I know I've said it before but I wish we would get more ideas like this rather than origin stories of main characters.
This is more interesting than the adventures of young Han Solo.
I can't stand how Star Wars has totally sold out and become a mega-corporate franchise that will surely pump everything they can down our throats for the next 10 years incessantly, knowing they have us hooked, lol
I will go see it.
Someone please get this hook out of my cheek
Also looking forward to Mr. Plinkett's review
(has anyone posted those at the MMAC yet?)
I'm no Star Wars purist, but I thought it was just good. Still good but just good. I have a bit of a thing for Mendehlson and I love Riz. They were both brilliant.
It just didn't do it for me. Probably my least fav SW movie.
I hate saying that, I'm a good time upbeat girl, I really am. My husband liked it more than I did but he was a bit nonplussed too. This is coming from a man who went on opening night in 1977 and has ever since.
Just got back from it.
Really fun movie overall.
The battles were ace and the way they used the old tech we saw in episodes 4-6 was seamless.
The first scene with Vader....something seemed "off" with his character but overall it was better than ROTJ in terms of plot and battles but not as good as ROTJ in terms of characters.
I hate saying that, I'm a good time upbeat girl, I really am. My husband liked it more than I did but he was a bit nonplussed too. This is coming from a man who went on opening night in 1977 and has ever since.
Saw it finally and can't quite agree with the great praise it gets here.
I did have fun, it was a entertaining action flick basically, it looked great for the most part (the cgi of two characters exempt..). Generally they took you well into the universe, even if some stuff needed fan-knowledge or was cheap fan-service. No qualms with the battles, they all seemed great and were fun.
It was plot-driven and not character-driven, which can be fine, but not if the plot is as clear as this one. Knowing the outcome isn't even the problem, they told you the plot in details before.. (this needs to happen and then this needs to happen etc.). Not just due to this, the second act dragged along quite a bit. The third was explosive though.
I can accept all the lucky timing when you are like "the force guides the outcome". Its part of Star Wars. And it ties in nicely just before ep 4.
The characters though were flat as a board. It tells you something when the droid that is almost solely comedic relief and has like 10 lines is the best out of the bunch.
The potential was there, but very much wasted imo.
Basically, I left somewhat disappointed.
Starting with this: I love that everyone died. I really do. It was a lot like a war-movie anyway. The stakes in heroic movies should be high, and I often hate Hollywood/TV-stuff for knowing that no matter how grim it seems, in the end there are going to be no severe consequences anyway. Not so much here.
But! The big big problem kicks in: I didn't really care for any of the characters! So what if they die? They weren't able to make me care.
And even to people who loved this, be honest here: Were you moved more when somebody of the crew here died, or when Groot didn't even really die in Guardians of the Galaxy?
Groot all day long, because they made me care about the char. Interestingly the Groot of this crew, the droid, had the most moving death-scene here too. (since when are droids such killer-machines in SW btw?)
There was little backstory, illumination of motives, or development in either char. And the worst: their connections to each other (except for the two that came in a pair), were simply not there or not believable.
For example, the cheezy little-sister line has to be earned. It came from nothing. Did they ever even talk to each other before? I don't think so. Many things like that just felt off. (the closeness of Jyn and the rebel at the end.., they had no chemistry either..)
The Monk and his buddy were sure intriguing, but they made nothing out of it but a little cheeze. I would watch a movie showing their adventures and their characters in at least some depth. Why did they even join em and threw their lives away for em? These two had potential, use it!
Now to Jyn.
She went from a very cynical and pessimistic, almost disenfranchised person, to this overly idealistic girl drumming on hope like there is no tomorrow (kinda had the same speech twice even I think), and becoming the leader of the bunch immediately.. I mean, I get that what happened would change her, but so fast and so thoroughly? Hardly believable imo.
There weren't even signs of her changing or small changes over time, it was just like a switch, almost like two different characters. She was one of the few chars that even had an arc, and it was executed poorly..
Well, the pilot had the arc that he was captured and raped by an octopus. Yeah. What was the point of all that again? It was literally pointless, nothing would have changed without those scenes. Why waste that time when you have so many other things to work on? Couple weird choices and things all throughout.
The o.g. rebel had perhaps the best characterization. But he remained quite pale imo. So I had a hard time finding interest for him as well.
The director had a good arc, but, was he a good antagonist? Not that the movie lacked stakes, just somehow, besides being erratic, I don't know, he lacked something. cgi-Tarkin felt more sinister and threatening.
Vader's last scene was amazing. Give me more of that!
Sadly, it was destroyed by Leia a second later. That cgi was just insulting, I think I winced.
As far as I know, they went through extensive reshoots and changes to the movie though, especially the ending. This can explain most of the problems I see here, but, its still their job to make a good movie in time, and not to lay a big turd on the paying fans like the one cgi-char.., I mean, that can obviously just be a deadline-problem, right? You might say that is a minor thing, but if its so disruptive and takes me out of the movie like that, it has a big impact for me.
6.5/10
But if I didn't care for Star Wars / accepted that world right away, it would probably be two points worse.
To expand on this, I think its okay for them (especially in this franchise) to require people to know the other movies or the universe. All I'm saying is, if you don't know Star Wars, maybe don't start with this one.
I do wonder though what people will think if they start with ep 1-3, and then this before they see 4-6.
As long as uve seen 4,ur good. But 4-6 is preferable imo. And like someone said earlier, I think qat, it would kinda be cool o see it withough having seen 4
But 1-3 aren't necessary. Always cool to know darth cadets backstory tho...