We saw Rogue One and I was so uninspired I waited this long to post about it

[drwex]

Normally I write up the movies I see within a few days. Sometimes I wait to read others' commentaries (which I usually avoid beforehand because spoilers) afterward in order to help coalesce my thinking. This time it was more of a "hey, I could do this other thing."

I think part of it was that I went in with relatively high expectations - The Force

Comments

[cyberthorn]

Finally! We came out of it with similar feelings. I even saw it twice. And we have been wondering what is wrong us because everyone else we know love, love, loves it.

[dcltdw]

Only saw it once, felt incredibly meh about it for the above reasons.
Interestingly to me, Alyse thought it was the best of the movies. I guess if you don't get emotionally invested in the chars, and aren't already emotionally invested in the universe, then it's kinda an interesting film? I dunno. I tried to wrap my head around what she was saying, but at the moment I'm tired, so my recall is poor.

[vvalkyri]

I think the thought was likely that if everyone didn't die they should have been floating around for A New Hope. And it set up just what was meant by "at great cost" re acquiring the plans. I really didn't understand why they hit the archives with the death star.

The credits started to roll, and I started to cry. It was just about exactly how it went when I saw Sweeney Todd - so very bleak.

[chienne_folle]

Norman loves Star Wars and wanted to go see the movie until he read the New York Times review, after which he didn't want to go anywhere near it. You should check out that review, if you haven't; it avoids spoilers while making it perfectly clear how bad the film is.

[drwex]

A couple of 9-year-olds on a screen-free rainy afternoon would come up with better adventures, and probably also better dialogue.

OWW!

[chienne_folle]

I continue to be amazed that it's the actors and directors who make the big bucks in Hollywood. It's clear that there are a LOT of good actors out there and a fair number of competent directors. The bottleneck -- the scarce resource that makes excellent movies rare -- is good writing. Dunno why they don't focus on that more; it seems as if the culture of Hollywood lionizes directors and gives a grudging nod to actors but sees writers as on a par with electricians. There seems to be a mindset that any schmoe can do it. But the best movies start with a good SCRIPT. I don't know why this doesn't seem obvious to more people, since it seems completely obvious to me.

Leonard Nimoy's autobiographies make it clear that he thought a good movie started with a good script, but then, there's more than one reason why I admired the man. :-)

[c1]

An agreement and a disagreement.

First, yes, I think there were a few warts with this film. The body count wasn't one of them. And despite the warts, I walked out at the end happy that I'd seen it, and indeed, feeling that same sense of wow and awe when I first saw Episode IV as a kid.

everyone dies. I mean, everyone.

Remember "many Bothans died to bring us this information" in Episode IV? Rogue One needed no spoiler, because we all saw how and why the attack on the Death Star was successful. The only things remaining were the details. But we knew going in that there would be blood flowing in the streets.

Han shot first.Absolutely no disagreement here. Indeed, it's crucial for the story of Han's heroic transformation that he does shoot first. We need a callous bad-ass who doesn't give a shit beyond the fact that he's being paid in order for him to become the hero by returning to the battle and knocking away Vader's TIE fighter at the last moment. If he shot in self defense, it would have totally screwed that up -- he'd have

[cyberthorn]

The Bothan quote was in Return of the Jedi, not A New Hope.

[c1]

Shows you how good my memory is. But regardless, everyone who saw the original films knew going in how Rogue One was going to end.