I'm not sure if it even fixes the original issue. I don't think it was ever about that fact that a missile could set off a chain reaction if it reached the core--it was that there was a freakin' exhaust port that led right to it without something as simple as a grate covering it
Ding Ding Ding! I feel exactly the same. My post from the other thread:
I'll add that all of my friends that watched the film with me (huge OT fans / prequel haters) loved the hell out of this. It's made me question what the difference between us is and I think I figured it out. My friends seem to be operating at the level of fandom where they just enjoy spending time in a familiar universe, much in the same way I would eagerly devour anything and everything Star Wars related as a kid -- but Star Wars long ago lost that sort of appeal for me. I still love the original trilogy, of course, because they are great films. I'm just not interested in the universe anymore unless its coupled with really great storytelling. This film was not that for me. But I guess it was enough for the former type of fan.
I read your write-up in the other thread. I think similarly. I also think some people just want to be back in the Star Wars universe no matter the quality of the film.
I'm willing to eat up anything Star Wars as long as it's good. TFA was a safe movie for reasons I get, but it was enjoyable. The pros outweighed the cons and I could sit and watch it again. Cannot say the same about Rogue One. If these spin off movies are of the same quality, I'll sit them out until one is telling a story that at least piques my interest. I saw RO out of a curiosity to see what a SW spin-off would look like, even though I even asked myself what the point of RO would be if it's concerning how the Death Star Plans got to the Rebels. In the end, I was asking myself the same question.
Of course, movies that depict events where you know end up? They can be fine. Saving Private Ryan is great though we know the Axis is defeated eventually. And yes, I know SPR is a top-tier movie and to expect other movies to hit that level is absurd and I guarantee I'm not doing that. I just think one simple thing that movie (and some other movies about events we know happen) succeed in is that it tells a story that's more personal and separated from the main players of the historic event or it tells a story we want to see. Those dudes sent to rescue Ryan? Nobody knew them. The war was the setting. As for telling a story we wanted to see, I think Revenge of the Sith did it alright despite having shitty writing. We wanted to see how Darth Vader and Obi-Wan became who they were in Ep 4 and we finally got it. With RO, I really didn't care about how the death star plans were obtained since the death star is just a giant planet-destroying machine that was blown up (twice! [thrice!]).
At no point did I feel I needed to know how the rebels got the plans, nor did I feel like going into the history about the Death Star. I mean, I love SW and will nerd out on the stupidest shit, so if we got some low key TV show about engineers and directors working on the DS instead I'd be all for that.
I felt all we needed to know about the Death Star's past was in the prequels with Revenge ending with the framework of the DS in space with Vader and the Emperor looking at it through the window. Cut to black. Cue William's music. We good.
And I don't think Saw is an interesting character in this film, either. He's a lip-licking dickhead who is a paranoid counterproductive mess. His last words aren't even that heroic. It's one of the few things that played better in the trailers sans context than it does in the film with it, because "Save the Rebellion" makes no sense coming from him, especially at that point in his life. His concept of "the dream" is obviously fucking long gone from what anyone else's is.
Saw is an odd character to me, especially his link to the Clone Wars tv show. I already guessed it when it was announced, but now that the movie is out it's even more obvious that they just wrote that part and cast Forest Whitaker for it, and that the story group later made the connection to give the character a name from a background character of a saturday morning cartoon show as an easter egg. It's just not the same character at all to me. Which is fine - I really, honestly don't care about canon that much (all that matters to me is who wrote/directed whatever story I'm watching) - but it's weird nonetheless.
I've only seen the movie once and I had a bit too much to drink last time, so I'll need to see it again one of these days (definitely liked it a lot - all my criticism is obviously in the nitpick-territory), but his character and his reason for being in the story didn't make much sense to me. He was far, far goofier than I expected and that threw me off. Not that I have anything against goofy characters, but his performance felt like a weird choice compared to the rest of the cast. Almost like putting silly old Jar Jar in an underwater speeder next to stoic Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson and trying to pull comedy out of that situation.
I kid, of course, because this movie obviously doesn't come close to those depths. I think I liked Saw, but I honestly don't know. And that's the part that's weirding me out about him.
Like I said, I'll need to watch it again, and sober this time. Hopefully I'll be a bit more used to Tarkin this time as well.
I hope I don't come across as too negative as I really did love this movie. I think I'd put it above Force Awakens (although it's close), and just under New Hope and Empire.
also im not trying to sound condescending. some people genuinely will like a movie because it has some awesome looking stuff in it, enough to the point where flaws wont matter as much. i love The Dark Knight Rises because of Bane and that's about it, and i know all that movie's flaws.
hell i know folks who love the prequel trilogy because of the lightsaber duels.
I think there is a pretty big difference between scary and depressing. Hell, most kids like getting a little scarred, not sure as many enjoy being a little depressed.
I just don't see Rogue One getting the type of cultural traction that TFA or LoTR did. I don't think we will see as many toys or halloween costumes. I don't think kids are going to want to watch it again and again in the same way. It is a movie where people talk about hope a lot, but we don't really see that hope rewarded.
I think that was the strongest part of the film. To me, it was the most Star Wars thing in Rogue One. The idea that something as huge and unstoppable as the Death Star could be brought down by a father's love for his child is what I want from Star Wars.
I'm not sure if it even fixes the original issue. I don't think it was ever about that fact that a missile could set off a chain reaction if it reached the core--it was that there was a freakin' exhaust port that led directly to it without something as simple as a grate blocking the way
Edit: Well, I guess it kind of does fix it in a really roundabout way? If the chain-reaction wasn't thought to be possible then the exhaust port wouldn't matter...but even still, that's something you'd think you'd want to safeguard against just to, you know, cover their bases
Ding Ding Ding! I feel exactly the same. My post from the other thread:
I'll add that all of my friends that watched the film with me (huge OT fans / prequel haters) loved the hell out of this. It's made me question what the difference between us is and I think I figured it out. My friends seem to be operating at the level of fandom where they just enjoy spending time in a familiar universe, much in the same way I would eagerly devour anything and everything Star Wars related as a kid -- but Star Wars long ago lost that sort of appeal for me. I still love the original trilogy, of course, because they are great films. I'm just not interested in the universe anymore unless its coupled with really great storytelling. This film was not that for me. But I guess it was enough for the former type of fan.
I have to disagree with you, I'm a big SW fan and while I've listed my main problems with TFA already (the characterizations) I still loved it way more than TFA and it wasn't due to nostalgia hype. I was let down by the characterizations in RO but it wasn't completely absent, I still felt for all these characters when they died. TFA did their characters slightly better but they still felt way off from what we got in the OT. But, unlike TFA, RO didn't feel like cheap fan service. It felt like a new separate adventure, that for the most part, kept its call backs to the original respectful instead of shoving anything in your face you might recognize in the hopes it will connect with you.
TFA had the potential to give us something fresh while staying true to the fun, action-adventure of the OT. Instead, it decided to just give everyone ANH again. RO while set just before ANH manages to give us something entirely different, something that expands the existing SW universe instead of trying to wallow in the past.
I liked the movie. It started a little slow and they really had a couple too many locations that they skipped into and out, but eventually the gist of the movie was on the right tracks.
I was pleasantly entertained and I wish there to be more 'Star Wars stories' like this one.
I did not get the sense he was involved with anything beyond the development of the weapon technology itself. I don't know why he'd have much of anything to do with exhaust ports, or why he'd be the only one to oversee those plans.
Maybe I misinterpreted; all I took from the scene was that he made sure the core would react as it does with a concussion blast, not that he engineered the tunnels leading to it. Maybe I'm wrong--whatever. It's the even what I'd consider a problem with the movie; that's everything else
So you're telling me no one else looked at the blueprints, or those who did didn't notice the tunnels leading directly to the core? Okay. Really well hidden there.
It's actually that exact line that made me think whatever he was talking about applied to the core itself--the technology he worked on. The core itself was made to be unstable in the event of a collision, which makes sense as something that could be hidden
While I do agree some of TFA's callbacks were...too much to the point where we have the damn Starkiller Base, and while I do agree that RO does it kinda better (though first Vader scene with that joke was pretty bad), I gotta remain on my fence than TFA was a better made movie.
The only expectation I had for the film was that it needed to be better than Force Awakens... and it was. And I was still disappointed. The quality of modern day blockbusters is so fucking middling.
The only expectation I had for the film was that it needed to be better than Force Awakens... and it was. And I was still disappointed. The quality of modern day blockbusters is so fucking middling.
Personally I do not like this retcon because it's more fun to imagine the rebels painstakingly going over the build plans to find that one weakness. No weapon has ever been built without a weakness, and having an engineer purposely put one in kinda undermines A New Hope where they won despite all odds.
Rogue One was still a good movie, but definitely not the strongest IMO.
I don't get why seemingly every other planet the movie went to got its name listed on screen when it was shown, but Mustafar did not. I can see why people missed the connection to Episode III.
I definitely was waiting for it to say that was Mustafar on screen and was surprised when no text showed up. I just assumed it was Mustafar and thought it was weird Vader would be hanging out there.
Rogue One is behind TFA and ahead of ROTS by a solid margin. OT is still king. Rian Johnson is the first and last hope this franchise has of approaching their greatness.
But I still wouldn't count out Kasdan's Han Solo movie.
Nope. Jabba's palace is great. The sail barge battle is catharsis. That twenty minute stretch between landing on Endor and Luke handing himself over is the part that sucks.
also im not trying to sound condescending. some people genuinely will like a movie because it has some awesome looking stuff in it, enough to the point where flaws wont matter as much. i love The Dark Knight Rises because of Bane and that's about it, and i know all that movie's flaws.
hell i know folks who love the prequel trilogy because of the lightsaber duels.
I don't know if this was aimed at me (since your post came after mine), but I didn't just like it because Vader wrecked some shit and because it looked pretty. I love the themes of the movie, like most of the characters, and the thing I love the most is that it's tonally doing something I've never seen in a Star Wars movie before, and never expected to see. I was very skeptical about the movie before I saw it since the trailers didn't look that great to me and the story didn't sound too appealing, but I was very happily surprised. Compared to the other Star Wars prequels, this felt like it made the universe larger by zooming in, as opposed to making the universe feel smaller by blowing up the scale as done in Lucas' prequels.
I love the small scale, especially as achieved by Edwards' close shooting style. More than in any other Star Wars movie, these planets felt like real places where actual people lived, and I finally got a sense of what life must be like in these strange places under Empire oppression.
I can totally understand people not liking the movie as it's certainly not as mass audience-friendly as Force Awakens, but that's also part of why I admire it.
I do think it's going a bit too far to suggest that people who are positive about this movie are doing it simply because it looks good. I'd like to think I have better tastes than that, thank you very much.
I could never understand people who said Revenge of the Sith wasn't that bad. It's still a horrible film with terrible writing and acting and embarrassing melodramatics to me.
Rogue One is behind TFA and ahead of ROTS by a solid margin. OT is still king. Rian Johnson is the first and last hope this franchise has of approaching their greatness.
I dunno I think TFA is very well there with the OT. It's better than ANH and ROTJ for me. Empire is the only one that gives me pause in that regard, if it weren't for Empire, TFA would be my favorite.
I don't know if this was aimed at me (since your post came after mine), but I didn't just like it because Vader wrecked some shit and because it looked pretty. I love the themes of the movie, like most of the characters, and the thing I love the most is that it's tonally doing something I've never seen in a Star Wars movie before, and never expected to see. I was very skeptical about the movie before I saw it since the trailers didn't look that great to me and the story didn't sound too appealing, but I was very happily surprised. Compared to the other Star Wars prequels, this felt like it made the universe larger by zooming in, as opposed to making the universe feel smaller by blowing up the scale as done in Lucas' prequels.
I love the small scale, especially as achieved by Edwards' close shooting style. More than in any other Star Wars movie, these planets felt like real places where actual people lived, and I finally got a sense of what life must be like in these strange places under Empire oppression.
I can totally understand people not liking the movie as it's certainly not as mass audience-friendly as Force Awakens, but that's also part of why I admire it.
I do think it's going a bit too far to suggest that people who are positive about this movie are doing it simply because it looks good. I'd like to think I have better tastes than that, thank you very much.
4 = 5 > R1 > 7 > 6 >>>>>>> 1 > 3 > 2
I could never understand people who said Revenge of the Sith wasn't that bad. It's still a horrible film with terrible writing and acting and embarrassing melodramatics to me.
im sorry you got that impression. i wasn't addressing you. i just wanted to make a clarification so ppl dont think im just a NO FUN ALLOWED kind of person when it comes to movies lol
i sometimes get self conscious about my criticisms because i feel im in the minority all the time about them
Slow start, but the second half picked it up significantly, and that ending was so awesome.
The digital faces could have used a little extra time in the oven though... Princess Leia looked kinda passable, but Tarkin looked fake every time they shown him.
I feel like this spinoff being as successful at what it was trying to do makes it sorta/kinda like the film equivalent of Heir to the Empire shaking up people's ideas of what Star Wars could be back in 1991. Or maybe Dark Empire, if you prefer that EU touchstone.
But one of the first things I thought after leaving the theater last Monday was that this movie feels like the best possible adaptation of the Dark Horse Comics run, without actually being based on a Dark Horse Comic.
"Oh, you really can do that with Star Wars" is a sentiment going around that reminds me a lot of the aftermath to Zahn's landing on the bestseller lists back then.
I will say this about Episode III it sure is memorable. That thread that stated its the most quotable movie of the last 10 years is probably true. In 10 years the only thing I'm going to remember about RO is the Tarkin CGI and Vader stuff.