You're such a nerd, lol

 

I liked it quite a bit. The first third dragged, the second third was kinda okay, and the last third was pretty good. CGI Tarkin was easily CGI, but that didn't really bother me that much. I did go into this moment of wondering which game's CGI he reminded me of most, but it didn't completely break immersion. CGI Leia, thankfully, was at the end.

The characters weren't fleshed out as well as they have been in any other SW movie. I did feel a lack of that characterization in the first two thirds of the movie, but the last bit worked well even without it. Two dimensioned characters don't really make a difference when you know they're going to die in a huge invasion. Krennick (did I spell it right?) was well done, and would have been better had he not had to deal with Vader (whose dad joke worked for me, somehow).

The entire thing based on a beach made me think they tried to draw inspiration from Normandy. The last battle did lose a lot, however, with rebel ships appearing willy-nilly. In fact, it wasn't just the last battle. Ships going into hyperspace from deep within a gravity well multiple times had me facepalm again and again.

And finally, the Vader scenes, though fan service, were fucking awesome. They tied in very very well with both the prequel and original trilogies. That second hallway scene, somehow, brought me to Taure's warrior/monk way of thinking about Jedi/Sith. They're massive wells of power in their natural state. But when one takes out one's lightsaber, you know shit's getting serious. It doesn't happen often, it doesn't happen always, but when it happens, you know the kid gloves are going off. Lucas didn't do it that way with the prequels, but I wish he had. Would have made the Jedi and the Sith much more impactful.

 

Saw it Christmas Eve.

Definitely exceeded my expectations, there. The ending scene with the Death Star blasting the base may be my single favorite assassination ever. Because let's be real- Tarkin in no way needed to do that security concerns or no. But he did, because Krennic was down there. And it was glorious.

Krennic in general was very well done. I got a kick out of the almost indignant "Well, you have to start somewhere!" when Jyn's father called him on the Death Star being an instrument of terror rather than ensuring galactic stability.

Cassian Andor was a bit flat, but I actually liked Jyn even though her characterization wasn't breaking ground per se (well, aside from not being a decoy protag or superfluous female protagonist). K-2SO kind of went back and forth between being actually pretty funny and laying it on a bit too thick.

As someone who actually watched the Clone Wars show, Saw Gerrera was pure fanservice. But that's okay, because I went to go watch a Star Wars movie and I am a fan therefore I am in the target audience.

Overall, I thought it was actually a pretty decent amount better than Ep. 7.

e: Oh, and the space/air battle was nice. Particular props to the rebel admiral's, ah, innovative technique to use a disabled Star Destroyer to take out both another one and the planetary shield...

And of course Vader's entrance with the (I assume, anyways) Devastator and then wrecking some face personally. Which is as it should be, as to a non-Force sensitive Vader is pretty much the single most frightening thing around- you know what he is, you know what he does, and you cannot stop him.

 

Just got back from Rogue One.

I don't get people's complaints about Tarkin and Leia. They looked really convincing to me and if I didn't know what was done, I'd think they were doubles with zero CG.

Overall, I liked the movie and I recommend it.

 

Trying to pick out the nuances of CGI in a movie is almost impossible at a movie theater especially if it's the first time you've seen the movie and your actually trying to listen to the story. Unless of course the CGI is really bad.

 

I don't think so. Everyone who didn't know it was CGI didn't notice at all (I have my whole family and myself to count on for that matter), at least most didn't.
The ones who did know and went into the movie knowing what to look for and ever looking for flaws of course saw those expected flaws and were quite put off by him being noticeably CGI.

 

Yeah, I agree with some of the other posters in this thread.

I ought to feel emotional when the protagonists in a film die. And I sorely wanted to, but I knew nothing about these people save for what little they tell us, briefly, and exactly in moments where you expect them to. Jyn Erso, who is probably the best character in the film (we are shown actual backstory, and have the fullest notion of an arc) is still quite underdeveloped. It's like getting a before-and-after sketch of a person, hints of what happened in between, and watching her go through a rather superfluous trial without any moments of endearment, or any goddamn sympathy. Her parents die, yes, but through their own stupidity, I'm sorry. Plus, that one let-me-show-you-my-actor-skills closeup when her father was suggesting they go on a suicide mission. Talk about unnecessary. There are greater ways to portray grief than hammy obviousness for how a character is feeling such.

The others I couldn't care less for. Cassian Andor? Cool, but bland muscle with a poorly-sketched past. K2SO? Funny muscle, but merely that. The Guardians of the Whills? Mystical muscle, kind of cool, and also complete ciphers. The pilot? Nebbish, and a mere plot device. Oh, and Saw Gerrera, talk about a wasted character.

The plot was lackluster and direct and didn't even need to happen. Why couldn't her father just tell them the specific method to destroy the Death Star on the hologram? Why are characters doing stupid things to propel the narrative? Why was the villain so un-intimidating, and consistently dipped in threat-level as the story progressed? Vader's joke was eh, and his hallway scene was badass, but really was just bodies in motion, heightened with cheap suspense, to get the film's coda to a close.

Yeah, I don't get the unadulterated love for this film, and franchise in general. I get why people can love it, it's a cherished thing, I know. But to be blinded to its flaws seems counter-productive; that is, if you want quality entertainment, and not a milking machine.

I mean, I had fun. It was cool. Blasters and spaceships and lightsabers. That's really it, though.

 

As a moviegoer, I watch movies to be entertained. I want to see things blowing up, people fighting and the whole good vs evil thing. I want this even more so when I pay good money to go sit in an IMAX theater to see it. In that sense, I got my money's worth as I was entertained. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no Lore Master when it comes to Star Wars so I won't comment on what they got wrong and what they messed up. If you're looking to be entertained and you can get past the nit-picking of a few things I think you'll enjoy the movie itself as a whole.

 

This is an attitude I couldn't adopt when watching TFA, so I ended up looking for plot holes and inconsistencies throughout the whole movie. Needless to say, I found it lot harder to like it after a couple of them came up.
With Rogue One however, having no real expectations and with the single goal of enjoying a new Star Wars movie, I have to say that I was really impressed and left the theater in awe.

 

And you weren't influenced by the knowledge that Tarkin was, in fact, not human? Because, at least subsconciously, I'd look quite different at a person I knew was CGI-generated - a bit more closely, a bit more attentive.
Which would, of course, lead to me noticing the flaws very quickly.

 

I had no idea Tarkin was in the movie or that he was CGI, but when he first appeared on screen it stood out immediately. Some people just notice stuff like that. I really engaged with a lot of the side characters, that apparently other people found shallow and uninteresting. Seems like everyone just has different perspectives, no big mystery.

 

Overall I quite enjoyed it, more than TFA. However the scale bugged me on a few occasions, when strike forces instantly arrived and more egregiously when the shuttle left the Death Star trench and the whole thing looked tiny.

 

Just watched the move for a second time, and I noticed something. Tarkin's CG is off in 3d, but is as good as Leia's in 2d. Still not perfect, but it went from freaky uncanny valley in 3d to barely noticeable.