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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Started by Goaty, 07 April, 2016, 12:58:16 PM

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Greg M.

Quote from: von Boom on 23 December, 2016, 11:24:57 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 December, 2016, 09:19:47 PM
Am I alone in really, really rather liking [spoiler]the CGI Tarkin scenes?[/spoiler]

No, you are not. [spoiler]I was extremely impressed at the first reveal of Tarkin, but the CGI became more apparent longer he was on screen. That aside I thought he was brilliant! Actors need to beware of becoming too diva-like or they'll find themselves replaced with CGI soon. The Princess Leia was less impressive, simply because she was so young in Star Wars so CGI just looked too smooth. [/spoiler]

On the one hand, and despite various naysayers, I thought [spoiler]the actual CGI looked very good. On the other hand, it completely pulled me out of the film and I couldn't concentrate on anything Tarkin was saying, because I was both marvelling at the artifice of it all, and also feeling somewhat unnerved by Cushing's 'resurrection'.[/spoiler]

von Boom

Quote from: Greg M. on 23 December, 2016, 12:24:51 PM
Quote from: von Boom on 23 December, 2016, 11:24:57 AM
Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 22 December, 2016, 09:19:47 PM
Am I alone in really, really rather liking [spoiler]the CGI Tarkin scenes?[/spoiler]

No, you are not. [spoiler]I was extremely impressed at the first reveal of Tarkin, but the CGI became more apparent longer he was on screen. That aside I thought he was brilliant! Actors need to beware of becoming too diva-like or they'll find themselves replaced with CGI soon. The Princess Leia was less impressive, simply because she was so young in Star Wars so CGI just looked too smooth. [/spoiler]

On the one hand, and despite various naysayers, I thought [spoiler]the actual CGI looked very good. On the other hand, it completely pulled me out of the film and I couldn't concentrate on anything Tarkin was saying, because I was both marvelling at the artifice of it all, and also feeling somewhat unnerved by Cushing's 'resurrection'.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]
It made me enjoy the film more in fact, because it felt more unified with the original story for me.[/spoiler]

TordelBack

#347
Quote from: sheridan on 23 December, 2016, 12:36:38 AM
Quote from: TordelBack on 22 December, 2016, 07:40:03 PM
I actually really liked the guy.

I thought Finn had some memory of being taken from his family at a young age?

From imperfect memory General Clan Techie tells Kylo Ren that his stormtroopers are "...exceptionally trained - programmed from birth", and Finn tells Rey that "I was taken from a family I'll never know".  What age that actually implies I don't know, but it seems even younger than Justice Dept or Jedi Temple recruiting.  Bodhi on the other hand is (I think) a Jedha native, and being an Imperial cargo pilot seems to be a job.

As to the [spoiler]Tarkin CGI: look, it's as good a job as I've ever seen, but unfortunately that sort of buried it deep in the Uncanny Valley for me, and while I'm not averse to CGI characters, I thought the VO didn't really capture Cushing's clipped menace, and as Greg says, consciously trying to process all that just kept pulling me out of the movie.  [/spoiler]Maybe I'll have better luck on  my next viewing.



Mattofthespurs

[spoiler]I agree the voice was off but I thought they pulled off both CGI characters almost perfectly. Added to my enjoyment I must say.[/spoiler]

Tony Angelino

Went to see it tonight. I thought it was great. Really enjoyed it.

Kept thinking Cassian Andor must have been for too hot with that big jacket with the fur rimmed hood on during the Jedda scenes.

I also kept wondering when all the scenes from the trailers were going to appear only to find they didn't.

I should really be a film critic with this level of analysis. I could say more except I haven't properly figured out how to do the spoilers yet.

SIP

Anyone following the Carrie Fisher heart attack news? I'm genuinely gutted.

Hawkmumbler

Quote from: SIP on 23 December, 2016, 10:31:16 PM
Anyone following the Carrie Fisher heart attack news? I'm genuinely gutted.
Mark Hamill survived a car crash. Ford a plane crash. There are powers at work here.

SIP

It's not looking great, reportedly took them 15 minutes cpr to get a pulse. 2016 has sucked in so many ways.

Spikes

Not long back from seeing it, and whilst not brilliant, I did like it a lot. Liked it a whole lot more than TFA.

Still a bit messy, and disjointed I thought. Heaven knows, it must have been a right clunker prior to the reshoots.
Tarkin wasn't perfect, but still good, but he did draw me out of the movie.  They really should have recast.

But still, plenty to like. And when people say that Vader scene at the end is totally bad ass, they are totally correct.

von Boom

Quote from: SIP on 23 December, 2016, 11:04:05 PM
It's not looking great, reportedly took them 15 minutes cpr to get a pulse. 2016 has sucked in so many ways.

Apparently she's stable for now, but I can't find any new information at the moment. 2016 sucks arse.

Mardroid

Promising news at least. I hope she's better soon .

I saw the film yesterday with a friend instead of after Boxing Day as originally intended. What a great way to spend the evening of Christmas Eve!

I enjoyed that a lot. It was nice to see a film that was not focussed on the Skywalker clan (much as I like them, and welcome more of them in the forthcoming sequels). [spoiler]And kudos for killing off all the main characters. Sure, part of me hoped the last two would get away at the last minute. But let's face it, the bloke was a central character in the Rebellion, and the girl had also become an influential element by the end. If they'd survived, I'd have thought their characters would have been fairly prominent in the Rebellion inoriginal films if they'd survived, even if their appearance was minimal. I can't see them saying "I did my bit. I'll leave the rest for the others". Mind you, I guess they could have been away doing secret agenty stuff. But I think this decision was a good call.

The reprogrammed imperial robot was an amusing  character, but in a very different way to the droids of the past. The priest/monk character and his enormous sidekick with the super shooty blaster were great characters. I'm curious if the priest was an ex Jedi, or another force sensitive individual? One of the Imperial characters (was it Tarkin, or the other chap? My mind is like a sieve sometimes) mentioned the last of the Jedi order being destroyed with Jedha, which suggests the former. I'm leaning towards the latter though since the order seemed very much that character's life. That being said, maybe it's possible for certain  Jedi to have dual function as Jedi and priest where it suits their purpose.Maybe all the priests are.

The blind martial artist concept is not new (see Rutger Haur's character in Blind Fury, and (a better fit) the wonderful One Hundred Eyes Taoist Monk from Marco Polo as other examples, but seeing this gentler version in the Star Wars universe utilising the Force in such a subtle way (no telekinetic hijinks, just using it to guide his actions) was lovely.

The  leader of their squad was also an interesting rather dark character. Quite a moral journey he goes on, from quickly executing a fellow rebel/informant in cold blood (although he might have considered it a kindness should he fall in Imperial hands) to staying his hand when about to assassinate the scientist before anyone could stop him.

As for the CGI Moff Tarkin and Leia, I thought they did a wonderful job. I wonder, did they use real actors and digitally augment or (more likely) cover the faces, or were they completely CGI?

Sure, it didn't look quite right, but it was impressive nonetheless. My companion turned to me when she saw Leia and exclaimed in wonder "how did they do that?" Tarkin 's voice didn't quite fit Peter Cushing's voice for me, but it was okay.

One thing that does bug me a little: why does nobody think to situate their planetary shield generators behind their shield?

But that's a small niggle.[/spoiler]

Big thumbs up from me. Is it better than The Force Awakens? TFA has a real soft spot in my heart, but I did think this had a better story. They both had their merits.

DaveGYNWA

Did our now traditional "cinema on xmas eve" with the sprogs yesterday and 2 years in a row it's Star Wars.

Me: I'll be honest and say that 20 minutes in I felt a bit "uh, oh...Phantom Menace time" but the 2nd act caught things up, and [spoiler]that space battle was just brilliant. And then Vader kicking ass[/spoiler] i enjoyed it overall.

Wife: She was "meh" about it.

Youngest daughter: She was bored after 20 minutes, and only got back in to it when I told her that [spoiler]Leia was going to turn up. She did enjoy Vader kicking ass though.[/spoiler]

Oldest dauther: She loved it - totally fixated, she knew exactly where it fit in with the whole story. And she loved it when [spoiler]Vader kiccking f**king ass.[/spoiler] The only thing that didn't work for her was [spoiler]they all die - questions at the credits were "What happened to Jyn? Why do all the characters that I like die? When is the next one!!?!?!?!?"

[spoiler]Vader kicked ass - oh yes!![/spoiler]
Peas sell. But who's Brian?

Professor Bear

#357
Bit of a mess of a film, but a very entertaining one.  It meanders for the first hour and a bit, but when the Rebel ships suddenly just jump out of hyperspace, you know it's on now - and it is.  Some of the starship battle reminded me of Clone Wars/Rebels, but that's a good thing.
Agree with most of the positive comments, especially Vader's return to his panto villain roots as an utter monster who inspires terror, rather than as the huffy kid* which popular culture seems determined to remember him.

I also had a Christmas rewatch of A New Hope and found that R1 slots nicely into what follows, explaining some stuff that maybe didn't occur to me at the time, like "why is this Rebel ship in orbit of the planet that's farthest from the bright center of the galaxy in the first place?" (they've come for Ben Kenobi), and "if everyone is at that meeting where Tarkin announces the dissolution of the Senate, why is there an empty chair at the table?" (the Director was sacked by Tarkin and then killed on Scariff).
As I say, it's a mess of a film, but it's still the film that I wished I'd seen when I went into The Force Awakens.



* Which remains a criminally incorrect reading of the PT text.

TordelBack

Quote from: Mardroid on 25 December, 2016, 04:26:08 PM
One thing that does bug me a little: [spoiler]why does nobody think to situate their planetary shield generators behind their shield?[/spoiler]

Ahh but did they[spoiler] knock out the shield at all?  The space station was just acting to create and control a gate through the planetary shield - all they did was disrupt the station and thus the signal jamming long enough for their 56k modem to download WompRat.gif. Without the gate station, the shield went back to being fully intact. [/spoiler]This illustrates the real power of the Death Star - with just a low-power blast it could cut through any shield, rendering all plenetary defended irrelevant.

Incidentally the other four main Star Wars shield generators (Endor, Hoth, Starkiller Base and Great Grass Plains) were all inside their shields, hence the need for ground assaults or infiltrations.

Mardroid

#359
Okay, fair enough. [spoiler]I guess I was mainly thinking of the shield for the second Death Star whose generator was located on the forest moon of Endor, and I guess I misunderstood what happened in Rogue 1. I thought they were disrupting the shield to allow the signal through. Although thinking about it, they did communicate with the rebel fleet earlier so I guess it didn't block that.

So... why did they need to do that again? Something to do with jamming working on greater amounts of data than ordinary communications signals? Okay I need to watch that again.  :lol:[/spoiler]