Just got back some twenty minutes ago, this is the first place that came to mind - after using Bing (yee, Bing boys) to find out who directed the film (Gareth Edwards, by the way). I can't say that I'm in awe or as amazed with Rogue One as I was Force Awakens, but that's to be expected, it's hard to live up to that with a standalone film. That said, there are notable highlights, as well as pros and cons to the film, not amazing, but it was good. If you're looking for a good meme, I recommend paying close attention to K-2SO, he gave me a good laugh - it was, a meme intended by the writers, intentional that he would say a few lines from back in the day - one of my favorites: "K-2SO: I have a bad feeling about thi- Just shut up K2!"
It was a running joke with my friends and I, we kept saying 'oh, SPOILERS everyone is going to die', little did we know, literally everyone died. Well, not everyone. Just anyone that would have to have an addition to the actual trilogy, all the trilogy characters were obviously safe. So that crew that we all got moderately attached to, well, all dead. I think nearer the end the deaths felt a bit rushed - not a bit, really rushed. I get why they did it though, I mean, it was either everyone dies the same death with the base getting blown up or they are each offered a unique, albeit dry and stale, death. I know a grenade killed off at least three people - the Jedi (right, or was it a blaster shot?), his heavy gun friend, and the Imperial pilot. Really disappointed with the Imperial pilot's death, but, hey, what're you gonna' do?
I think that the writers tried something a bit new with this film in contrast to the others, some may not have understood the whole 'where is the crawling text??!?!?!' idea at the start, or the funky music play, but I can appreciate what they were getting at. I mean, the title was introduced after the background was set - they took the cinematic route, instead of the crawling text. Different, not necessarily better, but different. Right from the start we get to see a number of plots unfold, which I think the movie handled extremely well - juggling the various plots that is. I think when it came time to end all of those plots, that's when things got a bit messy - I mean, all the plots were terminated, everyone died. They could've taken time from other places in the movie that seemed a bit drawn out and long to allow for more unique deaths with the characters we got to know, but I think that the battle at the end itself was rather long, a good battle, but not in need of added length.
Quite frankly, whilst I believe that all of the characters served a role, I don't think that all of the characters were actually necessary. If they had not implemented so many characters, they could've focused more and put energy into a smaller group, rather than spread the butter thinly across the bread. Though, again, something new which I can appreciate, they wanted to portray the everyday struggle of the rebellion and rebels, so they added more spice by adding different characters from different backgrounds. Too bad those backgrounds weren't gone into for depth; suffice to say, I think we got a general gist, but it would've been nice to know where any single person actually came from besides Jyn and her foreign accented friend.
The death of H-2 was rather amusing, it was done really well in my opinion, I enjoyed it. Fitting end for him, the first death had to be the strongest and they did well by him. The only character death I particularly felt for, the others seemed not clunky, but most certainly rushed. A bit of a rough transition, but I could also appreciate the quick grab for power that Tarkin was going for which we saw when he spoke to the director.
Probably some of the best parts in the film were the parts which included our one and only friend, Darth Vader. Hence the reason I saved it for last! Every scene with him I was paying close attention, really grabbed my interest, I was intrigued. Naturally, being an original trilogy character he was bound to garner more attention, but I think they handled him nicely. Especially at the end when he was in pursuit of the stolen Death Star information, that scene with the rebels really got me pumped, only part in the movie that really got a shiver going down my spine, the flash of the red lightsaber and the terrified looks on the countenance of each rebel fighter.
All of that said and done, I'm sure others will disagree with some of my points, others in agreement. For those that went tl;dr, I wouldn't blame you, part of me really wanted to get my opinions typed out somewhere, the other part wants to have a fruitful and interesting discussion about the movie! I think that it set a great precedence for Star Wars: A New Hope, it takes right off and you can see where it would be picked up with the original trilogy. That was likely the most masterful thing they were able to do, I can't say I had the best of times, but I didn't have the worst of times. Then again, I also had a row of friends, one on my right hand side whispering jokes during every scene, so that definitely contributed to the effect! Think if I had to give a rating, it would be a seven out of ten - some of the people I was with were saying six out of ten, but I think it deserves a bit more praise. Let's get a discussion rolling!
Side note: Personal question of mine, I feel like I know the answer will be a yes, but feel I should ask anyway: Will we include this movie in our own lore and canon? Pretty simple question, given it happens before "A New Hope", it doesn't really impact us too much with any drastic changes. Just for clarification!
Also, where are the damn Bothans that all died to being us this information?!?!
