so I finally saw it, super long review ahoy
[TL;DR: I happily give it a watchable B and think that a few tweaks could have made it a very good movie]
so I'd have to say first and foremost that Rogue One was very clearly made by a writer + director who loved Star Wars and wanted it to be a worthy addition. In that regard, they very clearly succeeded: Rogue One is certainly the next-best film after the original trilogy, although that's a rather low bar to hurdle, and is far closer to the greatness of the original trilogy than the 4 mediocre films that succeeded it. More to the point, it really did feel like Star Wars, and it really did feel like a Star Wars film made by a fan, not a laughably out-of-touch director nor a corporate boardroom. Unlike Episode VII, which seemed like every scene was gone over with a fine-tooth comb in order to maximize the amount of profit that Disney would rake in, Rogue One took risks and didn't pander to a casual audience. I appreciate it and hope that we can expect a threshold of "good" and "original" going forward, although I don't think that much risk will pop up again in the portfolio.
I think my favorite part of the entire film was the gritty, grimy, tense atmosphere of Imperial-occupied worlds at the apex of the Empire's power. While I think too many worlds were stuffed into the movie, I greatly enjoyed the brief sojourns on the asteroid base, the labor planet, and the temple city. Seeing stormtroopers and AT-STs patrolling about while everyone looks over their shoulders to check for spies was everything I wanted. The tone and setting of the film were fantastic, not in the least because we never really saw an Imperial occupation in any planets of the original trilogy, with the exception of a few minutes of Mos Eisley and Cloud City. The tone also reinforced a secondary theme that the Rebel Alliance faced serious challenges and was on the point of collapse, which I really liked as well. While it bugged me a little bit that each stormtrooper basically existed to die 10 seconds after first appearing, I wouldn't have changed much of anything about the atmosphere except perhaps seeing more -- I would have done the first act on the labor planet, the second act on the trading asteroid, and the third act on the desert planet so that we could get a deeper sense of time and place [how many planets were in this movie? Like 6? There should be a rule that Star Wars can't have more than 3 planets in any movie].
My second favorite part of the movie was the quippy strategy droid. Loved him. Alan Tudyk nailed it. Definitely my favorite character in the film. I wonder how much, if any, of his personality was inspired by HK-47. I didn't much care when the other characters died, but I was sad when he took one for the team.
Speaking of the other characters, I liked the Imperial director and wanted more of him. The scenes with him and CGI Tarkin and Vader were very well done (I think his scene with Vader might be the best in the entire film, and I thought CGI Tarkin did a great job of bringing gravity into each scene, although I couldn't help but be slightly annoyed that it wasn't Peter Sellers' voice) and highlighted his ambition well. Ambition wasn't really one of the character traits of any Imperial officers of the original trilogy, so it was interesting to see a character who isn't motivated by evil or fear but rather the desire to make sure he gets his due. I wish they had fleshed out the character a bit more, and maybe axed the "generic evil villain" scenes like killing the engineers and taking the time to explain why the Rebellion's plans will fail rather than kill Jin when he's got a blaster pointed at her.
The other main characters I found mostly one-dimensional.
-Hero girl had a pretty standard character arc that had too many cliches to make me care much about her.
-Hero dude was a bit deeper and managed to portray the idea that the rebellion isn't all puppies and X-wings and inspiration. Liked him, would have liked more backstory about his struggles and sacrifices.
-Blind kung-fu guy was totally misused in this movie, IMO. He could've been a great voice of morality and wisdom instead of being a "press A to not die" video game character. Was wondering if he was going to pull a lightSabre out of his staff to kill all the stormtoopers around the master switch, and was very happy he did not.
-I don't think Imperial pilot even had one dimension to speak of. His schtick was "I'm the important pilot" pretty much through the entire movie. I kind of feel bad for the actor that he wasn't given any emotional range other than fear of imminent death.
-Trigger happy guy was a trigger happy guy. Why was the point of putting him in this movie? Couldn't the writers have found a way to kill stormtroopers with more emotional gravity than a Gears of War match?
-Same criticism of Forest Whitakre's character. Why did he have to exist? Jin could have survived as a girl without him and they could have gotten her father's message without him. His death scene was super corny and basically reinforced how unimportant he was overall.
Many scattered thoughts:
-I disliked the number of references to ANH in Episode VII, but I thought that the references in Rogue One were just about right. The blue milk and Evazon's appearance were spot-on. That said, I disliked the recycling of Red Leader and Gold Leader clips in the last battle.
-I couldn't help but love the fact that the "hammerhead corvette" was a ship from KOTOR [not in the least because it means that the director knows about the game and therefore knows about one of the great entities in the universe -- and maybe, hope beyond hope, that means we might get a KOTOR movie]. But since KOTOR takes place thousands of years before ANH, that means it's museum relic -- wouldn't it shatter the second its engines start up, let alone when it rams a Star Destroyer?
-In the same vein, weren't kaibur [sp?] crystals the plot point of Splinter of the Mind's Eye? It's not one of the great novels but I enjoyed it, and enjoyed the reference. How many other Easter eggs were there? I'm wondering if I missed any more from the books/comics/games. Great to see a film that incorporates the former expanded universe after Disney decided it all goes in the trash heap.
-I don't know how the Internet writ large reacted to CGI Tarkin and Leia but I liked them both, although there really wasn't much reason for Leia to be in the film except for fan service. I would love a Tarkin movie, although I'd rather see a Thrawn movie over a Tarkin movie, and I'd rather see a Baron Fel movie over a Thrawn movie.
-The last battle was awesome, but so many of the earlier battles seemed unnecessary. Too many X-wings shooting down too many TIE fighters risks making the exchanges dull. So many stormstroopers died in this movie that it's hard to think of them as a threat even if they're the best-trained soldiers in the galaxy.
-My sister [who is also a Star Wars dork] and I had an argument about jumping to hyperspace when in a planet's gravity well. She remembers reading that it's not possible to do so, and I remember reading that the only thing that can prevent someone from jumping to hyperspace is an Interdictor Cruiser. Other dorks' input would be welcome in solving this riddle.
Then again, perhaps they're referring to the gap between when the films were made.
