Rogue One Discussion !!!SPOILERS!!!

[nic-e]

On the subject of cgi Tarkin, Alot of people I know who have seen rogue one but didn't know that he was CGI were completely unaware, probably because without knowing that Peter Cushing is dead you wouldn't be looking for any flaws.

I do wonder if he might become the first actor to be nominated for the "best dead actor appearing in a film" award.

[Muzfish4]

Just back from seeing it and really liked it.

As noted (and generally agreed) above, the cameos were great, the sets were great and the worn-out gear really contributed to the look and feel of the whole experience.

I really did not like the Donnie Yen character, reminded me of the Japanese blind zombie slayer in the book of World War Z. Just came across to me as an overused trope for mine. I rather suspect I am in the minority with this.

That aside, a thoroughly entertaining film which concurred with my take of what the SW universe is like.

First rate.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I saw it last night and was very impressed

There are so many gaming possibilities from this.

[Sbloom141]

I did like the blind monk in the end, it's a bit of a cliche but easily explained with the Force hanging around. I did think there was a bit more possibility for his story, though. I thought there was some good pathos there in that whilst he Jedi were still around, he would probably have been trained up, but never got to see his potential because of the actions of the empire. I wish that'd been touched on more in the film.

I also agree that the Star Destroyers should have fired more. I love Armada and always imagine the pointy end of my space triangles spraying out constant barrages of green death!

[mcfonz]

No, I'm with you.
He was my least favourite character as well.
Everything about him was predictable and he was obviously set up to be the 'cool' character.
I was surprised when he carked it, though relieved because I knew I wouldn't have to put up with him any more.

I thought they were all cool and what his character gave us was more about "the force" as a religion. We didn't find out if he was Jedi, or had Jedi powers, but we did know he had faith. Something we didn't often see a lot of in that way in other movies.

I also find people disliking characters because of predictability a bit odd when it comes to movies. Vader has to be one of the most predictable characters in the franchise and yet he is liked.

I mean we knew he would fail to get to the Tantive before it got away. We knew he would fail. Fail AGAIN. Fail to feel the presence of his daughter, fail to not dwell on killing grunts, fail to get through the bulkhead door quicker, fail to identify the data and prevent it from going through the gap with force grip.

All of the characters were relatively predictable - just like most movies that don't feature a massive plot twist.

In this instance he was a guardian, if he couldn't fight he would have been a pretty useless guardian. Considering the Jedi have been compared to Samurai it's fair to say that meant he was always going to follow where he felt the force was at it's strongest. None of the characters had enough screen time to be complex and deep to any real detail. It's one of the things about the movie I liked - there were no superhumans to turn the tide of the battle. It was grunt on grunt action.

[mcfonz]

Yeah, that's true enough.
I suppose I've never been into the whole ninja monk thing and I don't like those kinds of characters. I find their whole spiritual channelling power nonsense patronising. Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

And you are in to star wars?

I mean, the force is a central part to all of the movies . . . . .

[mcfonz]

Yeah, I got yah.

But it doesn't get you 'out'.

The Ninja Monk bit especially. The suggestion is that he is a 'monk'. Also, Ninja in this instance is poorly placed. He's not an assassin. Shaolin monk would be closer to what he is portrayed as in this instance.

[mcfonz]

I can't memorise lines for various reasons . . . . so thanks for highlighting that. One of the reasons being that I have far more important things in life to memorise . . . .

Anyway, as I said, it still doesn't explain why you don't like that character in particular.

[Elk101]

Does anyone know if there are any plans for Rogue One characters to make an appearance as Imperial Assault figures?

[Bloodaxe]

Yeah, that's true enough.
I suppose I've never been into the whole ninja monk thing and I don't like those kinds of characters. I find their whole spiritual channelling power nonsense patronising. Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny.

I agree. (with Han   ) The blind ninja was my least favorite character.  The CGI needs a lot of work for Leia and Grand Moff.  Maybe someday they wont even need real human actors anymore, that would be great. 

[mcfonz]

So essentially, there are 6 main characters;

- Jyn Erso
- Cassian Andor
- Chirrut Îmwe
- K-2SO
- Bodhi Rook
- Baze Malbus

The characters we pretty much follow for the story. Jyn, Cassian and K-2SO start and then are joined by the other three. The character of those six with seemingly the fewest lines is Baze, who mainly seems to be there for his special weapon. Other than that he appears to doubt the Force despite being a "guardian".

Jyn and Cassian are certainly not great believers in the force. Bodhi seems to be similar but we don't really see where he sits on that to begin with.

Of them all, Chirrut is the only solid, unwavering believer. At several key points he says things that inspire others to action. And brings forwards the discussion of faith, with other characters questioning his prayers etc. He provides the contrast to Saw who also apparently believes but has strayed from the path to a degree.

So for me, without Chirrut, you struggle to have the same transformation in Jyn, Cassian and the convincing of Baze. For me, this strand of the story is one of the most intriguing and flavour-adding to the story.

Some of the action is clichet possibly, but if you imagine his weapon as a lightsaber then he is really not that different in attack style etc as the Jedi we have seen in previous movies. In anything, I would say he is a tamed down version as he can't do the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon style flips, jumps and maneuvers gained through use of the force.

They are all integral to the story, but of the six Chirrut is important to the 'journey' - more so than some of the others.

[Marine0846]

Does anyone know if there are any plans for Rogue One characters to make an appearance as Imperial Assault figures?

Yes, the dead ones.

[Andym]

I may cause some tension here........but I didn't like it!

To start with, there was no open credit scroll away thingy! Come on it's Star Wars!

Next the story. At the start it's all over the place, from one planet to the next. There's that many planets in the first part of the film, they feel the need to put names of them up so you know where you are!

The main actors. Unlike Force Awakens they seem to lack character. I don't know why Felicity Jones is in a lot of these big blockbuster films! She seems boring! And Captain Cassian....I keep expecting him to say "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

The CGI Moff Tarkin and Leia were distracting! I found myself trying to work out what wasn't quite right about there faces as opposed to listening to what they were saying!

What is there always got to be some switch somewhere and why was it unprotected and in the open during he final battle!

What's with the big vault door into the data centre that K-2SO locks down only for the Director to walk in an unprotected side door!

Don't get me wrong the final battle was brilliant! I always loved AT-ATs. Adding in footage of pilots from a New Hope was a good touch. And Red 5 getting killed to allow Luke to take that call sign was a touch of genius!

Overall out of 10, I'd give it a 7/7.5 for the special effects! For all Force Awakens Death Star sized plot holes, it had more soul! I think I prefer that one!

I'm going to see it again with a few mates in a few days, maybe the second time around may be different?

Edit:I found this great picture drawn for Rogue One....

[Jagannath]

My better half and I are away for Christmas so did present last last night (so that we didn't have to cart them around) and one of mine was 'the art of Rogue One'. It's such a fantastic book for ideas - some stuff that's better looking than the film, some that isn't but all great ideas. Worth checking out.

[Elbows]

Andym, you've highlighted why this is a good movie.  Because, we, as an audience now have options.  I could barely tell you the names of the characters in the movie, but I can tell you I found it an order of magnitude more entertaining/engaging than Force Awakens.  You have found it to be the opposite.

As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing!