Huh, I just thought they found actors that looked a lot like the old actors. I guess old footage was just easier.

Come to think of it, I also thought they had a new guy play Tarkin too: he looked a lot Peter Cushing, but something was a bit off about him. I guess that was just the CGI and Uncanny Valley.

Speaking of which, who did Tarkin's voice? He certainly sounded like a lot like Cushing.

 

Liked the movie, will write review later, right now have to complain about buying a ticket for a 2pm viewing that was really a 2.30pm viewing. 30 fucking minutes of commercials, including two for Rogue One, what the faggot gurgling cocksucking fuck. That has to qualify as false goddamn advertising, doesn't it? Fuck sake.

 

I thought the dry humor from K-2SO was awesome. I think he was probably one of the funniest droids that Star Wars had had outside of HK-47.

 

It's as if you're surprised or something.

 

Is thirty minutes of adverts not the norm these days? Bare minimum. Tbh, I quite enjoy it - either they're good trailers/adverts, or they're amusingly shit. Car adverts just get more and more ridiculous, I swear.

Anyway, on topic.

I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. There was a lot of good stuff, it all fits in nicely, but ultimately there just doesn't seem to be any real need for it - which OK, you can say about probably 90% of all art in any medium that ever has been or ever will be, but this really was just an exercise in fanboy pandering. Whether the fact that it's a solidly made, entertaining exercise makes that OK is obviously YMMV.

And then there's the part of me that was just thrilled by everything that K2, Chirrut and Vader did.

 

You ask 'why?', I ask 'why not?'

It's about time we saw aspects of the Star Wars universe that aren't the main story line. I think they'll probably end up being the better stories because they have to stand on their own merits.

I really enjoyed the film. I thought there were a couple points where the script was a bit weak, but overall it was very enjoyable, with a good cast, and a good story. I actually found it more enjoyable from a story-perspective than I did Episode VII, which I thought was fun but too much of an homage to Episode IV with not enough originality.

I also think struck a better balance between CGI and live-action effects than Abrams did in the reboot. I get that the die-hard fans of the Originals get a minor orgasm whenever they see practical effects, but CGI has its place, and shunning it for the sake of 'authenticity' was one of my complaints about 'The Force Awakens' (in this day and age, non-CGI starships just look fake).

Speaking of things that look fake, Tarkin. I love the guy, but maybe in-person appearances for a CGI reanimation of a dead man was not the best idea. Perhaps it couldn't have been avoided, who knows...but maybe appearances as a holotransmission would have been better. He was just slightly too....off.

 

Tarkin looked like he came out of a video game cutscene. That's my only real complaint about the film.

 

I don't fucking get it. Tarkin looked and sounded great to me.

I haven't read the rest of the thread, but I imagine people are getting boners over the 'practical' Star Destroyers?

They looked like unpainted models I'd buy from Games Workshop or wherever...

I loved everything about Cassian as a character, though they needn't give him a fake name. Diego Luna is a better SW name than anything they could come up with...

I enjoyed it much more than TFA, but I'm liking TFA less and less as time goes on...

Stupid Super Death Star...

 

I don't get peoples problem with the cgi. They had limited choices. Would you rather they had some random who they just said was Tarkin or Leia? Or dodgy prosthetic and makeup? I think the CGI worked, and I got more of a thrill over seeing the old faces than anything else. Same with the random call backs to the original trilogy, I really liked them all.

The film overall was fantastic, what a prequel should be. Thoroughly enjoyable. I rarely go back to see a film a second time, but I think in this case I might.

 

Since they are already recasting half of the older actors for their other anthology film, introducing new Leia and even Tarkin in this one could definitely work.

Actually, having different actors playing iconic characters that at the moment have only one face on the big screen (RDJ is Tony Stark to many) will be something of a problem for Disney in upcoming years.

 

They'll write Iron Man out of the MCU before they replayed RDJ. Probably.

 

Personally seen that ending coming but still liked it, the ending was never really a deal breaker for me. I went in hopeing that the planet with the plans would be named Toprawa and that there would be at least a character named Bria Tharen in the film, because I loved the Han Solo books that much.
Id give it a solid 3/5 but thats only because there was not a whit of force powers in there

 

CGI Tarkin felt like an odd choice, seeing as they brought in the actors from Episodes I-III to reprise their roles. Still enjoyed Rogue 1 more than Episode VII, that was the first Star Wars film that put me to sleep.

 

The difference is Tarkin was from Epsiode IV, and Peter Cushing's been dead for over 20 years.

 

If you are going to quote me, read what I actually wrote. Wayne Pygram played Tarkin in Episode III, and he is still alive. Which is why I specifically mentioned the prequel trilogy and the actors that played the characters that made appearances in Rogue 1.

 

Eh, I don't really feel like writing a long review, so just a few things:

Spoiler

Forest Whitaker's character was completely wasted, didn't need the screen time he got.

Fire-forged-friends relationship between Cassion and Jyn was nowhere near as good to me as Finn/Poe bromance in TFA - probably because the whathisface who played Cassion is nowhere near as charismatic as Oscar Isaac.

Chirrut's fight scenes were gold.

K-2, best robot space bro I've seen since Legion in Mass Effect.

Vader's hallway left me wanting, thought it was underwhelming.

That shot of the Star Destroyer coming out of the Death Star's shadow and then the Death Star itself was fucking incredible. Shot through the glass floor of the Rebel flagship down to Scarif's surface was very cool too.

Must have missed more rebels landing on Scarif because they really made 10 men feel like a hundred, that battle was pretty fun, especially Baze's oh shit face when the AT-AT shrugged off that missile.

Fucking darkness-and-rain action sequence pissed me off like hell, which likely contributed to my great enjoyment of the final battle where I could actually tell what the fuck was going on.

In some aspects better than TFA, in others weaker - like character arcs, which were kind of nonexistent in Rogue One - but a good flick.

Chalk it up to my piss-poor eyesight, but CGI Tarkin and Leia were kind of amazing.

Actually, my feelings on this kind reflect my reaction to Fantastic Beasts - good movie, nothing earth-shattering. Will watch if it's on HBO next year, but I'm not rushing to buy the DVD. Go see it if you like SW or space operas in general.

7,5/10

 

I just watched Rogue One and really loved how they avoided some of the cliches that are popular in big action adventure movies.

 

That blind guy really could see better than most people who aren't blind.

 

I went and watched SW:Rogue One last night.

Spoiler

I was already aware of Tarkin's CGI face because I took a glimpse in this thread thinking the movie wasn't out yet. I'm not sure if I would have realized it was a thing if I hadn't known beforehand. Nonetheless, there was a big reaction in my theater when we saw Leia. A bunch of people went crazy: Holy...! Obviously, they didn't know about the CGI. Either way, I didn't dislike it and I think it is well on its way into the movie industry for such purposes.

I had a boner when Vader went all crazy at the end there. More seriously, the only image we have of Darth Vader fighting are in IV-V-VI. Considering the age of those, and the special effect at the time, it is quite limited. So I've always imagined Vader as some form of behemoth; unstoppable as he goes through the ranks of rebels to find the last remaining jedi. I was probably heavilly influenced by blank101 and his own rendition of Vader, but I feel like this single scene in SW:RO succeed to put that image to screen. He just cuts through everyone, and you can see the terror in the eye of the rebels. And that little scene at the end where he is standing on the edge of the ship, lightsaber in hand and stormtrooper array around him was also pretty good.

I also want to mention the first time we have a glimpse of Vader, when he is in some form of tank. The way they filmed that part, with just giving us glimpses of his head, and body, scarred all over, was a pretty powerful scene. It gave off this impression of a monster who brings forth terror.

I'm really glad to went back to their source in regard to Vader in case you couldn't tell from my earlier gushing!

I also want to point out that this is the only SW movie where the protagonist actually dies.