I finally got to
see Rogue One for a second time, which means I can finally give it a proper
review. The problem is I have changed my
placement of it in the series (see below) many times, so it’s a very fluid
process. But, first, the movie. Obviously, many spoilers ahead.
To start with,
the hype. After the first trailer, I was
very much looking forward to this movie.
Then I heard about the re-writes, and I was worried. This was supposed to be a gritty war
movie. Was Disney destroying it? The trailers still looked good, but I went
into the movie with muted anticipation.
Let’s start with
the beginning (a very good place to start).
No scroll: I guess I’m okay with it.
It’s not part of the main story, so something different is not a big
deal. And for people who said they were
lost without it? Give me a break. You don’t need to read the book leading up to
it to know exactly what is happening.
(Similarly, some people said they were surprised about the story, they
didn’t know it was about the first Death Star.
Are you kidding me? Did you watch
any of the trailers? It was quite
obvious.)
I love the
universe expansion. That has always been
one of the greatest things about Star Wars: the ability to visit innumerable
places. They did a really good job of
showing a new side of the universe. For
the most part, the main characters are not in it, and where they are it works
(except the droids, which are just kind of thrown in to say they’ve been in
every one).
Speaking of main
characters, DARTH VADER!!! I knew he
would be in it, but did not expect as much as we got. I loved finally seeing his castle. And that scene! You know which one. Wow!
That leads to one of my other favorite parts of the movie.
I feel like we
finally saw the Empire being the Empire.
No-holds-barred evil. Destroy a
couple of cities? No problem. But it’s not for no reason. I actually for once found sympathy for the
empire, they’re doing what they think needs to be done to bring order to the
galaxy. That seems plausible.
What about the
new characters? I found them to be a
mixed bag, and not necessarily in a good way.
The strength was definitely in the supporting characters, where there
are a number of really great additions.
Chief among them is Chirrut, who has quickly become one of my favorites
in all of Star Wars. His blind faith
made him quite the kick ass fighter. His
friend, Baze, is pretty cool as well in his reservedness (and his “little
sister” comment is one of the great moments.)
Then there’s K-2SO, who is already the best droid (sorry R2) in the
galaxy. Not surprising since Alan Tudyk
is the best character actor going.
Krennic was a pretty good villain as well. He seemed to have a cool head and was driven,
exactly what you would expect from his position. I will also add I really liked most of the
cameos (as mentioned the droids excepted) but especially liked Red and Yellow
leaders and really liked seeing Bail Organa again.
Unfortunately, I
was not as impressed with the main characters.
Jyn was just okay. Maybe it’s bad
comparing her to Rey, but she’s clearly not as interesting. For someone who’s supposed to be strong,
trained by a military expert, she doesn’t do that much (except one scene in
Jedha). Cassian has the problem of
peaking early, like his first scene. I
felt like there was great potential for a character there – a good guy who is
willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even killing a “friend” – but it
was not fully explored. I wanted to like
both of them, and it’s not that I did not like them, just that I wanted more.
This leads me to
one of my biggest problems with the movie.
I really did not like the CGI Tarkin and Leia, and thought they
distracted from what was going on. When
at first they only showed Tarkin from behind, I thought it would work
well. As soon as they showed his face, I
thought it looked bad, like those bad Zemeckis CGI movies. I really wish they had not gone with it.
Let’s talk about
the music. I was kind of bummed when
they replaced Alexandre Desplat. After his
Godzilla, I was interested to hear what he came up with. I wonder if he recorded anything that we can
hear? That being said, they found the
perfect replacement. In fact, from the
beginning I had assumed that if Williams didn’t score Star Wars, Giacchino
would be the best replacement. After
all, he became famous by being a Williams-lite with the video games of The Lost
World and Medal of Honor (which sounds very much like Saving Private Ryan). First listen in the movie, I was a bit
underwhelmed. But then again, I said the
same thing with The Force Awakens. After
a second viewing and listening to the score, I will say it’s a good addition to
the best scored franchise. He throws in
the famous Williams themes at appropriate moments, and I really liked the
transition of the original Darth Vader theme into the Imperial theme when
Krennic meets Vader. It's especially impressive since he only had just over a
month to compete it.
Now, the two
biggest positives. First, it ended up
being what I hoped it would be. For the
first time, I felt like I was watching a war in the stars. Some people say it lagged a bit in the
middle. I did not think it was that bad,
and anyways the final act is fantastic.
In some ways, it reminded me of Return of the Jedi (that’s a good thing)
with the relentless final third of action.
And it wasn’t just action for action sake. It also thankfully avoided a trope I really
dislike; I call it going “Phantom Menace”, where everyone seems to be done at
the same time before they all turn it around and save the day (see also: The
Avengers). Oh, and I was really looking
forward to the AT-ACT beach scene, and while it wasn't long it was good.
Which leads me
to my second biggest positive: they did not hesitate to kill everyone off. I was worried about this, especially knowing
Disney had a hand in it. Not everything
has a have a happy ending, in fact the best Star Wars movie (see below)
obviously did not. Not that Rogue One
has a “sad” ending, but it’s certainly not happy for everyone. I’m very glad they went that route.
Some people are
upset with the very end, saying it makes the beginning of A New Hope not make
sense. He just saw them leave, why is
Vader questioning them then? Two points:
I doubt A New Hope happens right afterward (after all, Tatooine is probably far
away from Scarif). Also, the Corellian
Corvette is not a unique ship, in fact there are many, so it would probably
take them awhile to track down the right one.
So, the movie is
not perfect of course. There are a few
somewhat major faults. Overall, the
greatness definitely outweigh the problems.
I give it a solid 8 out of 10.
And now, let’s
look at the franchise. The definitive
ranking of the Star Wars movies, which could very easily change as soon as you
read this:
1. The
Empire Strikes Back
No
surprise here. Everyone knows it’s the
best, the most perfect.
2. A
New Hope
Picking the second best is actually the most difficult
choice. I have this #2 because it’s the
one that made it all happen. If it
wasn’t this good, we wouldn’t have the rest.
3. Rogue One
I really have changed this ranking at least 6 times
since I saw it the first time, everywhere from #2 to #5. I’m pretty happy with it here, though again
it’s pretty flexible. The biggest thing
is, as I said, the strengths greatly outweigh the weaknesses.
4. Return of the Jedi
Proving I have
no bias, this has always been my favorite movie, because it showcases my
favorite character (Luke) in the best way.
It still does not get any better than the fight at the Sarlacc Pit. The ewoks (and Han not flying the Millennium
Falcon) are the only thing keeping this from being #2.
5. The
Force Awakens
I really like this movie, and it’s hard to have it
this low. I have no problems with it
being a “rehash” of A New Hope. In fact,
I thought that was a good thing. I liked
all the new characters. It left me
wanting more (I’ve always said if Episode 8 was in the next theater I would
have immediately gone there). The only
real problem with it is that terrible rathtars scene.
6. Revenge
of the Sith
I really like this movie, and nearly had it
higher. The Obi Won/Anakin duel is one
of the best scenes in the franchise.
Unfortunately it comes right after “Anakin, you’re breaking my
heart.” I also really like the ruthless
Anakin in the Jedi Temple. Also, the
opening space battle is the best space battle in the franchise.
7. Attack
of the Clones
Some people have this as the worst, but I cannot do
that. This is the most extreme of the
movies. On the one hand, I love the
Kenobi spy storyline. On the other hand,
that love story. Ugh. The Kenobi story and Yoda’s lightsaber
fighting make this clearly not the worst.
8. The
Phantom Menace
Jar Jar, young Anakin, politics, just bad. Then there’s the final battle, where
two-thirds of it is atrocious but the Darth Maul fight is the best in the
franchise. So it’s not all bad.
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