Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

[radiator]

I am super-excited for Rogue One, but the first real kink in the armor has to be Edwards' comments about what the reshoots were actually all about: they went back and reshot scenes in shakycam that were not previously in shakycam.  I am really hoping this is just him trying to downplay 11th hour story edits, because I'd rather that than yet another faux-documentary style action scene.

They wouldn't have needed to hire top-shelf fixer Tony Gilroy or pay him an alleged $5 million to institute some shaky-cam. I think Edwards' comments are nothing more than promoting an image of cohesion. I don't know why they bother lying about these things; at the end of the day no one cares what happened as long as the films are good - additional shooting is never the death knell of any film, it's usually incompetence or not recognising when something needs fixing and knowing how to do it.

My own theory on the (by all accounts very extensive) reshoots is that Rogue One was pitched as a gritty, downbeat war movie, and then Disney decided late in the day that they wanted a more upbeat, crowd-pleasing sort of film.

This sounds a bit worrying:

What followed was a five-minute (or so) stretch that bounced between multiple locations and characters, sometimes to a whiplash-inducing degree. In the moment, I assumed that the parade of locations (each accompanied by an on-screen title telling you where you were now) was a function of the film being sampled from for the purposes of the presentation we were watching, but afterwards I was told that, no, this is how the film plays out. That was troubling, as what was there felt, quite frankly, overly futzed-with.

Secondly: I had issues with a number of line readings and performances, particularly from secondary characters who showed up to deliver exposition and/or move scenes along. A lot of it felt like "first take" stuff, overacted or awkwardly-delivered in a way that caused me to raise an eyebrow on more than one occasion. I've agreed not to get into specifics on the footage which screened, so I'll refrain from providing specific examples here, but ... my guess is that you'll know these moments when you see them.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/12/05/a-level-headed-reaction-to-the-rogue-one-footage-which-screened-over-the-we

[JOE SOAP]

My own theory on the (by all accounts very extensive) reshoots is that Rogue One was pitched as a gritty, downbeat war movie, and then Disney decided late in the day that they wanted a more upbeat, crowd-pleasing sort of film.

Maybe.

I interpret it more that the film turned out duller and less satisfying than they all would've preferred rather than playing as the next gangbusters adventure that's costing them hundreds of millions. 'Gritty' and 'downbeat' alone are quite limiting constraints on a 'Star Wars' film; which is something I've always felt was an error at conception - the Black Hawk Down/The Hurt Locker version of Star Wars that it was sold as sounded like it came from Warner's DCEU manual.

They hired Edwards to bring a certain modern style to the direction and while it looks moodily epic this approach alone may have meant it ended up a bit Godzilla in the story/character dept. so the script needed more heart. However, seeing Edwards doesn't look miserable in interviews, I'm inclined to think it's probably a better film than it originally was.

Personally I wouldn't have wanted something that was too grim.

This sounds a bit worrying:

What followed was a five-minute (or so) stretch that bounced between multiple locations and characters, sometimes to a whiplash-inducing degree. In the moment, I assumed that the parade of locations (each accompanied by an on-screen title telling you where you were now) was a function of the film being sampled from for the purposes of the presentation we were watching, but afterwards I was told that, no, this is how the film plays out. That was troubling, as what was there felt, quite frankly, overly futzed-with.


Secondly: I had issues with a number of line readings and performances, particularly from secondary characters who showed up to deliver exposition and/or move scenes along. A lot of it felt like "first take" stuff, overacted or awkwardly-delivered in a way that caused me to raise an eyebrow on more than one occasion. I've agreed not to get into specifics on the footage which screened, so I'll refrain from providing specific examples here, but ... my guess is that you'll know these moments when you see them.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/12/05/a-level-headed-reaction-to-the-rogue-one-footage-which-screened-over-the-we

Without seeing the set-up, it's hard to comment on something like that.

[TordelBack]

Personally I wouldn't have wanted something that was too grim.

No indeed. The prequels were quite grim enough, thankee: I like my space fantasies to be fun with a dose of real peril, but you can take your Saving Captain Rex elsewhere, please: luckily there aren't any actual veterans of the Galactic Civil War who need their sacrifices respected through realistic portrayals of the horrors of asymmetric warfare.  As it is, if annoying twittering spoiler-monkeys are to be believed (and I'm not saying they should be), it'll be quite heavy anyway.

[Professor Bear]

Han's death in TFA was pretty underwhelming and people still thought that was both a pretty great film and a fun romp, so R1 must be pretty dang dark indeed.

OR: it's not a slave to the nostalgia of a particular generation of sci-fi fans.  Either way, opinions are going to be subjective on this one.

[radiator]

My own theory on the (by all accounts very extensive) reshoots is that Rogue One was pitched as a gritty, downbeat war movie, and then Disney decided late in the day that they wanted a more upbeat, crowd-pleasing sort of film.

Maybe.

I interpret it more that the film turned out duller and less satisfying than they all would've preferred rather than playing as the next gangbusters adventure that's costing them hundreds of millions. 'Gritty' and 'downbeat' alone are quite limiting constraints on a 'Star Wars' film; which is something I've always felt was an error at conception - the Black Hawk Down/The Hurt Locker version of Star Wars that it was sold as sounded like it came from Warner's DCEU manual.

They hired Edwards to bring a certain modern style to the direction and while it looks moodily epic this approach alone may have meant it ended up a bit Godzilla in the story/character dept. so the script needed more heart. However, seeing Edwards doesn't look miserable in interviews, I'm inclined to think it's probably a better film than it originally was.

Personally I wouldn't have wanted something that was too grim.

Fair points. My only concern with that is looking at the Marvel films, which seem to have settled into something of a rut post-Avengers, where they all have the exact same, safe, heavily comedic tone, even ones that seem to have originally been conceived as a lot darker (Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 3). While it's certainly working for them, it does start to get a bit predictable/generic after a while.

The Force Awakens, while an entertaining film, danced right on the line of being a bit too broad with its humour for me, and went over it a few times.

I have relatively low expectations for R1, so hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Professor Bear]

8 billion dollars since Avengers and counting, every movie in the series a guaranteed record-breaking opening, and it's officially the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time.

We have different definitions of the word "rut."

[Pete Wells]

Just back from seeing it, [spoiler]absolutely frigging awesome!!![/spoiler]

[dweezil2]

Just back from seeing it, [spoiler]so, so.[/spoiler]

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I saw some people coming out of the pictures in Bracknell.

[dweezil2]

I saw some people coming out of the pictures in Bracknell.

Not one fucking Stormtrooper at our joint either!
They couldn't even stretch to an Ewok!

You should of turned up in your Dredd gear JB!

[COMMANDO FORCES]

If I get up early enough on Sunday for the first 2D showing, I shall wear a Star Trek top.

[dweezil2]

If I get up early enough on Sunday for the first 2D showing, I shall wear a Star Trek top.

As you walk out say in a rather loud voice, that guy who played Captain Kirk was shit!

[Eric Plumrose]

Having only a passing interest in the movies (and little-to-zero interest in The Expunged Universe or whatever it's called these days), someone convince me to go see the 3D version.

You've got . . . ooh. Thirty-two minutes.

[jacob g]

Jus saw yesterday.

I like it, I didn't love it. Good thing, this movie is like proper prequel but at the same time it is like product tailored for fans that consumed all Expanded Universe books or comic books.

Somtimes during a movie it feels like narrative looses it's natural flow but for me this is where I feel the reshoots and all last minute changes. But overali it's not the mess of a movie like Suicide Squad.

The only thing bad is music.

[Arkwright99]

Saw Rogue One at a midnight screening in Milton Keynes with my daughter this morning (last night): it's very much an adjunct to the main SW sequence and in some ways could be seen a bit like fan-fiction, filling in gaps that didn't need filling in so if you decide not to see it you won't miss anything but if you do you should have a reasonably good time. There are several laughs along the way and the new droid, K2S0, is nicely played and arguably steals the movie from the human cast.

[spoiler]It's darker than Star Wars/Force Awakens but not as dark as Empire given it leads directly into A New Hope. In some ways it reminded me Blake's 7, small group of rag-tag rebels take on big evil empire, although in terms of scale it has a budget that the BBC could only have dreamt of.

My only real niggles are both things that unavoidable given the passage of time from the very first SW film, in that one returning character doesn't really capture the voice of the original actor (although visually it's very impressive) and another feels 'off' in terms physically of the original actor's performance, which I found a little distracting and took me out of the film somewhat but these are at best niggles and perhaps the memory cheats sometimes.

There's also a couple of cameos that feel a little forced but they only last a few seconds so I'll let them slide for those who enjoy the fan service.[/spoiler]

Not sure I'll be rushing to see it again (unlike The Force Awakens), and not necessarily in 3D again if I do, but I don't regret paying to see Rogue One, which is probably the main thing.