ROGUE ONE : A good movie or another disappointing Prequel? [NO SPOILERS]

"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire."

Story:

The basic plotline is pretty much everything you already know by now. Unlike the main saga that follows the adventures of wizards and dashing heroes, this is a much darker and grittier story that depicts the grey area of war; That not all rebels are clean coat heroes who always do the morally right thing, and not all Imperials are evil dictators who want to rule the galaxy. For all intents and purposes, it's a war and espionage story that also acknowledges that it takes place in a Science Fantasy universe and the movie excels at balancing both these elements.

Characters:

The cast done a truly top notch job to bring their respective characters to life. Each main character has a different personality, ideals and different perspectives on what goes around them, which makes their interactions compelling and fun to watch. And every one of them gets a moment to truly shine in the movie, whether it's by dialogues or badass action sequences. However the movie didn't spend much time to flesh out and develop these characters as much as it should have been, but that may be due to giving precedence to story and mission, over exploring characters .

Action:

One of the things that truly distinct this from the rest of the saga is how much heavy and fast paced its action sequences are. Shooting with blasters and dogfights aren't something new to Star Wars, but this movie has given a new level of weight that made them much more engaging, and in turn making it even more so in to an actual WAR movie, rather than a Fantasy Adventure. And how they seamlessly blended the Ariel battles with the ground battles, making it in to one brutal battlefront (AH HA! ;) ) must be commended as well.

Music:

I'm perfectly fine with John Williams not composing for this since it's an Anthology movie and he's probably busy with Episode 8 soundtrack, but to be honest I can't say I found Michael Giacchino's soundtrack to be memorable or inspiring. Soundtracks of Star Wars were always universally praised and awarded for their uniqueness and how they conveyed the personalities and motives of characters, and emotions and tension of scenes. In this movie, I felt it got lost between being faithful for the classical soundtracks and trying to be different for the new genre of the movie. It's not bad of cause, but given the milestone that has been set by the previous movies, it could have been better.

Final Scene:

I'm not going to say much on this, but the final moments were a roller coaster ride of emotions. Not only did it come in full circle and connected to the beginning of Episode IV, but in a way it connected to childhood and nostalgia as well. It's not something that can be explained but a thing that need to be seen and experienced. :)

In Conclusion ROGUE ONE did everything it supposed to be; It was a great and unique Star Wars movie, a solid beginning to a new line of Anthology movies and at long last, a flawlessly executed PREQUEL. ;) Needless to say, it's a must for ny Star Wars fan and an awesome film for any moviegoer.

Rate: 8.75 /10.00 (Because Star Wars movies need 2 decimals to be accurately rated. :p )

Thanks for no spoilers. Gonna see this Monday!

I just saw it, and I definitely enjoyed it. It ended the way I felt it should end when I first heard about the plot. It did everything very well. I guess if I had a gripe it's that it didn't do anything unexpected.

I mentioned my only issue with this movie in another thread, which is the two human CGI characters. I understand why they did it, and if it had just been for the second character, who was only on screen for a second at the very end, I could have looked past it. But the other character who got this treatment was in the movie a lot, and it really distracted and took away from his scenes, especially when he's face to face with the actual human actors.

Loved every minute of it!!

yeah not sure if I am going to see it.. Based on how crappy episode 7 was, especially when rewatching it, I do not have high hopes from it.. Especially when they completely destroyed the Kyle Katarn character when they jettisoned the EU..

R1 >>> Episode 7.

Haven't even built up the urge to rewatch E7. But I wouldn't be against seeing R1 again.

glad to hear it, looking past the E7 horrible plot the character writing is what I found most offensive.. Finn a man who was indoctrinated as long as he remembered, has a bar code for a name and has had psycho indoctrination therapy.. SO I would expect him to act like the Winter Soldier from Captain America or Kurt Russel's character from the movie Soldier.. Acts absolutely nothing like it... Then we have Rey, some one who has been living in the desert since she was young, is basically a nomad.. Has absolutely no real social skills because she basically just scavenged her whole life, acts absolutely nothing like that.

I cried @ the ending..

It was a great movie. I think there were some missed oppurtunities in truly making it grittier, emotional, and horrifying but Rogue One did an excellent job in connecting the dots.

It's a good film. Go see it.

It was decent. Doubt they will ever make one as epic as the orignal trilogy though.

Characters were terribly written, had no motivation, and gave me no reason to care about them or their struggle. The Way ___ died was absurd, and made zero sense thematically. I would have rather seen a slick heist movie than what we got. And Darth Vader. Why was he murdering people like crazy in this movie, and what? minutes later in a New Hope he's a bumbling old pastiche that Imperial Officers make fun of to his face, and he could barely beat Oldie One Kenobi. What the shit was that? And the last 5-10 minutes. Jesus, what fan service horseshit.

I think of it like Force Awakens, it was good, but could have been way better if they had focused on story and character, rather than focus grouping the entire thing trying to make it a gigantic set piece movie with special effects taking priority. But hey, at least their was not a nonstop barrage of shitty, Jar Jar level jokes through the entire movie.

I have fond memories of the original movies as a kid, and I'm not some neckbeard, jerking off to the Millenium Falcon. I just want them to make new shit, instead of needing a bridge between whatever stories they're currently telling, and as many old characters they can jam in. I want a trilogy about the original rift, and war between the Jedi and Sith. If Disney was forced to make a story without ANYTHING to do with the events of the current movies, we would really see if they gave a shit.

MAke anything you want, but avoid the 800000 "Hey, remember that guy/ship/place?" crap that does not let any of these movies be their own thing.

He said no spoilers.

Vader killing people is spoilers? Everyone knew he was in it. What did they expect him to be doing, playing pocket pool in a corner?!

possibly.

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Happy with the character decisions they made and Disney showed they can make something NEW as it pertains to Star Wars (Sure Episode 7 was really good, but it was largely Episode 4 re-branded) which gives me a new hope for Episode 8.

Didn't like it. As for connecting dots...all the dots have already been connected.

It was a good movie. Self contained explanation for something that was important in the next movie. Ended the way it should. Worth a watch.

Outstanding movie.

Raises the bar for Ep8.

Loved it. Episode 7 was great, but Rogue One was something else entirely; not only was it a great movie in its own right, but taken in context as a prequel, it actuallymakes Episode 4 a better movie. I don't think I've ever experienced something like that, but it's truly a worthy addition to the franchise.

The action is amazing, the story is solid, the cast is utterly perfect (a word I hate to use)...it's the most enjoyable movie experience I have had in a long, long time. And that's me not submitting to my Star Wars fanboyism lol.

I really enjoyed how they did not portray the Rebel Alliance as these pure, innocent good guys. Without giving too much away, you are shown that these Rebels share many qualities with terrorist. I thought it was a neat perspective.

The ending was the best part. You could literally watch Rogue One and Episode 4 together seamlessly. I actually did exactly that when I Got back from the theater. Supplements Episode 4 perfectly.

I think you are missing the point; it's not about connecting dots, it is about telling a story that has not been told, and enriching the overall experience of the franchise.

@mrbojangles25: I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. Happy New Year !

same to you :D

I don't know if I can watch anymore of these after force awakens.

Wtf was up with that move?

I fully expect Rey to start force pushing star destroyers into each other while lightsaber blocking shots from 10 death stars as she single handedly fights a cloned army of darth vaders while repairing the millennium falcon and jedi mindtricking the ghost of yoda while lecturing finn on what a strong independent woman she is that nobody is allowed to help because she don't need no help while beating r2-d2 at claymation chess..

Member luke? member having faults? member not winning every encounter you are in?

People want to see heros go through an arc and be challenged, not get handed everything like a 200 million dollar fan fic.