Rogue One!
I am pleased to report that Rogue One did not suck, imo! Enjoyed quite a bit, would go see again. I went in to the movie with only the vaguest idea of what it was about, and was glad I did, but just a heads up without getting too spoilery, it's definitely more gritty grimdark than your average Star Wars movie. Not my favorite thing, generally, but for this story, it worked.
A lot of moral gray areas, good guys do some questionable things for the cause, and death and sacrifice required are portrayed pretty gut-wrenchingly rather than chopping up a bunch of clone robots with lightsabers. After watching footage of Aleppo, stuff like little kids caught in war zones (very brief, and the kid lives) and decisions of "just what am I willing to sacrifice to fight a fascist regime" seem A LITTLE TOO REAL, these days O_O.
It is not a happy ending, but it barrels the nail-bitey action right into the beginning of the first Star Wars movie so I found it manageable - more "ack -*everybody* dies? - wow, yeah, makes sense - ok, so it all turns out better *eventually* - fanfiction will be applied!" than "thank you, my soul is crushed now and I'm just going to lay here on the theater floor in stunned dismay."
The robot! The robot was the best part of the whole movie <3333333333 So much snark XD
I wasn't particularly attached to either of the main leads, although they were sympathetic enough, and Jyn's switch from "you don't have to see the flag if you don't look up" to confident leader of the rogue steal-the-plans mission didn't ring ~entirely~ smooth to me, but fairly minor overall. Blind-force-monk and his well-armed firepower boyfriend buddy were quite fun, and shuttle pilot dude I quite liked too. No one's names are sticking in my head for some reason, although I think I managed to follow the plot better than I usually do for things like this - better than with Fantastic Beasts, for sure!
No romantic last kiss before certain doom! Points for that :)
Fun fact: they used footage of female X-wing fighters that had been edited out of the original Star Wars, very cool! Aaand that was about it, other than maybe...three other very brief female roles? so not without things that Could Be Worked On, ahem.
Also of note: of the eight movie previews, seven of them had white male leads - the lone exception was a Planet of the Apes sequel, where the main guy is a chimpanzee (and there's an orangutan who appears to have adopted a little white girl? All the other humans in the preview were white guys). A few of them scored points for what looked like diverse supporting cast, but the King Arthur one appeared to be 100% white dudes, from the preview anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/168091.html. Please comment wherever you wish.
A lot of moral gray areas, good guys do some questionable things for the cause, and death and sacrifice required are portrayed pretty gut-wrenchingly rather than chopping up a bunch of clone robots with lightsabers. After watching footage of Aleppo, stuff like little kids caught in war zones (very brief, and the kid lives) and decisions of "just what am I willing to sacrifice to fight a fascist regime" seem A LITTLE TOO REAL, these days O_O.
It is not a happy ending, but it barrels the nail-bitey action right into the beginning of the first Star Wars movie so I found it manageable - more "ack -*everybody* dies? - wow, yeah, makes sense - ok, so it all turns out better *eventually* - fanfiction will be applied!" than "thank you, my soul is crushed now and I'm just going to lay here on the theater floor in stunned dismay."
The robot! The robot was the best part of the whole movie <3333333333 So much snark XD
I wasn't particularly attached to either of the main leads, although they were sympathetic enough, and Jyn's switch from "you don't have to see the flag if you don't look up" to confident leader of the rogue steal-the-plans mission didn't ring ~entirely~ smooth to me, but fairly minor overall. Blind-force-monk and his well-armed firepower boyfriend buddy were quite fun, and shuttle pilot dude I quite liked too. No one's names are sticking in my head for some reason, although I think I managed to follow the plot better than I usually do for things like this - better than with Fantastic Beasts, for sure!
No romantic last kiss before certain doom! Points for that :)
Fun fact: they used footage of female X-wing fighters that had been edited out of the original Star Wars, very cool! Aaand that was about it, other than maybe...three other very brief female roles? so not without things that Could Be Worked On, ahem.
Also of note: of the eight movie previews, seven of them had white male leads - the lone exception was a Planet of the Apes sequel, where the main guy is a chimpanzee (and there's an orangutan who appears to have adopted a little white girl? All the other humans in the preview were white guys). A few of them scored points for what looked like diverse supporting cast, but the King Arthur one appeared to be 100% white dudes, from the preview anyway.
This entry was originally posted at http://playswithworms.dreamwidth.org/168091.html. Please comment wherever you wish.