Rogue One is Disney's first big test to see if they can do something different with the Star Wars franchise. It even avoids using the main theme and title scroll, just to show how serious it is about doing something new. Unfortunately this test might have gone a bit better if the movie still didn't depend so much on the other films for inspiration. The film positions itself chronologically between the prequels and the original trilogy. In terms of quality that is also where I would put it.
I spent a lot of Rogue One being bored and fidgety. There isn't a lot of action early on, and the movie is on some kind of fast shuffle mode, skipping to a new planet every three minutes to introduce yet another character hiding in another dingy alleyway. I take it as a fault of the movie that I can't recall a single character's name or motivation. Much like any movie with a large ensemble cast, they are reduced to a single character defining quirk - be it the spiritualist guy, or his cynical buddy, or (Forrest Whitikar's character) the redundant guy. The two stand out performances come in the form of a mouthy battle droid (who may or may not hate everyone) and a delightfully hammy, cloak swishing villainous officer. Everyone else has a much more miserable, muted performance in a poe faced production. It is Space Opera without the opera. This grim, gritty tone stands at odds with the goofy lazer sword, space magic movie it borrows from.
Outside of the characters, the other big misstep is the plot. This movie seemingly exists to expand on a passing quirk from the original trilogy. You know what else did this? The prequel movies. It is hardly satisfying, getting answers to the questions that didn't need asking. The bigger problem with this is that whilst the movie is simply about a gang of rebels trying to find the flaw in a Deathstar, the movie takes a very convoluted route to get to that point. The constant planet hopping, superfluous character introductions and debates get in the way. It might be me not paying attention, but I think there is even a continuity error in there, with characters appearing on an entirely different shuttle craft between scenes.
A lot of people seem to enjoy the finale, but outside of a few admittably cool looking moments, I think people are talking the exact same way they did immediately after they saw Episode 2: "Hey this one had a Boba Fett vs Jedi Fight!" or "there was a really big Jedi fight!". You are picking out a couple of stylish moments from a largely forgettable, muddy movie.
Space without Opera
Rogue One is Disney's first big test to see if they can do something different with the Star Wars franchise. It even avoids using the main theme and title scroll, just to show how serious it is about doing something new. Unfortunately this test might have gone a bit better if the movie still didn't depend so much on the other films for inspiration. The film positions itself chronologically between the prequels and the original trilogy. In terms of quality that is also where I would put it.
I spent a lot of Rogue One being bored and fidgety. There isn't a lot of action early on, and the movie is on some kind of fast shuffle mode, skipping to a new planet every three minutes to introduce yet another character hiding in another dingy alleyway. I take it as a fault of the movie that I can't recall a single character's name or motivation. Much like any movie with a large ensemble cast, they are reduced to a single character defining quirk - be it the spiritualist guy, or his cynical buddy, or (Forrest Whitikar's character) the redundant guy. The two stand out performances come in the form of a mouthy battle droid (who may or may not hate everyone) and a delightfully hammy, cloak swishing villainous officer. Everyone else has a much more miserable, muted performance in a poe faced production. It is Space Opera without the opera. This grim, gritty tone stands at odds with the goofy lazer sword, space magic movie it borrows from.
Outside of the characters, the other big misstep is the plot. This movie seemingly exists to expand on a passing quirk from the original trilogy. You know what else did this? The prequel movies. It is hardly satisfying, getting answers to the questions that didn't need asking. The bigger problem with this is that whilst the movie is simply about a gang of rebels trying to find the flaw in a Deathstar, the movie takes a very convoluted route to get to that point. The constant planet hopping, superfluous character introductions and debates get in the way. It might be me not paying attention, but I think there is even a continuity error in there, with characters appearing on an entirely different shuttle craft between scenes.
A lot of people seem to enjoy the finale, but outside of a few admittably cool looking moments, I think people are talking the exact same way they did immediately after they saw Episode 2: "Hey this one had a Boba Fett vs Jedi Fight!" or "there was a really big Jedi fight!". You are picking out a couple of stylish moments from a largely forgettable, muddy movie.