So if this forum supported polls, I would toss one up here, but I can't so we'll just do it the old fashion way.

Now, I'm not trying to stir up some heated debate about the quality of the film, or why it does/doesn't suck. This question is entirely based in opinion, and I don't debate opinion. If you loved it, great, glad you did. If you hated it, sorry you didn't like it.

But from the average opinion I see tossed around, it seems like most did. And given the very specific subject matter of this forum, I was curious what others here thought of the movie.

Again, I'm not trying to start a flame war about the qualities of the film, as that ends up accomplishing nothing. Just curious how common my opinion is on the film, after people have had time to see it multiple times, and think about it and stuff.

So yeah, I didn't find it to be a very enjoyable, or engaging film when I saw it in the theaters.

What did you think of the movie?

Personally, I loved it. Granted, there hasn't been a Star Wars movie I didn't like, but that's besides the point. Was it a story that was "absolutely necessary" to tell? No, but I'm glad that they did, and I thought they did a great job telling it.

I really liked it, I would put it above the prequels and episode VII. I thought it was well done an interesting, there were a few parts I have small problems with, but I get that now with any live action movie I watch, and there wasn't anything I had a big problem with. So, I'd put it up near the originals, if not with the originals, in terms of how much I like it.

There's no way this is not going to end in tiresome debate... but..

I found it good, but not great. An enjoyable movie that I am glad to have in my collection, but it doesn't stick with my like many of the others do.

Just now, kaosoe said:

There's no way this is not going to end in tiresome debate... but..

I am forever the optimist that people can act like civilized adults when asked to stick to one very simple guideline.

....yes I HAVE been on the internet for a long time I still am an optimist.

I found Rogue One to be the movie most similar to what I would expect of a PC group (although hopefully the PC group doesn't all die at the end of the mission), so I enjoyed it for that.

I didn't dislike the movie.. but it did not truly resonate with me, either- at least not in the way I'd come to expect from previous offerings. It was good, but not "good for Star Wars" good. The characters were.. well, I liked K-2S0.

1 minute ago, HappyDaze said:

I found Rogue One to be the movie most similar to what I would expect of a PC group (although hopefully the PC group doesn't all die at the end of the mission), so I enjoyed it for that.

Oh it definitely felt like a movie adaptation of a gaming table, sadly that was one of the reasons I didn't like it.

I didn't like:

• Where Jyn ended up as a character
• The double MacGuffin plot line
• Saw Gerrera
  • (The above essentially making up most of the first act and much of the second)
• Overuse of CG Tarkin
• Vader's dumb quip

I did like:

• Every moment of Chirrut and Baze
• The Battle of Scarif as a whole
• Most of the dialogue and characters
• The overall look and feel of the film

So, yeah, I liked it. For me, it is definitely a Star Wars prequel.

It's a very uneven movie. It has some obvious flaws, like the characters being barely even sketches. But it also has some strengths - beautiful cinematography and its willingness to kill off nearly the entire cast.

I didn't really care for Rogue One all that much, but then I also very much dislike "kill them all" endings as it generally reeks to me of lazy writing, even when it's used in a genre such as horror where it's more appropriate that nobody survives. Thus, the fact that none of them make it renders everything they'd gone through in terms of character investment worthless.

Now I'm not saying that they all should have survived; Rogue One was after all aiming to be a grittier "boots on the ground" war movie as opposed to the grander space opera that the main films have been, so some deaths during the course of the mission, especially given the stakes, is understandable, with Jyn probably being the top of the list of those least likely to make it out alive, right after K-2S0 (comic relief) and Chirrut (super cool guy everyone's rooting for). But again, it just feels like lazy writing that they just decided that "well, since nobody had heard of these folks during the Rebellion Era proper, guess that means they all died!"

It did have the feel of an RPG group, but not really a Star Wars one despite being placed in the Star Wars setting and making use of well-known Star Wars characters.

Frankly, I'll take RotS over R1 any day of the week.

14 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

Thus, the fact that none of them make it renders everything they'd gone through in terms of character investment worthless.

What about Obi-Wan dying in the first movie he's in? What about any historical movie in which all the characters have been dead for centuries before the story even begins?

Can you explain what you mean, and how those examples differ from what happens in Rouge Une?

I liked it more each time I saw it, but I have to say that fresh out of the theatre on the first go I was kind of let down. It didn't have the soundtrack, didn't hit me emotionally as far as the characters like the other movies, and at times I was wondering wtf was going on (like Saw just kicking it because it was inconvenient to the plot for him to escape). I did very much like the space battle above Scarif, and the battle down on the beaches. I also really liked the part in the beginning when Cassian kills that informant, as that felt like something out of RPG land. I also liked the main bad guy Krennic, he was awesome. A good mix of characteristics and the performance was great. K2SO was my favorite character I think. His noble sacrifice made my heart swell.

I was really wondering what happened to all the stuff from the trailer too: where is the whole scene where they talk to Jyn at the Yavin Base where she said "I rebelled," ?

Overall I think it's a fine addition to the Star Wars collection, but I don't get why Pablo Hidalgo and the other story guys were high fiving over Saw being in it and "completing" the seeds from the cartoons. maybe I'm just missing something though.

31 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

I didn't really care for Rogue One all that much, but then I also very much dislike "kill them all" endings as it generally reeks to me of lazy writing, even when it's used in a genre such as horror where it's more appropriate that nobody survives. Thus, the fact that none of them make it renders everything they'd gone through in terms of character investment worthless.

Now I'm not saying that they all should have survived; Rogue One was after all aiming to be a grittier "boots on the ground" war movie as opposed to the grander space opera that the main films have been, so some deaths during the course of the mission, especially given the stakes, is understandable, with Jyn probably being the top of the list of those least likely to make it out alive, right after K-2S0 (comic relief) and Chirrut (super cool guy everyone's rooting for). But again, it just feels like lazy writing that they just decided that "well, since nobody had heard of these folks during the Rebellion Era proper, guess that means they all died!"

It did have the feel of an RPG group, but not really a Star Wars one despite being placed in the Star Wars setting and making use of well-known Star Wars characters.

Frankly, I'll take RotS over R1 any day of the week.

Interestingly I actually preferred the "they all die" approach. Partly because of the obsessive nature of SW fans, and having to try and explain away where all of those characters were for the OT is just something I'm glad can't exist now. Given how many discussions about where the Phoenix Squadron is during the OT, I'd rather not add Rogue One to the list. But, this is a problem all prequel stories have. There is a very clearly defined end point they are building up to, and they can't really deviate far without causing continuity paradox. Or at least, they can't without having the fanbase lose their shi* about it being unanswered, because that's just unacceptable.

6 minutes ago, Archlyte said:

I was really wondering what happened to all the stuff from the trailer too: where is the whole scene where they talk to Jyn at the Yavin Base where she said "I rebelled," ?

From what I've heard, there was a MAJOR rewrite of the script midway through production. So scenes like Jyn hobbling along that catwalk and a TIE showing up was cut, the Saw line, and other stuff I think were part of that different ending that was reworked.

9 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

From what I've heard, there was a MAJOR rewrite of the script midway through production. So scenes like Jyn hobbling along that catwalk and a TIE showing up was cut, the Saw line, and other stuff I think were part of that different ending that was reworked.

Yeah maybe Saw's time in the film would have been better with whatever it was they cut out. Do you know if the original ending had all of the heroes die? LOL obsessive Star Wars Answerites must know every detail!!

Yep. I recall BTS shots of Jyn and Saw where he looks different, implying that almost all his scenes were reshoots. As was Jyn being rescued from the prisoner transport at the beginning.

Rumor has it test audiences thought Jyn was "too abrasive" so a lot of her personal story and mannerisms were changed which is why she doesn't really do much in the film.

I enjoyed Rogue One and consider it a solid anthology film. It had a very different tone and tenor than most of the films, and that is both good and bad. It was not a space opera in the style of the old scifi serials the way episodes I-VI were. That said, neither was The Force Awakens. Rogue One was a heavier film in which the franchise, rather than the characters, came of age. The Force Awakens? It was kind of an impressionistic rehash that relied on a meme-barrage, tempo, and nostalgia to create a facsimile of the others. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy The Force Awakens or that it didn't achieve its ends. I am saying it was not, as a film , as strong as Rogue One.

In any event, I did not like CGI Tarkin or Leia and Vader should not landing badly timed puns. I also did not like the increasing hyperspace into and out of atmosphere meme recent films have employed. The "bummer ending" was, in my opinion, the only way to wrap this up without raising "what happened to Cassian and Jyn" questions. It also put a little threat back into the Empire's step. I have mixed feelings about the "full frontal Vader" at the end. He was, quite frankly, awesome, but I always preferred a Vader who controlled the field, walked headlong into fire, and didn't waste effort blocking mere blaster bolts. Yes, we see Anakin doing that in the prequels, but aside from catching Han's blaster bolt with his palm he doesn't do that in the OT. I felt, he took a level in badass and lost some of his frightening gravitas all at once at the end of Rogue One.

Still, overall, I'd say it added value to the franchise rather than taking it away. And, I felt the cast and script were strong while the Battle of Scarif was enjoyable and entertaining. My list of preference:

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return of the Jedi
4. Rogue One
5. Revenge of the Sith
6. The Force Awakens
7. Attack of the Clones
8. Phantom Menace

Though, honestly, how to rank the three R titles is a toss-up.

20 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Partly because of the obsessive nature of SW fans, and having to try and explain away where all of those characters were for the OT is just something I'm glad can't exist now...

+1

We have been saved from a ton of bad fanfic and tangential legends fan-****.

I managed to avoid it in the cinema but my players tied me up and forced me to watch it for our May meet-up (well, maybe not physically, but it sure felt like it).

They insisted it was 'more MarcyVerse' and I guess it was... kind of okay. I didn't absolutely hate it, which is more than I expected. It still felt like 'rocks fall, everybody dies' but I guess that way we have fewer unimportant characters littering up the canon.

I freely acknowledge I am not the audience for this stuff, so kudos to those who liked it.

For me, it just reminds me of the last line from Great Gatsby; 'borne ceaselessly back into the past'. The cartoon series and pre-sequels, all prequels. The sequel, essentially a reboot and retelling of the story we've seen so many times before. Rogue One, the fourth film about a death star, where the cameos of old characters feel more important than the new characters. I'd just like them to move it on, to take us forward instead of endlessly wallowing in fuzzy nostalgia. The old EU wasn't perfect, but at least it occasionally made an attempt to offer us something new.

4 minutes ago, Maelora said:

I'd just like them to move it on, to take us forward instead of endlessly wallowing in fuzzy nostalgia. The old EU wasn't perfect, but at least it occasionally made an attempt to offer us something new.

Star Wars is kinda built on nostalgia, though. It started out as a spin on a decades-old SF franchise. It was revolutionary for many reasons, but it's also very conservative and backwards-looking in much of its storytelling.

Not saying you're wrong to want something else, but I doubt you'll get it.

Needs some script re-work. Basic idea is fine, actually good. I think it's biggest flaw was too many **** speeches. Needed more showing and less telling.

I generally liked the film a lot. Each time I saw it I grew to enjoy it more. The soundtrack was a let down on the first viewing, it didn't feel all that great or Star Wars-y to me until I listened to it on its own. I saw the "everyone dies" ending coming from a mile away and was generally impressed they pulled it off. Vader at the end was another thing I was hoping for and got. Also, 3 times in theater I saw it and 3 times I was the only one to laugh at the Vader pun but hey, I like dad jokes a lot. I also enjoy the film showing that the rebellion could be just about as brutal as the Empire because they were fighting a war.

That said, downsides are as follows:

After 5-6 viewings, reading the Jyn-centric prequel book, etc... I still care more about K-2SO than any of the other main characters.

Even though the "everyone dies" ending makes the most sense in the continuity of Star Wars, it's still a bit of a bummer in terms of mood.

CG Tarkin/Leia effects were more noticeable on the small screen at home somehow.

Despite what the Lucasfilm Storygroup says about him, there is no freaking way Chirrut Imwe is not Force Sensitive. The dude shot a TIE Fighter out of the sky a mile out in a single shot... while blind, with a hand-held weapon, during a loud battle and a pouring-rain storm. There's no way he heard it from that far out, even with some fancy hearing aid box that is never mentioned once in the film.

Saw Gererra's pointless death. "I WILL RUN NO LONGER!" (because they need a reason for me to exit the film)

I liked it a lot--most everything about it, in fact, but especially the entire Scarif sequence.

Jyn's character is uninteresting, though. She kind of looked lost the whole film, and was regularly overshadowed by every other member of the cast. You could probably replace her with a lamp and not notice.

Everybody dying at the end is a bummer, though it isn't off-putting enough to ruin the film for me.

What irritates me more isn't the film itself, but the Story Group's nonsensical and hilariously shortsighted explanations for some things, though. But let's not speak of that.

didn't much care for the movie even more so with extreme high death ratio of main characters. [nearly 100% death ratio]
Some of the characters are fairly interesting and fun to watch and it would have been nice to see more of them after such heroic times instead of just killing everyone off. I think if just a few or even ONE had survived i could say its a good movie. but because i know i dont have anything to actually look forward to in the movie i never have to buy it or watch it again because everything character wise doesn't matter because they all die in the end.

Why didn't the two main characters, Captain pants, and angst rebel lady, find ANYTHING to fly away on all the way through the station, why didn't anyone stop them? they looked like at a glance an imperial pilot and a civilian, nope they go through a full station and find a pretty beach somewhere to die on... yeah totally makes sense.

Grunt A: Hey look! there is an imperial shuttle, on an imperial pad, in an imperial base, with no one shooting out of it and no clear rebels nearby it because they ran away... instead of throwing this grenade at the retreating rebels i am going to throw it into that shuttle that's not doing anything...
Grunt B: Why did you blow up an Imperial shuttle!? was anyone shooting at you? did you see a rebel in there?
Grunt A:... not sure... and nope no one was shooting at me from inside the shuttle, and no i didn't see any rebels inside it.

Robo dying.. well he was shooting at imperials so yeah, and everyone else was actually fighting so them getting cornered and dying is ok sucks but makes sense.