3 more reviews

1. ›Insomniac Movie Marathon: Rogue One@rvgenaille2514d

   

   When the purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney was first announced, the powers that be also announced that, in addition to the Episode films, they would also be shooting and releasing, in alternate years, anthology films that would take place in the Star Wars universe but not necessarily involve the main storyline or characters. They then bandied about ideas like a young Boba Fett movie and a young Han Solo movie. I personally favoured the idea of an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie because, unlike those other two, he has so much unknown story that we can explore. Boba Fett is a horrible idea. They are made a young Han Solo one though and I am not really excited at all about it at the time of this writing.

   Regardless...

   Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first of those new anthology films. Set before the original Star Wars film, this is the story of the rebels that stole the Death Star plans and got them to Princess Leia at the beginning of A New Hope. This is the story of Jyn Erso, a rebel of sorts, whose father designed the Death Star. She is broken out of an Imperial prison by the Rebellion and tasked with finding extremist rebel leader Saw Guerrera to get hold of her father, allegedly to bring him before the Senate to testify, but really to assassinate him. What she, and her compatriots, learn is that he designed a flaw into the Death Star to make it easy to destroy. She sets out to recover them. Lots of chaos follows.

   The Good...

   The cast is uniformly strong and I appreciate the new approach to diversity in this universe.

   This one is allegedly grittier than the other Star Wars films but I don't know. Everyone is meaner, so I guess that counts.

   The Guardians of the Whils were cool. I also enjoyed the story point of the Empire working to erase the Jedi from the galaxy by systematically removing all memory of them, including their monuments.

   Darth Vader!!

   The Not So Good...

   All the silly callbacks to A New Hope. I now question how the two on Jeda'ii got off planet and over to Tatooine before the city was destroyed and in the limited time before that movie begins, especially when you consider that there was a flight embargo at the time.

   The cgi faces on Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin look silly. Making Jeff Bridges look young in Tron:Legacy worked but here it doesn't.

   It was fun but not as memorable as the Episode films.

   -all photos via IMDb.com.

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2. ›Star Wars overview: Rogue One@thatanimesnob3110d

   So, I watched Rogue One, and it was a rehash for A New Hope… again! Isn’t it ironic how Disney threw to the bin whatever ideas George Lukas had for the new trilogy, only to reuse the old ideas again and again? The Force Awakens was more of a remake that a sequel, and the same applies for Rogue One as a prequel. Only difference, it’s bloody amazing.

   For me, the worst thing in the Star Wars universe was always the plot convenience of the force. It doesn’t play a role in this movie. They talk about it, Darth Vader uses it a few times but it otherwise doesn’t conveniently control the plot in any way the author likes. Major positive.

   A silly thing about the classic Star Wars movies is how black and white they were presenting the characters. In this movie there are imperial agents who don’t act like 1 dimensional villains and help out the rebellion, as there are rebels who are doing some really nasty things for the sake of defeating the empire. Without the mystical bull of the force separating everything into good or bad, the characters are acting more realistically by default. And I love it.

   Another positive is the risk/reward ratio. The reason many consider The Empire Strikes Back to be the best of the old trilogy is because the good guys suffer great loses without scoring a big victory at the end. I personally don’t like as much because it was riddled with force nonsense, which is absent in this movie, yet still feels like it’s the same situation of great losses / small victories that helps the tragedy of war to feel far more significant than it ever was before.

   They even made the destruction caused by the Death Star to feel more impactful despite causing a fraction of the damage it does in A New Hope. It doesn’t just fire a laser at something, makes it blow up, and that’s it. It causes such a shockwave that is forcing the character to run away from it before it envelops them. And you even see the cloud of debris it causes for an extended period of time, which was brilliant.

   They even fix one of the nonsense of old movies. Remember how silly it felt for Death Star to have a little hole as its weak spot? This movie explains it as a booby trapped position that the creator of the whole contraption placed there which then recorded it in the specific schematics the rebels are supposed to use. A very positive retcon.

   There are also a ton of references, cameos, and easter eggs from the old trilogy, which in this case they are not that much fan service, as they are foreshadowing things to come. It’s not like they were out of context, the events in the timeline are taking place a few months before A New Hope, so every familiar face and catchphrase was supposed to be there.

   In the negatives of the film, I would say the characters were very forgettable, which is to be expected since they are all essentially small fry members of both factions. The second a cameo appears, they are instantly overshadowed. It also has to do with the fact that none of them survives in the end so we can see them for 2 more movies and get to like them more.

   Another negative is the slow having a mostly empty first half. The buildup is not engaging but when the climax arrives, it is totally worth it. In the longrun, it’s even a positive, since it keeps your expectation low, only to surprise you with how much more entertaining and tragic it becomes later on.

   By the way, I kept hearing complains about some characters being CGI instead of using look-alikes. I didn’t have an issue with that, they looked ok, mouth motions were meh but whatever.

   So as a whole, The Force Awakens is the boring kid friendly version of A New Hope, whereas Rogue One is the darker, more realistic version, and I loved it.

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3. ›"Rogue one" official trailer - short review@mandibil3607d

   Disney is pumping out Star Wars movies in the coming years like there is no tomorrow. After the rather disappointing Episode VII, they now squeeze in a sort of prequel-sequel, since it is supposed to take place at the time just before Episode IV, when the first Death Star is created.

   

   First of all the CGI looks everything as good as you could hope, if you are a sucker for that. Personally, i like it when CGI and real world scenarios blends seamlessly together and it looks like that is the case here.

   

   It looks like Disney has decided to become a gynocentric propaganda central. Once again a female protagonist, seems to have powers beyond any rational ability and all the male characters are either, subserviant beta males or defeated old buggers. And then there is a new giant droid, that will probably act as a "Big Hero 6" and play the big brother state, that will save her from dangers, when they are so great, that even the craziest feminist will not believe it.

   

   Now i do like a good adventure movie and Star Wars originals were among the greatest. But that was because the characters developed in the course of the movie (and trilogy). The female heroes are just mean badasses from the getgo, and that is just bullshit. It kills the adventure part of the story, because adventure equals personal development. No that is not what Disney needs to tell women ... you were created perfect from the start.

   

   But enough of ranting. The force theme is strong in this trailer and i am not familiar enough with the universe (or extended) to figure out who that might be referring to ... the female character?... or maybe it is that guy with the black helmet !!

   

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