Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards, December 16, 2016) Movie • Page 76

That's one of my favorite things about the film, lol. The treatment of the Force as something spiritual that the main cast can't prove but still have faith in was awesome.

I easily love how this film handled the Force way more than any other Star Wars film besides TLJ, which I loved in part because it took that idea even further.

 

So you're disappointed because the crew going on a suicide mission to save the rebellion didn't act like George Clooney and his band of merry bandits? C'mon.

 

No, there are a lot of different kinds of characters and personalities you can put in your ensemble heist movie, it doesn’t have to use an Ocean’s Eleven character template. I was disappointed because these characters were uninteresting and lacked much personality or nuance and weren’t people I was interested in spending two hours with.

 

-The characters in which Jyn and Cassian meet are exactly the crew it took to do the mission they went on.

-Cassian was involved at the beginning for his own motives and assignments, but sees the good intention of Jyn and changes his stance as to why he was involved.

-Chirrut, Baze, and Bhodi all became motivated in crossing paths with Jyn to support her cause. Bhodi was sent by her father and trusted him. He's got the same motivation and character development as Finn in TFA/TLJ.

-Chirrut and Baze were living unmotivated near the abandoned temple waiting for something or someone like Jyn to come into their lives and give them a purpose/cause. Chirrut wasn't a Jedi, but his blindness and knowledge I believe absolutely led him to be force sensitive to some degree, and he trusted that to his death.

-He was also Baze's best friend. Baze had his doubts and questioned Chirrut because of what he had been through/how much optimism he had lost. I think at his death, he felt a purpose to what they fought for and connection to his dying friend like he hadn't felt in some time in his life.

-There was a lot of witty one liners and humor scattered throughout the movie that gave it plenty of personality. Rogue One isn't a funny story overall. I think in order to make the best humor of the movie work, it had to be from K-2SO who didn't understand context or tact when he spoke, being a droid and all.

It's a story about sacrifice for the greater good, and generally speaking the whole movie is dealing with really bleak circumstances. For what this movie intended to be, it succeeded 100% in my eyes. Jyn and Cassian watching their death roll in from the shoreline was a heartbreaking scene. Luke looking a bit constipated from making a force ghost and then disappearing? Not nearly as gripping to me.

 

Fairly certain my favorite scene in the whole movie, aside from Vader Disneyland, is easily Chirrut trying to open the door with the force.

 

That idea could have been cool, but I never felt like that's how it was executed. To me it just amounted to a series of lines about The Force that didn't offer any depth. In fact if felt so jarring to me that I kind of wonder if the script before reshoots had some plot threads that the final film dropped.

 

It didn't have depth because their understanding didn't have depth. What more was there to say from their perspective and experiences?

Honestly, it felt a lot like how people I know who believe in God, but aren't actively religious or academic, talk about the spiritual. And I really appreciated seeing that perspective. Seeing an incomplete version of faith that isn't fully understood, rejected, or a source of inner turmoil; it's just a vaguely understood and accepted aspect of their worldview.

Well, except for Chirrut, but his approach was great in its own way. He was the first real look at what a faithful follower of the Force could look like completely separate from the Jedi and Sith. He's a small example of what TLJ made its mission statement. I think there's something there worth a deeper look in a future film (with a different character), though spending too much time on it in Rogue One would've cheapened the other characters' Force relationship.

 

I like the way you put this. I'll say that I somewhat wish they expanded that idea even more. Hes described: "Although he lacked Force abilities, Îmwe was a strong believer in it and the Jedi way." hes just kind of portrayed as a spiritual monk who believes but isnt Force sensitive, but he clearly is and uses it. Its just not in a powerful way. Force-users dont have to have a lightsaber and telekenetic powers.

Ive never been a fan of the fact of the force-sensitive thing that you are just kind of born with it or aren't. Or it cant be developed. I know many people would disagree with this, but just because all people can use the force doesnt mean everybody will now. Thats the point. Nobody believes and if they do they dont try to pursue the using the force because they think its some esoteric gift given to 1 out of gagillion beings in the galaxy.

Id love a Star Wars story expanding on the whole "coming from nothing" angle about a boy/girl (whos an alien lead for the first time) who hears the legends of Luke Skywalker and wants to be him so bad but tries to use force powers and simply cant. He doesnt have any natural gifts in the Force. Like kids in our reality try to jump off things and fly. Everybody around him tells him hes not force sensitive. You dont have the gift. Give it up. And somehow he/she bump into somebody LIKE Chirrut who studies the Force. The Mentor archetype.

He teaches him about the force and he goes on to explain that the dogma in the galaxy that you were born with the Force or you arent is just a misconception. When they had control of the galaxy the Jedi were notorious for seeking out force sensitive children (who were actually just naturally gifted) because those would make the better students. That doesnt mean that everybody else doesnt have the Force, but the galaxy came to believe that they didnt because they werent recognized as such. he can then reinforce or expand upon the Taoistic principles and what Luke was teaching Rey. blah blah blah.

Idk. You could have a really nice Miyagi-esque training montage of him learning basic principles. Philosophical things, but all he wants to do is lift rocks and do flips, lightsaber stuff. Idk what the story would be around it all, but throughout the entire movie he keeps trying to use telekinesis on things and nothing moves. Gets frustrated every time. He develops good work ethics and shows a lot of growth as a being. But still cant do anything force related. And is pissed. Idk. Shit happens and at the end he learns patience. he learns how to enjoy the process. Even though he still cant do all the cool shit yet one of the last shots is him trying to move something and it doesnt move. He doesnt get mad though. He smiles actually. He tries again and he nudges a rock but like...barely (ala Magneto moving the chess piece in The Last Stand). Smiles. A tear streams down his face. End of the movie and starting a new trilogy. He ends up becoming the new hero for years to come. Boom. Your welcome disney. The title you ask? Karate Kid 4: Broom Kid Sweeps the Leg.

 

@Dodger, you might be even more long-winded about Star Wars than I am about Spidey and other superheroes, lol.

As a Christian myself, I'd definitely love to see what some creative minds with various religious/spiritual backgrounds could bring to the Force. What would someone who was burned by a religious establishment bring? Or someone from a religious minority, like a Muslim American or an Assyrian immigrant? What about a former agnostic who later came to faith, or someone who swapped belief systems?

Some cool stories could come from people simply inserting some of their real world experiences into this space fantasy context. And that authenticity could still be used as the foundation for a fun adventure, lol.

 

Theres not a single character in any Star Wars to be too excited about.

RO's sucky characters are still on par or better than what were used to with this series. If thats news to you then lol at you.

 

For one, that Rogue One can stop with the fantasy long enough to tangibly explore the political and humanitarian implications of weapons of mass destruction, makes it a far better film than any of the other films in the Star Wars series. The tale of Galen Erso is in some ways analagous to some real world Jewish German scientists of WW2. Its also more fun to watch than TFA or TLJ.

 

Star Wars has been political since A New Hope. Rogue One is the most nuanced in it's exploration of politics and morality (along with the Last Jedi), which I appreciate, but, and I hate to say this because I don't think a movie needs it to be successful, I find the main cast of characters almost completely devoid of any sort of charm that makes them watchable (the quippy, cynical droid being the most significant exception). The earnestness and yearning in Mark Hamill's performance as Luke in the OT, with Harrison Ford's sarcasm and selfishness, paired with Carrie Fisher's bite and Alec Guiness' steady warmth and wisdom, those are people I want to watch a movie about. Even in the new trilogy, Rey's impatience and vigor, Kylo Ren's angst and overcompensation, and Oscar Issac's recklessness and conviction are appealing. I can't think of a Rogue One character who compares.

I think a part of it is that none of the Disney Star Wars movies really take a second to slow down. They're all overcrowded with plot, trips between galaxies happen in the blink of an eye, so much happens that there aren't as many sequences in TFA, Rogue One, or even TLJ where the movies take a step back and we get something like Luke staring off at the twin suns in ANH, or the long trip to Alderaan from Tattooine where Han, Kenobi, and Luke just chill and talk and debate. It's a problem I think even the Last Jedi has, even though I really like that movie a lot. I can't think of a sequence of relative peace and quiet in the new movies that lets characters interact naturally without the priority being survival/running to the next plot point, like when Han, Leia, and Lando chill in Cloud City, or something similar.

Granted, I haven't seen Rogue One since the one time I saw it in theaters, so my memory of it isn't fresh. But I'm not sitting through CGI Tarken again.

 

Luke is a boring guy that got a laser sword and had interesting events happen around him.

Han is Space Fonz.

C3-PO is Neil Degrasse Tyson's twitter account embodied.

Vader is actually 2D.

Rey has amnesia.

Kylo is the brat with a power seeking complex archetype.

 

You're saying that like those are bad things.

 

Im saying it like it supports my first comment.

 

Id say when we first are introduced to Rey its pretty grounded when we see what her life is like. Her scavenging. Getting the portions. Seeing her eat. Its one of my favorite parts of the movie because of that aspect. I actually think TFA did a pretty good job of it for the most part. We get some time with Luke but not as good.

Overall yea I agree it is one of the things Disney needs to do with these movies. Despite TLJ being my favorite it definitely suffered because of so many characters/storylines. Its going to be hard now too considering theres one movie left and a whole lotta shit that seemingly needs to happen.

 

Any character can sound boring if you boil them down to their simplest traits.

 

My fav characters in this movie are the two Stormtroopers on Scariff talking about the obsolete T-16s or whatever right before they get taken out by Chirrut

 

Not sure if this poster is real or not, but it’s awesome.

 

I'm watching this for the first time since theaters and I have to say, I hate Donnie Yen's character. Him being able to do everything blind is such a dumb decision and frankly, it's embarrassing.

"Hey, we should have a BLIND character in this movie!"

Give me a break.

There's a good amount of great actors wasted on such an average movie.

 

Chirrut and Baze were my favorite characters in the movie haha.

 

I didn't even know which was which until I looked up those names. Either I completely missed them both times or this movie failed at making me care at all about these characters or even enough to remember their names. I might remember 3 names from this movie and that's a problem.

But to talk about Chirrut specifically, he could have done nearly everything exactly the same and not be blind and it would have been just fine. Him being blind actively distracted me in every scene he was in because it's just so ludicrous that he's not only capable of doing these things, but also dodge shit from behind him? Come on.

 

I think at times it was a little cheesily done (but its star wars) but i think his characters purpose was to show how strong the force really is. Thats how interpretted his characters arc.

 

“Hey maybe after all this time some good thoughts on the movie will be in this thread” I thought, naively.

We’re attacking a blind character now? Yeesh.

 

He's not using the force though.