Rogue One (SPOILERS)

[BrentS]

Was it just me or did Vader's neck look really large? Maybe it was the 3D.

Yes!  My only complaint is that Vader looked a bit "off" because his neck was too large (also watched in 3D).

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I was hoping they wouldn't mess up Leia... it was just about perfect.

[Darby]

My quick take - LOVED it. For all the reasons mentioned above. The movie isn't perfect. The plot stumbles over Saw Gerrera and Galen Erso. So - the rebels want Jyn to meet with Saw, to get to Bodhi, who has been sent by Galen to Saw with a hologram that explains a flaw in the DS design without explaining how to exploit it so you'll have to go to Scarif to get that but we go to Eadu to get Galen who is narratively dead at this point to literally kill him because - why? Wouldn't the alliance 1) want Galen for his knowledge of said flaw? 2) His potential help in countering the DS or maybe creating something similar for the rebels (hey, what's fair is fair). Killing him makes no sense because the DS is operational and has already destroyed Jedha. You get nothing for shooting him but revenge and that is not the stated goal. The conflict between Cassian and Jyn makes no sense and the scene on the transport after Eadu was awkward and forced. Cassian being a classic Cold War spy who has killed / must kill is a great idea. Killing Saw - I can kind of see it, but then the opportunity is wasted along with Saw's character, and then the plot simply retasks Cassian to kill Galen because shooting dudes in the back is fun. Super convoluted.

But I clapped and cheered and when Vader went full Vader on those dudes I bounced off the ceiling.

[Diddly]

Saw it tonight, got out a few hours ago and am still digesting things. Just some quick notes for now:

- LOVED the battles at the end, specifically the space battle
- Right from the start they got the feel of the OT just perfect with the farm's furniture and the blue milk
- Everything Vader did was awesome. Those last 5 minutes... straight out of Battlefront
- Tarkin looked amazing at first but then the uncanny valley came into play after a few scenes... Leia looked completely CGI and fake
- Why was the Tantive even in the battle? I had always assumed they were off doing whatever and caught the transmission... would have made a lot more sense with the line "maybe someone out there will listen" or whatever it was
- HATED the Evazan/Ponda cameo, and Evazan's makeup was awful. R2 and 3PO felt forced too, but I loved everything else, especially Gold and Red leaders
- What was the point of all of the new Imperial craft? TIE Strikers were in the movie for like 4 seconds total. Shoretroopers barely did anything. Death Troopers were basically there to look cool. Glad I held off on a lot of the merchandise

Also did anyone notice that hardly any of the scenes from the trailers made the final cut? Like the TIE confronting Jyn at the antenna, Vader in the Death Star firing room, and Krennic talking about immeasurable power. Probably a few others too.

[GrandMoffNick]

Weren't they trying to kill Galen before they believed what Jyn was saying?

[Dave]

I was fine with the Galen Erso story line and them trying to kill him.

To me the only part of this movie that seemed unnecessary was the Saw story line.  I liked the fight scenes on Jedha, but didn't feel the Saw story line was necessary.  Especially the octopus brain reading creature.  That part of the store line wasn't overly distracting, but they could have easily had Cassian track down Bodie who had the message and the connection with Jyn.

Agreed the Evazan / Ponda Baba cameo was forced and stupid.  Highly coincidental that they were on Jedha and a day later were in the Mos Eisley cantina right in the thick of essentially the same story line.

Ultimately those are small nitpicks in an overall tight movie.

[Darby]

I need to see it again (and again!) but Cassian seemed to be trying to kill everybody. He had orders to kill Saw. I believe the order to take out Galen is received on the ship and they divert to Eadu. Could be wrong.

[GrandMoffNick]

I feel like a bad fan for only having seen it once so far

[Nicklab]

I just got back from my first screening.  Thankfully, our Rogue SUV got me to the theater through all of the snow!  I couldn't help but see the irony in that.

Gut feeling?  I liked it a lot.  I knew a good deal of the story going in, but that didn't dampen my feelings about the movie at all.  I think the characters were different from what we've seen in the past, but I also think that's a good thing.  I would rather see different sorts of characters navigating their way through the Star Wars universe than for the films to keep on regurgitating some of the same old archetypes.

One notable thing?  I don't think we've seen quite so many planets in a single Star Wars film before. I counted at least 7 myself.  One of which was a complete surprise!  The one where Cassian made contact with his source actually reminded me of one location in Guardians of the Galaxy, but that was probably just my impression.

This was definitely a war movie.  And I think it highlighted that the war between the Rebellion and the Empire was going more from covert actions to all-out war.  The space battle was probably one of the best ones we've ever seen.  And I like the inclusion of some pilots that we've seen before in that context.

I'm going to try getting to another screening during the week.  I saw it in IMAX 3D and I think I'd like to check it out in the 2D format, and sitting dead center in the middle of the theater.

[Dave]

Just cracked open my AT-ACT.  In it is everyone's favorite all black Imperial Astromech from the movie - C2-B5.  Um, er.  I've seen the movie twice and don't recall seeing any astromech or protocol droids in any of the scenes with Imperials.  Did I blink and miss him?

[Nicklab]

As Imperial droids go, I saw at least one Viper probe droid, some other KX droids, some RA-7 droids and I heard at least one mouse droid.  But I didn't spot any Imperial astromechs.

[CorranHorn]

C2-B5 can be seen near the gate that leads into the Scariff base on the landing pad where the Rebels cargo shuttle landed.

And I think there are 8 planets technically in the movie. During Jyn's flashback as a small child, the family home appears to be on Coruscant.

[Darby]

Definitely Coruscant. I love all the PT callouts in the movie. Let's see, there are:

1 Jedha
2 Scarif
3 Eadu
4 Yavin 4
5 Lah'mu
6 Mustafar
7 Coruscant
8 Wobani (mining colony we first meet adult Jyn)
9 Outpost where we meet Cassian - forget the name

Any others?

[CorranHorn]

The mining colony was Wombani I believe. Quick side note, wasn't that an Clone Turbo Tank she was being transported in?

Lah'mu, was that the first planet we saw? I thought that might have been Onderon.

And funny enough I thought where we first met Cassian was Jedha, just a different part of the city. I guess I just need to see the movie again.

[Darby]

Just remembered it was Wobani. And that was a Turbo Tank! PT love everywhere. Lah'mu was the first planet, home of the Ersos.

[Nicklab]

Definitely Coruscant. I love all the PT callouts in the movie. Let's see, there are:

1 Jedha
2 Scarif
3 Eadu
4 Yavin 4
5 Lah'mu
6 Mustafar
7 Coruscant
8 Wobani (mining colony we first meet adult Jyn)
9 Outpost where we meet Cassian - forget the name

Any others?

Wow.  That makes 9?  The trading outpost was the Ring of Kafrene.


I guess my theory about the kneeling figure was wrong.  I know that a lot of people thought they were looking at a bacta tank, but after reading Catalyst I thought that it may have been a giant kyber crystal.  But having seen that scene now?  I was not expecting that Vader would be just hanging out in a bacta tank during his down time, nor would he be guarded by the Imperial Royal Guards.  And for him to live in a castle on Mustafar?  I can't imagine how someone would want to live at the scene where they were burned alive after having three limbs cut off.

The thing is, there's some Ralph McQuarrie concept art for that location: