Half in the Bag: Rogue One

laughs in the back I'm filled with gas [Music] boy oh boy I can't believe we planned that daring escape for mr. plinkus house after he had his duct taped to the TV yeah it was a grand adventure filled with many many memorable characters and exciting moments and it didn't rely on on past references don't you agree Jay absolutely it was a standalone adventure it's a shame that we did not film it that's true what hi I'm rich Miller ski I'm the Milwaukee city building inspector I'm here to make sure that your licenses are valid and that this building is about to [ __ ] it let's just talk about rogue one [Music] TIE fighters Mon Mothma 'he's back Princess Leia Admiral Ackbar know somebody else it was a different Mon Calamari oh I thought they cast the same actor and he just gained a bunch of weight between the last fellow this one oh no Affleck was not a real person Alderaan add at walkers we go back to Yavin for remember the rebel base I clapped I clapped when I saw it I clapped when I saw Darth Vader [Music] ts T's 80s T's Lucasfilm logo a long time ago in a galaxy far far away but no title crawl oh wow I applauded it for being different it broke new ground tie fighters as well as x-wing Dobby Zed guy and Kundu boo boo Honda Babu you mean butt face lightsaber Jimmy Smith's basil oregano played by Jimmy Smits he's princess lands non-biological father he got blown up on Alderaan Alderaan that's the planet that gets blown up 80s teased 80s c-3po and r2d2 showed up and I clapped I clapped when I saw them - Mike left because I know Star Wars I know what that is this is gold leader we're starting for the target shaft now grandma target lightsaber did you clap at any of the new moments and memorable characters we're there any know Mike clap went Darth Vader turned on his leg light saber holy [ __ ] there was a red lightsaber and he used the Force oh my god it's finally here the beginning of the end of your life a new day has dawned one in which we get a new Star Wars film or two every year until we're all dead the first one is called rogue one do you remember things that were in Star Wars me too Felicity Jones stars as jyn erso diego luna stars as Calrissian and Orion mah blonde more pawn stars as go Vaughn du pan plague non-fan Vaughn stars as blam supple but John Quin blabble stars as org La Femme blacken hey guys what did Kathleen Kennedy say to Gareth Edwards after rogue one got the green light what you're all clear kid now let's blow this thing and go home is that the review are we done what did you think of Disney's Star Wars rogue one a Star Wars story by Disney as whatever who's fine I was I was incredibly bored for the first hour because there's no characters that's the problem it's incredible it's an incredibly standard action adventure story go to places run from things shoot at things well the biggest hurdle the movie had to overcome is the story itself because who cares how they got the plans to the Death Star that was my biggest thing is like well spoilers they get it so I was like well okay the only thing that they can do to overcome that is to have really interesting characters that we like and care about as they go on their adventure to get the plans to the Death Star and they didn't do that these characters are boring this one this one got Star Wars wrong in my opinion how did he get Star Wars wrong it got the fan version of Star Wars right it got Star Wars wrong it was the greatest Star Wars fan film ever made I'm sure a lot of people are gonna say that too because it looked and felt like a fan film because as after Star Wars all three films were done everyone's like hey you know that's badass that Walker things are badass that's badass that's badass Star Wars didn't say they were badass they were just in the movies afterwards everyone said they're badass it's like Boba Fett effect yeah and what the 80 80s weren't in Empire because dudes a badass concept they were in there because I need a thing in the snow that you have to threaten it's a threat right you can't just keep doing movies that feel like Star Wars every year because then it definitely will get old so I don't want oh look at the Marvel movies at least the Marvel movies all have different characters every single Star Wars movie has to have stormtroopers Tie Fighters they have to have all of these same things at least the I'm a movie you get Tony Stark do anything in the Captain America movie you get Captain America he has a different personality and the third sure we get Thorin he's an Asgard there's a similar tone but there's very different characters very different settings yeah and that's the thing with like the force awakens I know people can say it's exactly the same stories new hope they can say Mary Sue Mary Sue Mary Sue all they want Daisy Ridley is charismatic as hell in that man yes and she elevates what could be a slightly underwritten character with her performance what's your name Felicity Jones is so boring in this movie let's just get this over with shall we there's nothing like they try to do a thing where there's like a relationship between her and her father but we still don't know anything about her well I was the driving force I mean her and her connection to her father is supposed to be the emotional core of the movie but we don't know enough about either of them for that to really work well we got that scene in the beginning when he said go run to hide oh yeah I remember when that happened that was the scene there was the whole scene you just played it out in real time yeah we didn't get a nice little scene where like for the father shows her how to do something on the farm and they have a little bonding moment it was just immediately the bad guy from the Empire lands and by the way he lands really [ __ ] far away I'm gonna have to walk all the way does he not know he has a spaceship but besides that I'm okay with visual things like that was for drama and tension and I was fine noticed that and I was fine with it but that's the problem is that this this movies like a drama facade yes where there's nothing behind it I I the moment I realized movie wasn't working for me was about halfway through when what's-her-name Jin Chen Ursa jyn erso reunites with Forest Whitaker's character and they're having like their dramatic scene back and forth and that was when I was like wow I'm bored I realized I didn't care and then in the end of that scene is the the cities being exploded and she's running away and first what occurs like I'm done running and Richard eyebolt turned to each other almost at the same time were like why he's gonna stand up to that giant explosion because that's the term that's the drama it doesn't have to make sense character wise that's just the scene that has to happen now that was one-on-one like prediction I think I don't know where what video was in but that Forest Whitaker will die like you know you remember the car something like that and I thought like I'm gonna jump on this grenade like or something like that I'll hold them off kind of like what k2s oh did ya I'll hold them off while you guys do a thing and I'll die oh no he just stands there he just basically just gives up yeah and it so it was like ah I'll just get on the ship it's not like it's not like you're too old to move your walk around you can walk to the spaceship you would actually be useful because then he could back up Jin on the the hologram thing that no one believes her about yeah there you go he would have been very useful or you have a rock like fall and break one of his robot legs and they have to drag them and you know leave me behind I'm just gonna slow down go go go some when talking about this film it's hard not to think about the force awakens because they're so dramatically different and looking back at the force awakens yes in hindsight it's a complete clone of a new hope and there were some things in it that I thought were a little too wacky but I was just craving that humor they put the robot in there saying like you know he was the what's a character from guardians of the galaxy who says Lebert not group the Big O directs a Marie says things really literal very little role I'm singing a dragster in those it's like cheap humor and so it's like we'll have that and there is comic relief but we don't need anything else everyone's miserable it's very drab and depressing and there's no spunk there's no heart it's just it's it's sour it's yeah it's sort of a catch-22 because you want to see new things in Star Wars you don't want to see them reuse and recycle all the same old [ __ ] so this one is trying to go for a different tone but you do that and then it doesn't work as a Star Wars movie either here's the Star Wars universe here's the dirty little secret it's very small and very limited whatever Star Wars tries to expand outside of TIE fighters X playing star troopers and lightsabers it's bad you get your books and all the extenders expanded your other prequels you get the space by the wriggles yeah or you get all its a gritty war movie and where's the fun and adventure where's the exact same thing that we did before it's Star Wars I'm saying it it's limited it's a small little universe that they can't do much with it's true it's it feels so expansive but really it's pretty sad you're not the same [ __ ] and you know what we always we applaud those those Marvel movies because they're really good at riding the line and finding everything that works and hear of the the the think tank of studio executives said let's do something different but not too different right let's do something safe but not too safe well how about we do this story and then we can still have all these things in that people remember but it's different it's gonna be like a war movie we can bring Darth Vader back again right and we can have all the things that people remember but they're there not because of fanservice they're there because they had to be there and I think Gareth Edwards is a fine action director oh yeah I was I would say the final act of this movie the actual attempt to get the plans for the Death Star is all really well executed I thought I liked the when the eighties and they're shooting at them and it's all mostly told from like the grounds point of view really well-executed action stuff but by that point you just don't care yeah it's muddled with we've got we've got to get the thing to the thing and to do this thing we got to plug the plug into the wall and it's lots of scenes of people talking about what they need to do yeah and there's not really dry and old [Music] well the there there's very few action scenes in the first hour so and the ones that are there aren't terribly exciting right and and then we get to the ending and that's the that's something I was thinking about when watching the movie I was like okay boring boring talking everyone things gray people are talking about we got to do a thing okay there's an action scene oh great okay those cue me slightly interested now back to boring talking and this movie the only memorable things in it are some of the action sequences when you take a look at the original trilogy almost everything is memorable some of the least memorable things in the original trilogy are the action scenes there's that there's that pretty exhilarating lightsaber fight in a new hope between Vader and obi-wan [Music] well exactly like there's so many moments sprinkled throughout all three films yes the Jedi has he walks lalalala but the Ewok village is memorable yeah the the Sarlacc pit monster is memorable I mean like Harrison Ford is a charming fellow Harrison for is a charming fellow Princess Leia is a sassy lady got guy macaque sent is not a charming fellow and he's talking about the memorable character of casseon was that his name yes okay that was Casio Casio keyboard he was yeah it's Cassie and and or and I remember that because his name sounds like Calrissian ended or and or yeah yeah that's a Star Trek reference but Endor and or and or Shara second or Star Trek people so there is a planet called and or and which has the Andorians which are the blue people of the antenna but then there's a planet of Endor that has the Ewok starts with an E sure but Star Wars has a history of mocking Star Trek in their character names hence the nemedians oh yeah where George Lucas said that [ __ ] Leonard Nimoy I'm gonna show him and boy did he show him oh boy and if you're gonna do these standalone movies like this they should hold up on their own and that's another big problem is that the only memorable things in this movie are things you remember from the original films yeah it leans very heavily on that and I think that's why I was more interested in the final acts of the movie because it's loosely connected to something I care about which is a new hope I know that the history of the story the movie it's the guy there's a guy named John Knoll I don't know if you know who he is he wrote a story for this he worked for ILM he's the guy who's on the couch showing George Lucas like like CGI Yoda oh that guy yeah his name's John Knoll he and his he's like a secret genius he and he and his brother created Photoshop ah like he's a super smart guy and he got in like right after he made Photoshop the most amazing computer program ever go work for ILM which is way up and and he said you know what be a really cool story around like the time at George Lucas was like hey what are the what's the backstory who found the rest of the plans for the Death Star and then you know it's like George looks long though then they sold it and then I'm gonna pitch this idea Wow I realize there was that much history to this yeah it goes back a little ways and so he's the guy who came up with the story the guy who was ran the computers well if you ran the computers then why does why does target look like he fell down the uncanny valley [Music] [Music] I think this is like you [ __ ] if you do and you [ __ ] if you don't I rock in a hard place or other metaphor I I think there's a few simple things you could do to make this movie much better which is one pull out all the fanservice stuff the last two minutes of this movie are like embarrassing it was a fanservice ejaculation yeah cut all that stuff out cut all the little nods the you'll be dead guy shows up pull that out pull out c-3po and r2d2 it was awkward that was really bizarre distracting it was distracting but but of course everybody applauded cuz it's like dangling a shiny object in front of a cat but yeah cut out all that stuff make the characters a little more interesting maybe have less of them beefed up Felicity Jones's character and just make it make it as simple as the story is as the story should be because it's a very simple story we got to go here and steal these plans boom but they have to pump in all the outside elements too we needed we needed the kind of backstory that what's-her-face had she had a backstory and like not really a backstory but we got to see her like daily life on the planet and you know so but the gin character it's like five minutes out she's a little girl go hide in in the bunker and Forest Whitaker will come get you that's what's her backstory Ivan the bunker and Forest Whitaker will come and get you and so well we can all relate to that um the the the the Chinese men in this well can we talk about them and you know why they were in the film yeah yeah because they wanted to show the movie in China I mean that scene when when Donnie Yen like what kicks ass with his like staff and beats up the stormtroopers that was pretty great but he never did it again well it's me because it's something new considering how everything else was a gritty war drama the blind Chinese guy who kicks ass and the comical tough guy with the machine gun kind of out of place in that you have Saving Private Ryan and then you got these like people who are kind of like fantasy characters in Saving Private Ryan keep the one Chinese guys blind Chinese guy he has some kind of you could say the force every now and then just gives your spiritual connection keep them there as a spiritual connection and then f Jenner so and then maybe one other character Forest Whitaker he's the guy who helped earth when he was young and he was a rebel guy but maybe he's disillusioned now and she says come on I'm growing up now and that I can help the rebel rebellion Forest Whitaker Jenner so blind Chinese that's all we need cut the rest and and maybe addend some kind of scene where gin and and calzone have like a reason to like each other where's their bond from yeah yes yes yeah there was there was a slight moment when he said you know we're not all you're not the only one who suffered loss yeah I've been doing this since I've been six yeah I expected a a little scene where they sat down maybe in the side-by-side in the bathtub in a wide shot a lot of negative space and he tells the story of his wife and children how they got gunned down by stormtroopers Oh a backstory a bath story and he tells the story and and it's like tear-jerking sure and then they fall in love maybe am I the only one who wants a little love in my movies it kind of wasn't this but it wasn't earned at all it wasn't enough and it wasn't established or happened at the ends plus he murdered people I don't blame them for trying to to do something a little bit more serious it feels silly when you have the Private Ryan scenes and they're stormtroopers it makes it feel silly but a little pig men shooting go take men shooting guns I don't blame them for trying yeah that's true III think a lot of people sat down at a giant table and all talked about what was the safest and smartest thing to do you don't want anything that's too similar to the force awakens you don't want anything too crazy too specific on one character like they wouldn't have jumped right in with the the Yoda prequel you know what I mean like yeah you're on a show look at all the things you can do with this universe yes we can tell a part of a story you've already seen before you really can't do much McKenzie buzz Oh well I would say you when you say don't take risks and I guess we're gonna get into spoilers from here on out like why not I would say the ending is pretty risky of this movie just [ __ ] killing everybody what a great time to release that around the holidays so you can see it with your children yeah yeah it basically had the same ending as a lars von trier film melancholia where characters just await their demise they could have very well just Darth Vader just rounds them all up and just get in this prison it's still better than like like I hated the last couple minutes in this movie it was so stupid and made one of you mean when they cut to a wax sculpture of Carrie Fisher that was the worst that was grand moff tarkin looked okay I'm still very much I'm not thinking look great I thought you looked okay I think it's very I think it's stupid that they did it it was a little bit like yeah no no I I'm totally against the idea of doing that I thought the effects looked okay you could tell they had said on candy valley effects but yeah no was not okay has somebody else is it's not okay in the context of making the movie I'm just saying the effects themselves look fine but cast somebody else or just don't put him in there we didn't need him yeah find a way to write around it yeah because I'm just thinking I'm picturing like in 30 years if Disney is still milking Star Wars which they will be are we gonna get like CGI Mark Hamill it's like how long like make new things make new things please can we talk about how they're the remember I said what are next in that video that were made were rich said what are next remember when we were wondering about the TIE fighter that confronted Genesis down the plank that wasn't in the film that's right a different tie fighter that was shooting lasers and blew up the platform in it well I'm gonna assume that relates to reshoots probably I'm gonna assume so I would imagine that they weren't Vader flying the TIE fighter this is a rebellion isn't it I rebelled if you continue to fight it's all that remains like we got dealing can we talk about Darth Vader and how he was weird it was weird those voice sounds so old that was like the the filtering of it it was not correct it sounds James Earl Jones but it just didn't sound like us well is that it I he's he's getting up there he's getting up there that's true but it was just the tone I was I was more distracted than it didn't it looks like a Halloween costume like something looked weird and I don't know if that's just like in a contemporary movie seeing that costume looks silly and they're just used to the old ones and because the original one was basically a Halloween costume that's true I have a hypothesis the costume looks a little bit janky in this possibly because they're trying to make it look more like it did in the first one when it probably wasn't as nice as it was an empire or yeah no I agree I think that was the plan even though in the first one you could see like fingerprints on it yeah and this it was like you know they they polished it a lot with the wudu hide but yeah it they tried to make it look janky like the 70s in the 1977 movie but that's sort of at odds with your gritty war drama yes Darth Vader looks silly in it I just know if I was Darth Vader I would not want to live in a castle surrounded by lava given his history I thought that was an odd choice maybe it's just a reminder just a reminder yeah does he really I think I would think living in constant pain and wearing a suit would be a reminder maybe maybe it's a reminder of the last moment where he wasn't living in a suit in constant pain okay remember when I was jumping around and floating lava makes me think about they did reference obi-wan Kenobi in this remember they have to ever happen at all the beats all the meets made all the with it with a side of blue milk it's like the picture of the cow or shows where all the meat cuts are tell the Star Wars an element you have to shove into your movie obi-wan r2d2 blue milk what's the filet what is that what is on the cow let's start fader oh oh it's not light sabers well talk theater has a light scene I guess Darth Vader is the porterhouse steak okay which has a filet on it just the light saber itself is just a filet okay mmm what's what's the rump roast Jar Jar Binks CGI grandma that's why I was kind of shocked by this movie they're like not that it's a horrible movie but they've been so smart with how they've handled the Marvel movies and making them consistently at the very least good that this feels like a big I mean I'm this movie's gonna make a billion dollars whatever but for me personally it feels like a big misstep yeah well that is early on in them having the Star Wars property it feels like an experiment they're feeling around for what they can do with the Star Wars universe seems way too real I'm taking big risks yet right yeah they plugged in all their all their safe bets and the only thing that they didn't like I kind of looked at this and I'm like you know I want to see it I need to see it Star Wars but I don't want to watch a war movie I don't want to watch them like unless it's like some really slick like cool spy movie which they didn't do yeah it was it wasn't like were this we're gonna assemble this like like crack team of people to break into I thought they were gonna go on the Death Star and yeah and break into it and download the plans and they're gonna is gonna be like Mission Impossible that would have been fun what about me but then we still have to have space battles even then the small scale story but we're like you ever watch the Ocean's eleven movies I've never seen him I know what they are fun they're fun they got a Chinese Acrobat in the first one because he's the only guy who could fit through this thing and do a backflip onto this other thing so that he doesn't trip this like security alarm they're like we need somebody who's four feet tall and weighs 70 pounds and who can do a backflip so they find the Chinese Acrobat and they hire run their team and they're all the characters are kind of funny and witty and sarcastic and I thought this was gonna be that and I'm thinking like okay that everyone's Loudon the k2s Oh robot he's so funny and I thought oh all these other characters they're gonna be I'm gonna be won over by this film yeah won over by these characters but it was just like do the thing we're gonna die everyone's just gonna die there was no charm and there was no fun and I think that's the stuff that's missing Gareth Edwards I don't know too much about him other than he made a dower and depressing Godzilla movie right and that's kind of his thing and he doesn't well I think he's a talented filmmaker I just and I it's so tough cuz I don't want to say like I just want the same type of Star Wars movie over and over and over but then at the same time when he do something like this it's going for a different tone that doesn't work either so it's it's I guess like what you're saying there's just not much you can do with Star Wars this this was held up by two things it was a big remember this big space explosions and battles and things but it was supposedly going to be propped up by two things one generals relationship with her father and two we all need to fight the power the Empire's bad we all need to like the her speech that she gives you know really corny even for Star Wars I thought some of those behind him this was corny yeah that could that kind of stuff like we're oppressed by this system and we want to take it down can be a really really be rooting for them a really motivating subject matter but in this it was just like I don't care yeah and I didn't care about the the father-daughter plot so instead of that make it a fun spy adventure movie and have that hold the movie up so and so's gonna pretend to be an imperial Admiral yes yes so they let him in the room but he's got a masquerade during the party mm-hm they're gonna hologram so his face kinda looks like oh no it's starting the malfunction rich you got it yeah you got it that's like when I saw Diego Luna in the Imperial uniform instills and I thought that [ __ ] was gonna have you yeah yeah the the hologram that's on his neck that makes his face look like Sanji hi grandma Grand Moff Tarkin what's wrong with your face circa 2016 CG is nothing's wrong why is your neck keep sparking maybe that's how you look at that movie we're gonna get a separate movie explaining that someone else in disguise yes what a glitch is you get those lines that you always see in this house right right yeah so many like fun clever things about them getting into the Empire and getting to the center of the Death Star wherever they keep the the plan to download it their computer cores in the middle yeah they got to get through all these obstacles to find it would have been fun and said it was like the Saving Private Ryan Saving Private Ryan was a fun movie I'm gonna go watch hacksaw Ridge get some joy all the characters dying I just I just I want to go to a theater on Christmas Day I've been over here that Converse me the funny robots dad that's a whole another story speaking of children they had they had the premiere of the movie but like a week or so two weeks before they had the involves in the premiere is like 25 minutes they invited some people to Lucasfilm to the Skywalker Ranch to watch 20 minutes and they invited you know your usual suspects of people in the film industry not not tons of critics but then website like fanboy critic website oh yeah yeah and then they also invited lots of mommy bloggers I don't know if you're familiar with this it was called the rogue one event and there are a lot of mommy bloggers that went and and also mommy bloggers it's like I'm I'm so it's own I'm going to look at the film to watch Star Wars and it's like I talk about children's toys and I talk about SAS healthy meals for your tots what the [ __ ] and I was like oh god they're they're their marketing team they're behind the scene team are going well the trailer did not test well with mommy bloggers and it we're gonna we're gonna have a backlash from moms and kids moms are gonna say I'm not gonna take my eight-year-old or six-year-old to see this because it's a violent [ __ ] movie yeah let's win over the mommy bloggers but we can't show the whole movie we can't show the part where where Calrissian and or murders people let's show them the funny parts with the robot yeah and I bet you it was 20 minutes of the funny parts with the robot oh and so I'm curious to see like how this plays out over the initial release weekend with all the mommies and little kids out there like you said you were a little kid and you watch this it's pretty [ __ ] depressing and scary [Music] wouldn't it catch you but will you do a Greek you but you continue to fight so many little tweaks so yeah that's the thing it's like there's this movie coat of words if they just tone down on the fanservice tone down on the fence or the characters yeah that it's added some humor covered all the Space Battleship you can't you can't take out the fanservice that's the license I know I know but if you really like it for a movie that kind of feels like it's taking chances by being dark and gritty and killing everybody it still feels like it's not taking chances it's a really weird anomaly it's like my brain it is it's it's a it's a Miss it's not a hit it's a Miss but it's going to please lots of bearded fat guys absolutely I heard them munching on popcorn opening candy wrappers in my ear I heard lots of yes and that type of [ __ ] it was it was bizarre masturbatory ant walker shows up for the first time oh man you know let it it was like being in a theater with a bunch of perverts watching porn yeah oh [ __ ] yeah it's Darth Vader yeah Darth Vader's lightsaber came out I I heard so many it was disgusting don't did you that is that is an apt analogy yeah that is a very afternoon it's Star Wars part it's only a Miss for us the Star Wars fans want that what they got they want what they got yep yeah it's just sad because it's not going to it's not it's is the Star Wars films even the prequels and the prequels and force awakens this is the first one that doesn't play to a general audience [Music] if you're if you're five or if you're 95 you can get something out of those movies in some way this if you're 35 to 38 and you have a giant beard and you grow up on Stour and you grew up on Star Wars movies this is the Star Wars movie you want and you want to go oh [ __ ] yeah when you see an ATSC walking and shooting things this is the movie for you if you're a little kid and you want to be inspired and you want to discover the magic of movies go watch something else because this is a miserable nightmare if you just want a good story and you want good characters and you want something clever that's what this lacked was cleverness Rich's idea about Diego Luna wearing the thing that this guy's assumed as a general so they could get past this and there is nothing clever was just like let's let's let's have everything fight each other yeah I don't blame them for trying something different you know I I applaud their efforts for trying something new tonally I guess yeah but I think this proves that that doesn't really work yeah it's a very well made movie I think the effects in the look of the world are better than the force awakens maybe one of the other twelve star wars movies we can look forward to in the coming decade will prove us wrong it all comes down to story and characters we just want good characters and a good story I think they tried to have have good characters but they were just too boring Oh rich yeah you know but you already know if you like it or not this recommendation is irrelevant it's completely wrong [Music] [Music] well mr. city inspector what did you think of your inspection of rogue one city inspector oh oh yeah yeah no uh your your plot to distract me by talking about Star Wars has worked and I have forgotten completely about the inspection I'm going to go now okay bye I'm going to walk right into traffic Oh because I'm so distracted by the Star Wars there he goes did you hear that it sounded like he walked right into traffic it sound like a car hit him [Music]

Channel: RedLetterMedia

Views: 3,918,088

Keywords: redlettermedia, red letter media, red, letter, media, plinkett, half in the bag, best of the worst, mike stokasa, jay bauman, rich evans, star wars, rogue one, review, disney, lucasfilm

Id: Kc2kFk5M9x4

Length: 37min 42sec (2262 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 19 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/sting_lve_dis_vessel]

I strongly agree with their main points. The dark tone was fine and I like that they tried to something different, and I didn't find the fanservice grating except for the very end. But they were dead-on about the characters being flat and the first hour being dull. TFA had problems but you cared about the people in the film. I didn't feel anything for most of this movie.

[u/mealsharedotorg]

The debate about whether it's actually a small universe or a big one was, to me, the most interesting part of their review. I hope that the universe is big, and when they announced the stand alone movies back when they purchased Lucasfilm, I just assumed it would be a big universe. But now I am starting to wonder if what they said is true - that it has to have these boxes checked or its not Star Wars, therefore the universe will always feel constrained.

I did enjoy the movie but agree with their overall assessment that it was the greatest fan movie. I was excited for this movie because of my childhood playing with my older brother's Star Wars toys. This was one of the adventures I would think up as a kid.

[u/sandratcellar]

To me, Rogue One feels like a 12-episode mini-series that someone edited down into a 2-1/2 hour movie. I feel like there's a 20 minutes of footage about Jyn and Forrest Whitaker's character that ended up on the cutting room floor.

[u/Nole_Train]

I can't pin point what the guys are actually saying they want. They are contradicting themselves several times.

[u/AyThroughZee]

I don't know what it is, but Rich looks great

[u/casonthemason]

From this video and the responding comments it's clear that Star Wars fans will never collectively know what they want. No film can please everyone.

[u/[deleted]]

I thought Force Awakens had far more annoying fan callbacks than Rogue One. Force Awakens takes place thirty years after Return of the Jedi and yet it still has stormtroopers, X-Wings, TIE Fighters, rebels (excuse me, the Resistance) and a fucking Death Star. You kind of expect Rogue One to have a lot of callbacks and familiar sights because it takes place during the era of the original trilogy. If any movie had the right to exploit at least some nostalgia, it was Rogue One; Force Awakens, beginning a new trilogy and a new era, should not have leaned on the original trilogy as heavily as it did.

[u/mikesicle]

I loved the movie, but damn they are making a shit ton of valid points.

[u/MyCoolWhiteLies]

I don't agree with them on everything, but I think they hit the nail on the head with the biggest criticisms I had with the film.

I think the movie was too plot heavy, never slowing down enough to give the characters strong moments to establish themselves. All we get are brief glimpses of character peaking through all the exposition. It actually reminded me a bit of Suicide Squad in that I could tell the movie wanted me to care way more about them and their supposed bond, but it just hadn't earned it. And despite being so plot heavy, the actual events failed to truly engage me. I was expecting the film to feel more like heist, with a bit more intrigue as to how they were going to infiltrate the base. Instead, it was more or less a big battle, evoking war films like Saving Private Ryan. And while it was genuinely pretty cool to see that with a Star Wars veneer, the movie lacked the heart to make me feel emotionally engaged in it.

I was actually fine with most of the fan service, except the C3P0/R2D2 cameo which totally took me out of what was happening and mentally trying to figure out how they were fitting into any of it. I did love the Vader scene in the end and if anything I could have used more of him, as we've never had much time to see him really cut loose. Tarkin's face was pretty distracting, and I think they should have significantly reduced his screen time or just recast him like Mon Mothma. I think Charles Dance would have been an solid choice. I actually did like how much this film directly lead to Episode 4.