Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards, December 16, 2016) Movie • Page 67

At least Bane actually had some degree of overall impact on the plot of The Dark Knight Rises. Krennic just sulked and whined the whole time in this. I was so psyched for Mendolsohn to be the villain in this but I also felt like he played second fiddle to Tarkin the entire time. Total waste, and all so we could take a gratuitous, avoidable trip to the Uncanny Valley.

 

Don't agree. Tarkin and Vader played major roles, but even when Krennic was in the same room as Tarkin, he was much more charismatic (apparently there is a deleted scene where he pulls his pistol on Tarkin, glad they took it out). He killed Jyn's mother, he was willing to destroy all of Jedha, he had all of Galen's engineers executed, and he nearly killed Cassian. I don't think he was wasted on these things, and all of them were impactful.

 

His relationship with Mads could have been mined for some really great stuff, but wasn't. I would have preferred maybe altering the balance of scenes with him and Tarkin to favor scenes with Galen

 

Yep, that's one of two scenes which I think could have bumped this from good to great. Do a scene where we actually see Jyn getting arrested after the title card as opposed to just her waking up in jail and then a quick scene between Galen and Krennic debating the ethics and legacy of a super weapon. Get rid of the octopus nonsense and I think you can add all of this in pretty neatly.

 

I do agree Mads was underutilized (and his character by extension). I'm thinking of picking up Catalyst, which is supposed to be the setup for the film and contains much more insight about Galen and Krennic's relationship. Has anyone read it yet?

 

Yea. I think that's why on first viewing I didn't mind the lack of screen time with them (Galen/Krennic) together. Reading it really adds a lot of weight to the relationship between Galen and Krennic, Krennic and Tarkin. It makes Galen's death far more meaningful too and the weight of his last words to Jyn pretty heartbreaking. I recommend it.

 

This. All of this. The most potentially interesting relationship in the entire film, squandered.

 

Yeah, and it's a pretty good read. It really fleshes out the relationship between Krennic and Galen and it's probably the thing I was most interested in seeing culminate in the film, but that culmination never comes IMO. I think I would've rather seen Catalyst made into a film than the script for Rogue One.

 

I'm all for as much Star Wars as we can get, but I keep thinking back on the film and saying... Did we really need this? I think that something much cooler could have been done in its place.

 

I'm still of the opinion that these side stories don't need to be made into films. The films should be limited to the Episodes, and be special events. Even every other year might be pushing it, but it's still better than one per year. All these other stories could be handled just as well, if not better, in other mediums (books, graphic novels, video games, television series, etc.). Imagine how awesome Rogue One would have been as a TV mini-series? Just-OK movies like Rogue One will only hasten the over-saturation of the brand at the cinema, in my opinion.

 

It's extra annoying because Disney buys up theater space everywhere they can to maximize opportunities for people to see the movies, pushing out space for smaller movies. The Force Awakens played at the art theater down the street from me when I lived in Chicago, which never played blockbusters, and of course Tarantino's accusations about how they pushed the Hateful Eight out of theaters at Arclights.

 

Exactly. It would have made for a great TV series. This Han Solo film is probably going to be the same type of situation.

 

I love that movies are going to be out so often now personally. Looking forward to the rest of them!

 

Yep! One at the end of every year sounds fantastic to me!

 

It kind of actively hurts cinema. But a Han Solo movie by Phil Lord and Chris Miller will be fun!

 

Eh, it's just one movie. I don't mind more Star Wars. I'll keep an open mind until like the 3rd standalone film.

 

This is important because any time people criticize the pervasiveness of these films people usually retort with the idea that people are free to watch what they want. In reality, there is a limit to budgets and there is a limit to theater space. When Star Wars 15 is on half the screens in a theater, it necessarily means that other films are not being shown.

 

I never get the "did this need to be told" thing. No. Obviously not.

 

Seriously tho. I work at an old historic theatre built in 1932. The main auditorium seats roughly 800 people and Disney mandated that we have Rogue One in there all day for 5 days straight, in addition to other screens, and we only have 7 other smaller auditoriums. This sucks cause there a decent amount of smaller films that would kill in our area but....Star Wars ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

They are the reasons I'm excited for it, although I'm sad they dropped Flash for it. Flash needs their touch....

 

I'll take all the Star Wars I can get. I think once a year is still limited enough of a timeframe for me to get excited about a new Star Wars film without being dissensitized. I like to compare it to marvel movies. With as many that come out now a days, I'm still excited for when they come around because they continue to build their universe. I think they've even taken on a genre of their own at this point and Star Wars will be no different.

 

I'd love a mini series.

 

I fantasize about a 6 or 8-ish episode series of R1, In which every member of the team really gets their due, then the series finale is basically the last hour of the film as-is except it's fucking devastating to watch them all die...because we actually care about them now.

 

I cared

 

Like Luke Skywalker once said while no one was really listening, "I care".