This was a great addition to Star Wars, it felt grounded and real, and somehow had me feeling connected to the all new characters.
Let's get the cons out of the way first: While I liked these characters, I feel like some of them deserved some more backstory. I want to know Body's story a little more, as I love how he was portrayed by Riz Ahmed. I want to know where this guy came from, why he defected, his relationship with Galen. Ben Mendelsohn was awesome as Krennic, but I also wanted some more time with him. I like how I was actually pissed off on behalf of Krennic that Grand Mof was taking credit for his work lol.
Finally, Chirrut and Base were also intriguing, and just a short scene of how the came to be where they are would have served their stories quite well. I loved how Chirrut was like a half Jedi, he was able to use it and harness it in his own, unrefined way, and he got stoked when Jin referenced the force haha. I also want to see how Jin became such a good fighter and leader. She was great, and her inner struggle and fighting attitude was done proper justice.
I think this all could have been solved by either making this a 2h30-45 min runtime, or sacrificing a bit of the final fight sequence for more character development. Perhaps the studio cut some of these aspects out.. that's always a looming consideration.
Rogue One felt like an honest film to me, we were given themes of family, hope, morality, etc. While it remained fairly straight forward and not pandering to the audience. I thought the connections to previous films were not too heavy handed, and served the story in most cases. The visuals were stunning and creative. Those planetary rings at the start ending abruptly had me thinking.. okay what's that.. and the next shot reveals that a shadow casted down creates the abrupt cut off. Just a fun, unexpected visual language being used in this film.
I also applaud the creators for making everything VISIBLE. Which is an odd issue we have seen time and time again in modern film. I was happy to see a good piece of the movie take place on a bright, sunny and vibrant Scarif. That trading post in the first act was also great visually. Many of the shots in this film were just a pleasure to take in, including the miniatures of the Star Destroyers.
All in all, an enjoyable experience that was hampered a little bit by the lack of character development and mis-management of the runtime. Certainly close to an 8 but the potential for greatness almost makes me a little harder on it if that makes sense.
May the Force be with you.
Let's get the cons out of the way first: While I liked these characters, I feel like some of them deserved some more backstory. I want to know Body's story a little more, as I love how he was portrayed by Riz Ahmed. I want to know where this guy came from, why he defected, his relationship with Galen. Ben Mendelsohn was awesome as Krennic, but I also wanted some more time with him. I like how I was actually pissed off on behalf of Krennic that Grand Mof was taking credit for his work lol.
Finally, Chirrut and Base were also intriguing, and just a short scene of how the came to be where they are would have served their stories quite well. I loved how Chirrut was like a half Jedi, he was able to use it and harness it in his own, unrefined way, and he got stoked when Jin referenced the force haha. I also want to see how Jin became such a good fighter and leader. She was great, and her inner struggle and fighting attitude was done proper justice.
I think this all could have been solved by either making this a 2h30-45 min runtime, or sacrificing a bit of the final fight sequence for more character development. Perhaps the studio cut some of these aspects out.. that's always a looming consideration.
Rogue One felt like an honest film to me, we were given themes of family, hope, morality, etc. While it remained fairly straight forward and not pandering to the audience. I thought the connections to previous films were not too heavy handed, and served the story in most cases. The visuals were stunning and creative. Those planetary rings at the start ending abruptly had me thinking.. okay what's that.. and the next shot reveals that a shadow casted down creates the abrupt cut off. Just a fun, unexpected visual language being used in this film.
I also applaud the creators for making everything VISIBLE. Which is an odd issue we have seen time and time again in modern film. I was happy to see a good piece of the movie take place on a bright, sunny and vibrant Scarif. That trading post in the first act was also great visually. Many of the shots in this film were just a pleasure to take in, including the miniatures of the Star Destroyers.
All in all, an enjoyable experience that was hampered a little bit by the lack of character development and mis-management of the runtime. Certainly close to an 8 but the potential for greatness almost makes me a little harder on it if that makes sense.
May the Force be with you.