Rogue One Discussion !!!SPOILERS!!!

[Marine0846]

Agis,

Thanks for the Victoria Minis post.
I saw these figures in another post and forgot to bookmark it.
Have not had time to go back and look of it.
I did order some Rebel Miniatures that look as they would work.
A good mix of different figures would make the Rebels look about right.
For me, they don't have to be prefect, just a good match.

PS, just went and ordered from Victoria,  a 10 man Arcadian squad and 6 man weapons squad.

[white knight]

And Captain Cassian....I keep expecting him to say "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

I thought the exact same thing.

Otherwise still loved the movie though, despite some weak points it managed to bring back the magic, contrary to The Force Awakens. Probably because they recreates the esthetics of the originals more.

[YPU]

I did the brave thing and brought my girlfriend along to the movie, and she loved it. Lots of small touches that made this more down to earth and "realistic" really did it. Cassian having to wipe rain from his eyes while sniping, and a rebel trooper asking what this "master switch" looks like and how to find it, instead of it beeing some big red "don't touch!" button. I'm also a big stickler for continuity and this movie had it in spades, in the right way (IMHO) it could have gone very wrong with the mix of existing characters and it all felt pretty good and does a great job to set up a new hope. Probably my favourite prequel to anything.

One thing that did bother me. In the final battle, there is a high up shot of the landing pad area that is beeing fought over by rebels and troopers. While I liked all the action shots that one high up camera angle showed the layout of the greeble and cargo around the pad and it really looked like a paintball arena. In modern computer games there is the concept of "chest high walls" The kind of thing you take cover behind and for some reason every piece of machinery and blown up wall is the perfect height for that. The area this took place in was a square piece of clearing in the forest, enhancing the pre-made battle area feel. The way the cover is scattered about was also very evenly, so that no matter where in the area you would stand there would be some cover nearby, rather then it beeing placed in some logical way that suggests use and function.

Anyhow, that's my one rant. I loved the movie and am more excited about starwars than I have been in a long time.

[Dezmond]

As a war movie it isn't anything like as cool as, say, Black Hawk Down



Then again, that does leave room in ones imagination for how they should do it Properly.

[nic-e]

Forgot to mention earlier another great nod to the past - Blue Milk!!!

I liked the two troopers casually chatting about the T-15 while the rebel's sneaked around them.

[DivisMal]

Saw it yesterday evening...and was simply stunned! The first half was okayish, but the battle scenes in part two: amazing...no legendary!

I also liked the many easter eggs and references to A New Hope and like many here have already mentioned felt like a six year old again. A mysterious universe. Very old yet filled with space travel. An evil empire and as a novelty grimdark heroes.

Only one thing feels really strange. In the movie there seems to be hyperspace communication between Yavin 4 and rebel squadrons. That already felt very strange in episode 7.

I always imagined the Star Wars universe vast and gigantic (a star destroyer even dwarfs 40ks flying cathedrals!). Since when did people therin possess space mobiles? That was too much Dr. Who.

But let's not complain too much. I now wanna start a space opera tabletop again!

[Daeothar]

One thing that did bother me. In the final battle, there is a high up shot of the landing pad area that is beeing fought over by rebels and troopers. While I liked all the action shots that one high up camera angle showed the layout of the greeble and cargo around the pad and it really looked like a paintball arena. In modern computer games there is the concept of "chest high walls" The kind of thing you take cover behind and for some reason every piece of machinery and blown up wall is the perfect height for that. The area this took place in was a square piece of clearing in the forest, enhancing the pre-made battle area feel. The way the cover is scattered about was also very evenly, so that no matter where in the area you would stand there would be some cover nearby, rather then it beeing placed in some logical way that suggests use and function.

Anyhow, that's my one rant. I loved the movie and am more excited about starwars than I have been in a long time.

I just saw it for the second time last night, and I paid a bit of attention to this. To me, the cargo was placed in such a way that cargo loaders could easily maneuver in between them (think forklifts), especially when cargo is unloaded and needs to be sorted and carried to different areas. So I wouldn't say the spacing of the cargo is especially odd.

I do give you that it's bloody convenient though... 

Some observations of my own now:

- When the rebel strike force is wlkaing out of the Yavin IV temple to board the captured shuttle, there is (of course) the Ghost parked in the top left of the screen. But inbetween the Ghost and the shuttle, there is an actual Z-95 parked on the pad!

- The planet where Galen Erso is hiding; it has a moon, and on the surface, we can see a tidal sea, with surf chopping on a beach. But the planet also has a ring system around it (a la Saturn), but such aring would be unable to form with a moon of such mass in orbit around the planet (nitpickiing).

- When the Hammerhead corvette butts the disabled ISD against the other one, and they all crash into the shield station, the direction they're falling is directly down, towards the planet.  and thr station is directly above the Scariff Citadel tower. In other words; two 1,6 Km long Stardestroyers and an even larger space station are plummeting directly down on Scariff station. Which makes Tarkin's Deathstar shot just a tad overkill I'd say. Also; during the end scenes, there not one piece of ISD falling down (on screen).

- In the archive scenes, when K-2SO closes the vault doors; I've read complaints that Krennic simply uses a side door to bypass the vault door. However; the vault door lead to the control room where Erso and Cassian were at that time. It appears as if the door krennic and his troopers opened was more of a service door, and normally not available to personnel. Also, there was no need for the stormtroopers to go there, as their assault was aimed at the renegade security droid at the console, not the archive itself.


There's more, of course, but I'll reserve that for subsequent viewings. However, none of the above pierced my (admittedly very large) suspension of disbelief at any time, so I'm good...

[AKULA]

Only one thing feels really strange. In the movie there seems to be hyperspace communication between Yavin 4 and rebel squadrons. That already felt very strange in episode 7.

If you mean the attempted recall of the attack on Eadu, I took the "they are already engaged" comment to mean that they'd sent an attack signal before entering hyperspace to head to the planet.

[mcfonz]

What Akula said - given that if sent after, they would be close to the enemy who could intercept the message / or just found to be lurking around waiting for the order to attack.

Much more sense to jump after the order to attack and then not to hang about and get the job done.

[DivisMal]

If you mean the attempted recall of the attack on Eadu, I took the "they are already engaged" comment to mean that they'd sent an attack signal before entering hyperspace to head to the planet.

Well, that is a pretty good explanation which will keep my mind silenced. Planning to see it again on the weekend!

[Maledrakh]

"- The planet where Galen Erso is hiding; it has a moon, and on the surface, we can see a tidal sea, with surf chopping on a beach. But the planet also has a ring system around it (a la Saturn), but such aring would be unable to form with a moon of such mass in orbit around the planet (nitpickiing)."

Because *all together now* That's no moon...that's a space station! 

(yeah the death star was over Jedha at the time, so that probably was a moon. But it looked cool.)

[Belligerentparrot]

I hate to disagree with everyone, but I saw Rogue One last week and was massively disappointed. Not as bad as The Force Awakens, but still terrible.

I mean, the film looked wonderful. It really did. All the points my fellow LAFers raised earlier in the thread about the dirtiness, the moustaches, etc, are spot on. I'm not sure a Star Wars film has ever looked so good. Also, the world-building was excellent. It was great to have such a convincing explanation for the structural flaw in the Death Star, for example.

But the actual story-line of the movie... the acting... the dialogue... the characters (especially the ridiculously hackneyed "blind Asian sensei")... the conveniently placed switches... I was actually looking at my watch, wondering how long there was to go. (And then Vader got busy, and it was *almost* worth it ).

But my biggest complaint: I've been waiting over 30 years, and I STILL haven't seen a Star Destroyer do anything cool. That first shot in the first movie, when the SD looms into view, my young self thought (and sorry, mods, no other words can capture this feeling) "Oh WOW, I can't wait to see that thing really fuck some shit up!!!" At the end of R1, the rebel fleet zooms directly into the path of two SDs. Do they do anything cool? Are big rebel ships getting blasted out of space in all directions? Nope. Not a damn thing.

One day I'd like someone to make a SW movie that concentrated on making a really good movie, rather than something that just looked cool. And in which a Star Destroyer gets to really, really toast something. 

[phreedh]

At the end of R1, the rebel fleet zooms directly into the path of two SDs. Do they do anything cool? Are big rebel ships getting blasted out of space in all directions? Nope. Not a damn thing.

When Vader shows up, the capital ships rip through the rebel fleet, so they do get to kick SOME ass. You're right though, the damned things are mostly useless.

[Daeothar]

In their defense...

Vader with his ISD shows up just as the Rebel fleet is moving to jump to hyperspace. Coming out of hyperspace, I suspect that there are a few moments where situational awareness needs to be established (especially on a ship that large), so that this ship does not fire immediately, I can understand.

There is is satisfying moment when a rebel transport smashes right into the prow of the ISD though...

As for the two SDs on station; they were caught off guard when the Rebels jumped in. and due to the very strict cadaver discipline of the Imperial Navy, nobody shows even the slightest amount of initiative. Not until there are orders from above, obviously.

Add to that a lot of incapability in the upper echelon due to commissions being political rather than on merit, and they've got a hierarchy that is bound to fail.

Which clearly shows how the Imperial organisation is superbly adapted to have the initiative or to react to standard situations and challenges, but is woefully inadequate when faced with out of the box surprises.

So the two present ISDs were caught with their pants down, and due to the failing officers in charge, they reacted too slow to effectively bring their awesome arsenal to bear. Not until it was too late anyway.

Also; if they had been lead by a capable and seasoned cadre of officers, the entire Rebel fleet would have been reduced to Stardust (eh, eh? ) in minutes, which would have been really, really bad for the storyline and continuity...

[tomcat51]

Why were the Storm Troopers transporting high value material through the close packed streets of Jedha rather than just using one of the many hover transports available to them? Also, the Rebels/Insurgents are radioing each other to coordinate their attack. Do the Imperials not have any signals intelligence? What is that ISD hovering above the city doing? The Storm Troopers walk straight into a killzone that modern infantry would stay well clear of without sending in a screening force or establishing top cover. And what was with that tank that could only fire on vertical axis?

And don't get me started on the lack of effective fire from the capital ships in the final space battle. There was virtually no point defence fire against the fighters or ship to ship combat. And why do the Rebels insist on taking unarmed transports into battle!? Oh, and if Imperial Droids are that effective in combat why don't the Empire just use them instead of the useless Troopers who can't hit the broad side of a barn?

Good film though...