Mendelsohn is a very good actor. His experience in serious and dark movies helped him in this. The character of Krennic though came across as a bit of an ineffectual middle-management leeching off others accomplishments and constantly arse-licking his superiors. He played it well, to be fair.
Yesterday, I finally got around to seeing Rogue One! I know that it's been out for a month so nobody really gives a shit anymore, but I just have to share my thoughts. I loved it. I mean I really, really, REALLY loved it. All of the massive disappointment that I felt for The Force Awakens last year was washed away and then some with this masterpiece.
The number one thing that Rogue One does right is that it is the first SW movie to deviate from the main “Saga” plotline. As a fan of the old Expanded Universe, this didn't necessarily come off as a revelation to me, I'm used to dealing in C and D list characters, but Rogue One was the first time where we have seen an EU story with non-Skywalker and pals characters put into live action, which excited me beyond belief. This fanboy is shaking like a leaf with delight, and I look forward to what other EU-esque movies are coming down the pipe.
In particular, I appreciated the fact that this is a WAR film, as in a story about soldiers. Even more specifically, it's a “Men on a mission” type story, like The Dirty Dozen or Kelly's Heroes for instance. The Saga SW movies are space operas featuring mythical champions like Luke and Han and Leia, fallen heroes like Anakin and Satanic archetypes like The Emperor. As great as all of that is, it only really has weight when you understand that there is an entire universe propping these larger than life heroes and villains up. Their struggles mean more, it feels more real, when we get to see the struggles of the infantrymen, the unsung heroes without whom none of the struggle against the Empire would be possible. These characters in Rogue One are the grunts who have to put up with the endless bullshit of the upper classes, the ones who are celebrated with empty platitudes and maybe some ticker tape parades if they're lucky, but are rarely to never shown much actual material gratitude. I know that some people have complained that this type of grittiness and journey into the men on a mision subgenre makes it not feel like a SW film, but to me, it makes the universe that much richer. Plus, I feel that the whimsy and magic of SW means more when you contrast it against the unrelenting darkness and evil that also exists there. We finally have a living, breathing alternate universe, one that is almost as sprawling and detailed as real life.
The only solace these people get is in their comraderie with one another, and to a lesser extent, their duty and their sacrifice. They know they are doing the right thing, so the suffering and the imminent death is worth it, because they'll go to hell before they accept fascism. There's also obviously a race/sex aspect to this. The Empire is represented almost exclusively by white males while the heroes are a more diverse and eclectic group. This detail wasn't a coincidence, it was deliberately planned out, but I appreciated it despite whatever heavy-handedness was intended, because one, these are all good characters, and two, in the old EU, the Empire was infamously monochromatic and xenophobic of aliens as well. So it fits.
Jyn Erso was great. She was a MUCH better protagonist than Rey from the last movie ever was, which may be damning with faint praise because Rey was more wooden than anyone from the Prequels, but Jyn had a lot of character depth and implied nuance behind her that I appreciated. The two aren't really comparable as characters other than the fact that they're both female and the main character, but I thought I ought to mention it just to further drive in how much more I liked this versus TFA. The rest of the cast is solid, and it disappoints me that this is likely to be their only cinematic adventure.
The Tarkin CGI is spectacular. I would go so far to call it a paradigm shift, as was the Leia CGI. The Uncanny Valley gap is shrinking before our eyes.
I'm writing this off the cuff, so without a doubt, I'm missing a lot of other elements that I wanted to mention that will come to mind later, but goddamn, what a good experience.
RANKINGS:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Rogue One
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. The Force Awakens
8. The Phantom Menace
Rogue One is pretty much a Saga movie considering that it takes place within the main storyline. The movie ends like 5 minutes before A New Hope begins
That Vader scene really brings it up. Worth the price of admission by itself (Which for me was around 5.50. Usually matinee is 8 bucks, so must have caught a special.)
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Seriously, why didn't the droid army have a few of those? How come their tactical droids and every other droid in the swu can't shoot straight or take a hit?
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
The best antagonist of this film and thanks to him the Death Star was completed. Tarkin ****ed it all up in ANH. Vader failed at the end of this film just as he did at the end of ANH.
I also imagined that he may have gotten a few reprogrammed/mod "upgrades" with how (it looks like, anyway) easily he took down a fellow imperial droid. I also imagine that his kind of driod is a high end production model.
Kinda like a modded current BMW far outperforming (speed and handling) a bottom priced model Nissan from 10 years ago.
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
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Jan 9th, 2017 11:51 PM
