DCfnaf Movie Reviews: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
DCfnaf What's happening guys, this is DCfnaf, and welcome to my first movie review. I've been wanting to make this movie review for a very long time now (well...if 5 days is a long time). I saw Rogue One: A Star War's Story on New Year's Day and I came out of the theater, ready to review this movie. Now before we start, I just want to say that this is going to be my most controversial post thus far. Remember, this is my opinion. If you disagree, do not just write a comment saying "OMG DIS MOVEI ES AWESUM U R RONG!!!!" Eh, it doesn't matter since I can deny those dumb comments. Also: SPOILER WARNING!!!!!Anyways, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is not like the rest of the Star Wars movies. Everything about it is completely different from your traditional Star Wars movie. There are no lightsabers, completely new characters, etc. The story follows Jyn Erso, daughter of the unwilling designer of the Galactic Empire's superweapon the Death Star, and her mission to retrieve the plans so it can be destroyed. It sounds kind of interesting...but once I got into the movie I was bored as hell. Let me just say this: THIS MOVIE IS OVERRATED. Yeah, remember how I said this post would be controversial? Well, fans of this franchise have been crapping on critics that have been giving negative reviews on this movie simply because they are die hard fans of the series. Most of the fans go on about how stunning the movie was and how amazing the movie looked...okay, the second thing is a positive about this movie. It is definitely the best looking movie in the franchise. However, that's not everything a movie should offer. I didn't necessarily despise the movie, but I just didn't like it. I also want you all to keep in mind that just like Suicide Squad, several of the trailer scenes are NOT IN THE MOVIE.
Look, even if you enjoyed the film, I really don't believe that there is any possible way to pretend that it's a well-structured, cohesive narrative. First of all, the beginning of Rogue One jumps around trying to set up backstories at an alarming pace, while tossing in some Star Wars stuff so you don't forget what theater you're sitting in. People were saying that the movie was slow at the beginning...no it wasn't, especially with all of these different jumps in setting and plot detail. This was actually one of the biggest problems with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but I feel like it's barely brought up for this movie...because Star Wars Spinoff is Star Wars Spinoff.
Another huge problem is the characters. There is a serious lack of character development, which REALLY hurts this movie. Who are these people? Why should we care about their deaths? Now don't get me wrong, I actually liked that everyone was killed off at the end. Why? Well, this barely happens in movies nowadays and I really felt like we needed to have a scene where everyone dies/sacrifices themselves doing something truly heroic. There's one thing that kills that final scene for me though: I didn't know who all of these people were BEFORE this movie. In other words, I didn't care about their deaths!!! Even when we (vaguely) learn who the characters are in Rogue One, we're catching them at the end of their story, so when they mention doing horrible things in the name of the Rebellion, the audience has to take them at face value and it doesn't advance the plot or deepen a character in any way. "But there was barely any character development in Star Wars: A New Hope!" Here's my counterargument to that argument I see all over the internet. A New Hope was the first movie in the franchise and the first movie is usually there to set up the premise that the franchise is going to present, while also bringing in notable faces and epic scenes. Plus...NONE OF THE CHARACTERS DIED AT THE END. The reason audiences cared about Luke losing his hand or Han being frozen in carbonite (or being killed by his son) is because they had been traveling with them through multiple films and survived close calls with the characters by the time bad things were happening to them. Viewers, including myself, don't know Jyn or Cassian, so it's impossible for them to have the same connection with the audience. And even the stories that are somewhat fleshed out aren't well-written. No one feels three dimensional. "Oh. They died. Okay...so why am I here again?"
A user by the name of "GirlCool" made a list of reasons why this movie is overrated, and one of those reasons was that the male characters were completely bland. While her list may not have been the best list I have ever seen, that one entry was correct. Most of these characters just...don't need to be here and they barely serve a purpose to the story. Seriously, did we need Saw Gerrera? There's no backstory for him and he doesn't have any notable personality traits. "Oh he's an extremist in the rebellion and he's got some relationship with Jyn." BOOM!!! That's it! That's all you get! What's an extremist in the rebellion? What was Saw and Jyns relationship like? DON'T KNOW!!! The movie never goes into further detail. I think the reason the movie didn't was because Saw Gererra actually appeared in other areas of this franchise and apparently those areas describe his backstory. However, that causes even MORE problems. First of all, this basically proves that someone either liked him as a character and shoved him in, or he was there for fanservice. Second of all, consumers that only watch the movies and not the animated TV programs are NOT GOING TO KNOW HIS BACKSTORY. Only huge fans of this franchise who have seen everything related to it will know. This makes the movie feel like fanservice. He also sacrifices himself later on because, "He would slow down the rest of the group." That's ridiculous. The real reason they killed him off was because 1. He was not in any of the future movies and 2. He was completely irrelevant to the plot and movie!!! Every scene he had did not need to be there and really just took up the length of the movie.
You also have KS2O, who is easily the most entertaining character in the movie and the one new character that gained a notable personality. He has the best lines, the best dialogue, and he's "Your new favorite droid". At the end of the movie, he sacrifices himself for the cause and it's sad because I liked that character. That's great and all, but looking back I ask myself...what was he there for? What was he supposed to be? There is this one scene where Jyn gives him a gun because eariler he asked, "Why don't I get a gun?" At this scene, there's this slow moment where he looks at the gun and the movie thinks this is a massive conclusion of some emotional arc for KS2O. "Oh look! He got that gun he always wanted! WOW!!! His wish came true!" Um...what? What to be like a human or something? Why does that matter? The reason this scene doesn't mean that much is because WE NEVER TALKED ABOUT IT!!!
We also have the villain of the movie, Director Orson Krennic. Yeah, he was not interesting at all. The one time I thought he was intimidating was when he killed Jyn's mother. Other than that, he was a generic lame villain, especially when you compare him to Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader, who also appear in this movie. Then there's Cassian Andor, who does move the plot a little but doesn't really interest you. You have Chirrut Îmwe ("I'm one with the force, the force is with me" really?), and Baze Malbus as well, who are also painfully bland and just along for the ride. Chewie had more character development than these jokers. What's even more galling is that both of the people who wrote this...are actually GOOD at writing characters!!!!
The biggest problem with this movie is that nothing in this movie is relevant or necessary. Sure, Jyn has to reconcile with her father, convince the Rebels to go to war, and get the Death Star plans to Princess Leia so A New Hope can happen, but that movie has already been filmed, so it doesn't matter what happens at the end of the movie. The film makes the terrible decision to prioritize plot details over character. The reason this decision is so terrible is because Star Wars: A New Hope (You know, the first movie made?) was already in existence. This assures that we already know how this story ends. You could also make the excuse that every character needed to die since none of them showed up in the future movies. Here's my counterargument to that: Why was this movie made then? What was the point of spending all of that valuable time making this movie? Even if you DID get invested with this movie's characters, it's still not going to matter since everyone dies at the end. All this movie answered was how Princess Leia got the plans to destroy the Death Star and why there is an exhaust port leading to the main reactor. Let's be real...those two questions did not need to be answered. In the first movie, we could all say "It's a movie and there needs to be a way for the heroes to win, so the exhaust port is there." and "Someone obviously gave Leia the plans." but we really didn't need to go into further detail.
My Huge Nitpick: There's one scene where everyone is trying to shoot at a shield and apparently the shots aren't working. There's this big thing next to it generating the shield with a giant ring. WHY IS NOBODY SHOOTING AT IT???
Overall, I was not impressed. Sure, it was definitely better than the first two prequels and The Clone Wars, but there were so many problems. There was zero character development, no story arcs, and very little back story. It's as if introductory scenes for many characters were just missing, they have unclear motivations. Every few minutes I was questioning stuff. Why did Saw Gerrera sacrifice himself for absolutely no reason? Why didn't they just recast Tarkin? What was Saw and Jyns relationship like? Why were there so many unnecessary characters? Why were ass-nose and butt-chin on that planet? What was Vader doing on Mordor? Why are the rebels not attacking the planet ring base thing? Why are these Asian guys joining them for no reason? Why does this movie exist? Why? What? Who? This first non-“Episode” movie in the series just felt like a series of Easter eggs for hardcore fans to find and enjoy. In other words, fanservice (C3PO and R2D2 appear because fanservice. Darth Vader appears because fanservice, even though he's my favorite character in the franchise). The rest of us who aren't necessarily the most hardcore fans of Star Wars, including myself, wound up less entertained.
5 -- Mediocre (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an exercise in apathy; neither Solid nor Liquid. The movie is not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit "meh," really.)
How I review Movies/Games: http://www.thetoptens.com/best-movies/48379.asp
Next Movie Review - Sing
I hope you enjoyed my first movie review, and I will see you all soon!!! Remember, this is MY OPINION on the movie, NOT YOURS. (I'm saying this because people who were critiquing this movie got thumbs down.). PEACE!!!
Comments
Opinion Respected - VideoGamefan5
Thank you. I just don't see the praise behind this one. People are saying that The Force Awakens was worse, but that movie introduced a ton of new characters and they all got fleshed out. This movie didn't do that, and that's weird since the people behind this movie are GOOD at writing characters! - DCfnaf
Thanks, Because I Thought The Movie Was Incredible, And One of The Best Films Of 2016 Right Up With Fantastic Beasts, Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Finding Dory, Deadpool And Others - VideoGamefan5
I'm glad you could enjoy a movie that just bored me personally. - DCfnaf
I think that this movie failed because of the lack of time. After The Force Awakens movie came out in 2015, right away the next Star Wars movie came out in 2016. - visitor
A lot of people gave this high ratings, but I think it failed because of its choice to prioritize plot details over character. - DCfnaf
Great review. - visitor
Thanks so much! I just think this movie is overrated and I needed to say why. It was still a 5 though so I don't want this movie to die or anything. - DCfnaf
I give this film a B+ - visitor
Of course, I respect your opinion. How would you rate this out of 10? That's how I rate my movies so... :P - DCfnaf
I'd give this a movie a 8/10. Great review though. - visitor
"It's neither Solid nor Liquid"
It's obviously gas because this film felt like a fart. - AlphaQ
10/10 - iliekpiez
Ok 9/10 - iliekpiez
I respect your opinion :). Not everyone loved it. - visitor
Also, what would you rate TLJ - iliekpiez