who passed the disc to through the door, think how much more you'd hate Vader.
well...i dont know, that scene witht he dor was HORRIBLY AWESOME because there were just rebels that were just...grunts. just regular fleet troopers. i liked that the focus was not on the main characters the whole fucking time. i liked that they often focussed on normal soldiers, stormtroopers, rebels, crewman etc. to be honest...the vader-corridor scene was...perfect. hands down...it was perfect. no way to improve that.
I hated how everyone just died in the end, that just killed me inside. It just, I felt like i was just screwed over, It also just made it not so sad, it makes it sad when one person dies, but when all of them die? What the hell?I also felt that the story was a little rushed in the begining.
They did not have to die. At least some could have survived so that we get more of them later maybe. This way I did not have enough tome to connect with any of the characters. I felt no chemistry between any duo there except Donnie Yen and his friend (forgot the names, that is how not memorable these characters are tbh). The characters never had enough time to breathe, little to no depth explored and when they all died I was disappointed: not because I was in love with them, but because I was like "Ok, that's it from them?!". But that's about the characters which was the weak point of the film for me. Everything else was great. Action, score, CGI for Tarking and Leia and that bad ass Vader scene at the end, brilliant!
I agree, I was blown away at how good he looked. I could tell he was CGI, but a few of my friends had no idea until I actually pointed it out to them after the film.
How? How could it have been done better? Have you seen the process that went in to recreating a DEAD character. New Rockstars has a video detailing the process it took.
If you can tell it's CG, it could have been better. Looking at something critically is the only way it will ever improve. I'm going into that field, I want it all to keep getting better.
I get what your saying about how you wanted more character backstory. However that has been the downfall of the entire Star Wars series. Tell me...did we really gain anything from learning about Darth Vader, Yoda and Obi-Wan from the prequels? I'm glad this movie didn't spend too much on the backstories of the 'rebel spies' because it was inevitable they were going to die anyway.
Just because a character is going to die, does not mean we dont need a back story. Its actually the opposite, we need an emotional connection to the character so their personal sacrifice actually means something to the audience.
Tommy Nico ...they cant put to much emphasis on the charcter or it will take too long abg boring....those are for the books...movie is just done right for me i get the idea...we need those plans and boy how much blood it took to get them.. well done.
I don't understand this whole "we needed backstories" complaint. The "Rogue One" crew had unique traits and personalities to make them each stand out and quickly identifiable among each other; and something like that's pretty important for a two-hour movie where so many other things are going on and you're not going to be able to see them again. So what was so important to learn about them that we didn't and how would it have affected the story?
rogue one is a film about a ragtag group of people banding up to save the galaxy. I mean what back story did we get for Han solo. he was just a smuggler. Riz Ahmed's character. just a pilot.
When Darth Vader scene at the end, I kind of teared up because I felt like I was transported to 1977 live in a movie theater (even though I did not live it). It was beautiful. The most Star Wars scene in the whole movie.
Wish critics would go watch the original trilogy with the same hyper critical note pad writing overthought bilge. Might have a few issues with them too.
sliquid1 A New Hope would be crushed to pieces. Luke is a whiny crack and almost nothing happens in the entire movie. Also if you watch the movies in chronological order it makes no sense.
I did wonder, watching that scene, why didn't the doll have pins stabbed into it? Or was partly burnt? You could establish the Empire's propaganda, and characterize Jyn and/or Galen as people who reject that propaganda.
This family wasn 't openly disagreeing with the empire (I mean not in public). Also, storm-troopers was the model of the soldier that time. It was like a toy-soldier of that era.
I don't think we as an audience really need a lot of backstory on the characters to begin with because most people saw it coming that they would all die at the end. Why else would none of them ever pop up in the original trilogy? We got to see their humanity, and willingness to fight for what they believed in. Too much backstory would have really slowed the movie down.
Mack Long I point to an older war movie, The Dirty Dozen, as an example of doing characterization in a suicide mission film better. You learn more about more of the characters in that movie than most of the cast of Rogue One, and at the end of that movie most of them died as well. The difference was less action sequences; this film suffered the same flaw as Ep 7 as there was too much action and not enough character and personality.
I liked that this focused more on the rebellion than the characters. It fits with the whole cause being more important than the individual motif. While in the dirty dozen it was the character interactions/development that really drove the movie. R1 gave us just enough to care about the characters, but not enough to feel devastated by their inevitable deaths, which is fine by me.
Yeah but the final movie didn't exactly shine in the dialogue department either, did it? I mean... Jyn's little pep talk to the alliance? "I believe you (even though I have no reason to except plot convenience)"? "Hope." Granted, not prequel level of cringeworthy but pretty damn close.
"I don't get why she would have a stormtrooper doll when her father hates the Empire." "Hay so daughter, I know you've had that doll since before we were hiding and it's the only toy you have, but I'm going to get rid of it because I don't like it.
He is nit picking AF. I didn't don't know shit about why Chewie and Han are so close, or that Han was a smuggler. Luckily we have extended universe to explain that...oh wait.
The difference is they didn’t hint at a backstory for Han Solo, he was just some guy wandering the galaxy doing his own thing until he met Luke and Obi Wan. While in this movie they suggest that there is a juicy backstory for nearly all these characters, but they never show it.
The difference is Chirrut Imwe and Baze both die and we're supposed to care. I honestly didn't care either because I knew almost nothing about them. I think that if Han and Chewie had faced a similar fate back in 1977, nobody would have cared either.
I do not have a strong oppinion on the rest of the stuff Chris said in the review, but the comments like: Aah, yeah, that looks like it has been re-shooted... First, and especially when Chris talked about Vader scene, how on earth can a person know if that was re-shooted if we do not have the original scene available. And second of all, why is re-shooting a scene such a big deal in this review? That is where I mostly have problem with the review...
My friend (who is not a fan) thought Tarkin and Leia were real people. I think it's just so noticeable to us because we are fans. She didn't know who Tarkin even is, and she though Leia was just a Look-alike. So I'd hafta say they did a good enough job to convince people who aren't super familiar with the characters/actors.
Laeric Thomas see I knew who they were and I just still enjoyed the movie I'm a fan but it was AWSOME to see them there and yes I realize they were cgi but so what?? It was one of the best Star Wars movie because it was for adults
I absolutely loved the movie. Tarkin didn't bother me at all, he served a purpose in the plot. I understand WHY they put Leia in (for people who were confused about when the movie takes place) but I didn't like it as a fan. I was pretty disappointed in Darth Vader and R2D2 and C3PO being in the film. Vader was underwhelming. His voice hasn't aged well and he didn't come across as threatening as he should, plus he really didn't add anything to the plot. Oh, and Cornelius and the BallChinian dude from a new hope showing up was pretty fucking stupid. Other than that, fantastic movie! The blind guy was my favorite. Absolutely bad ass!!
I don't understand your complaints about the characters not having enough back story? How much back story do you need?The movie tells us enough for the characters to serve their purpose because it's not about them. I don't want the whole movie to take a pause just so we get a long unnecessary back story for each character that doesn't move or complement the plot.
All of the characters don't need extra back story....like the pilot guy was handled well. But Donnie Yen and his buddy are a prime example of lazing character development. They are really cool characters, but there is absolutely zero context to their characters....why are they so close to each other....why is Donnie so interested in teh force....why does his buddy not care about the force....why do they just drop their lives and follow some strange girl and dude....he wasn't a Jedi....he was obviously force sensitive, but he wasn't able to foresee any events beyond gut feelings. Ultimately, its not a huge problem, but it just could have been way way way better.
you don't have to have back story, but you do need character moments showing their personality and character traits, motivations, and them bonding to care and get invested with them. jyn and Andor were pretty bland and lack charisma. k2so was my favorite character, but his death wasn't emotional. they needed to show a better arc with him to heighten his sacrifice moment and showed more bonding moments with jyn and andor to make the moment sadder that a friend is lost. how interesting would it be if the question was brought up whether k2so was just a reprogrammed droid doing the work for his rebel masters, or could a droid really believe in the cause and he cared for his team. the only interactions the characters had were marvel quips
J'onn the Martian More bonding moments will just break the fast pace of the movie and the urgency of the mission,shift the focus of the movie to its characters instead of the bigger picture and will lessen the stakes of the movie. Even the characters in the movie knew that the mission is more important that's why they were all so willing to die for it. So to say that they needed more interaction is like telling them "hey guys, I know that the rebellion is desperate to turn the tide against the empire but you should all stop the mission and take your time to get to know each other and build relationships and stuff,maybe even hook up. Never mind the empire super weapon that's blowing up planets. You should all get to know each other first".
I just finished reading the novelization of Rogue One, and I have to say the novel has really made me appreciate the movie more. The novel really fleshes out most of the Rogue One crew. Most of the time the novel goes into detail about what a certain character is thinking/feeling at the moment, which I really like.
Love the review but disagree about Jyn & Cassian at the end. I thought they didn't escape because he was too badly injured & she didn't want to leave him.
Dr. Groph Agree. She was a small part of a bigger story, so she had to be "sacrificed." Of course I'd rather her story continue but she's not apart of episodes 4-6.
To be fair, it was mentioned that the pilot was there only rode out of there and when he and the ship got grenaded there was no escape for them and the chain reaction from the death star had already started
My main gripe was the cast not feeling fleshed out enough. With Diego Luna's tiny rant, they could have swapped out the 'I was six' stuff to have him looking at a hologram of him and his parents from when he was younger while he thinks Jyn isn't looking - show, don't tell. It also bugged me a fair bit that there was no proper explanation for Bodhi swapping sides and working with Galen. You don't need massive amounts of backstory, just snippets that make them more real. More than anything though, I was really disappointed that it didn't feel like there crew became a proper unified group - the monks moved on their own, Bodhi was mostly a hanger-on and way in, etc. I'd gone in expecting them to be a real team that grows closer together, but even that last act where they were presumably meant to become a real team, the rebels seemed to be getting in the way and diluting the crew's supposed togetherness. I don't know, just felt very disappointed by the character interactions and lack of fleshing out. I'd thought Chris was unreasonable in the spoiler-free but I'm with him having seen it now.
"Show, don't tell." Yes, and Spielberg should've shown an entire flashback of Quint's USS Indianapolis story as well. Because dialogue is automatically inferior to visuals. **smh**
i have a feeling a lot was cut out. cause the heavy armor dude calls jyn little sister but thet literally never talked to each other in the whole movie
X-Wings have Proton Torpedoes, and ship to ship blasters made to assault other fighters and capital ships. In Empire they didn't use X-Wings against the walkers.
They were AT-ACT's ( All Terrain Cargo Transports) , primarily used as transports, instead of heavy assaults and sieges. That yellow centre on them is their cargo area. In one scene you can see the one walker has a massive gap where the Yellow cargo container usually goes.
And you didn't do your research. It was the first time anybody made a project like this, and it was a completely different kind of CGI than Planet of The Apes.
