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longwhitecoatsSome of the fun of this movie was dulled by being in THE LOUDEST FUCKING THEATER IN THE WORLD, but eventually we got them to turn it down. Idk. Am I old?
ANYHOW this is what I feel in my feels about Rogue One:
1. This is just a really fucking epic FTP. Right? The galaxy's bloodiest, most difficult File Transfer Protocol: now a Major Motion Picture. This makes me (1) lol and (2) want a lot of meta from librarians and other such types. (pearwaldorf, I would especially love to hear your thoughts about this if you are so inclined! I mean, since you care about Star Wars a normal amount. <3)
2. Generally, I liked it! I didn't like it as much as the Poe-Rey-Finn Show, but it's hard to top that. I think the editing in this was not very good, especially in the first 20 minutes; once the movie settled down into itself, however, I had a great time. I also appreciate that there wasn't a lot to keep track of -- it was an intensely linear movie, setting up and knocking down a bunch of dominos in order rather than trying to be ~clever~ the way a lot of franchise flicks do these days. This is the kind of thing that Star Wars does better than any other franchise, for my money: it gets a ragtag group of heroes together and then storytells its little heart out.
3. The worldbuild was AMAZING. I cannot imagine how much work all the costumers and set designers had to do in order to get everything to match the original films just right, and yet also look different enough to be distinctive. This goes for the warfare, too -- I deeply appreciated that we didn't have any hedgehog lightsaber bullshit, unlike the fucking prequels.
4. BAZE AND CHIRRUT BAZE AND CHIRRUT BAZE AND CHIRRUT. One of the people I saw the film with commented that this was really an homage to the early '50s war films (so true! the shots of storming the beach especially were right out of those classics), and that the real issue is that they didn't complete the homage by having The Two Dude Survivors (usually Lee Marvin and Steve McQueen or smth -- see also mid-20th century westerns). Because BAZE AND CHIRRUT WOULD HAVE BEEN IT. I wanted them to walk into the sunset together. Wah. Seriously, this is my new OTP.
5. Similarly but differently: while I definitely ship Jyn/Cassian, I liked that they didn't kiss at the end -- instead they just held each other while they waited for the explosion to reach them. It reminded me a lot of the final moments of Pacific Rim, between Raleigh and Mako. I liked that the love, pride, and compassion they felt for each other didn't have to be Sudden Unrelated Heterosexuality: In Space! in order to be meaningful. (ETA: Though who am I kidding, I also want to see them kiss. Just -- not in a mandatory heterosexual way? IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN THIS. I wanted them to kiss in the elevator but then I was glad they hugged and held hands on the beach.)
6. Mads Mikkelsen was SO GOOD. Truly, they cast him just right. Also, Forest Whitaker was SO BEAUTIFUL AND FULL OF PATHOS but so criminally underused??? I felt like a lot of his scenes flipped back and forth between "we're in a classic Star Wars movie with creepy pointless monsters and ableism" and "we're in a 3rd Gen Star Wars movie with complex family networks and different kinds of heroism." So that was weird? I didn't understand why he didn't try to escape the temple city when it blew up.
6a. I LOVED THAT JYN HAD TWO DADS. WHERE IS MY LYRA/GALEN/SAW POLYAMORY BACKSTORY.
7. I realize the internet will probably disagree with me about this, but I deeply don't care about Darth Vader. If they someday do a better cut of the original series where James Earl Jones is the one who pops out of the costume at the end of RotJ, then I will care. Not before.
8. So I don't have the complaint I thought I would have about this movie, aka "I can't tell these boring Nazis apart," but only because ONE OF THEM WAS A CREEPY DIGITAL DOLL??? THE HORROR. THE HORROR. My D: face at that was matched only by my DDDDDDDD: face at the creepy digital Leia doll!! WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. NO. TAKE AWAY THEIR PHOTOSHOP.
9. I thought the rainy night battle was really beautiful. So much of this movie takes place in darkness, and yet the cinematography was lovely: never once did I have that squinting-at-the-screen problem I so often have with ~gritty~ action movies where the supposed "darkness" (aka boring boyfeelings) of the plot become a literal screen darkness that obscures the action.
10. Jyn ended up being super cool! I was afraid that the movie was going to undercut her; all the trailers looked to me like the movie wasn't quite going to take her seriously as a hero, because it focused on her accent and her ~rebel~ attitude rather than, y'know, who she was as a person. But she went through a lot of complex and very human feelings. I liked that her superpowers were basically (1) being more stubborn than u (2) doing whatever the fuck she thought was right and fuck everyone else's opinion (3) protecting others. And I LOVED that she went from being sad and alone to making so many friends and allies that she essentially saved the rebellion.
11. I really liked that this movie focused on how every individual person matters. There were so many places where things could have gone wrong: if Galen didn't jump in front of those scientists to save them, causing Cassian to think twice about taking the shot; if Bodhi didn't plug in the radio to tell the alliance their plan; if the Admiral hadn't brought the ships to reinforce Rogue One; if Jyn didn't decide to have a conversation with Chirrut instead of brushing him off; if the soldiers at the end hadn't passed the plans through the door; if if if, idk, there's like a million steps in this movie and recounting them all would fill a volume. But anyway, I think a lot these days about how much is on the shoulders of each individual person, about how much it is our responsibility to be brave. And I loved that every single person in that chain had to decide, really decide for themselves, alone and scared under fire, to give everything they could give.
12. The council scene really annoyed me and felt weird. This is the same council that shortly thereafter is like "full speed ahead, send this force-sensitive kid into the trench"? Idk. Honestly I felt like they were forcing it -- like the council had to be cowardly so that Jyn could look heroic. (Much like the perfunctory scene in Ep7 where Han Solo is like "YES I'VE BEEN IN THIS SCENE BEFORE, can we skip to the end please.") I reeeeeally did not like that the staunchest voice in favor of surrendering was a WOC. No thanks, Star Wars.
13. ANYWAY tl;dr I think this was a good solid movie and I will probably watch it again! Mostly I would like (a) Baze and Chirrut to make out, together, with their faces, (b) Jyn and Cassian to make out, in a fix-it, with their faces, and (c) Diego Luna to visit me and make out, here, with my face.
ANYHOW this is what I feel in my feels about Rogue One:
1. This is just a really fucking epic FTP. Right? The galaxy's bloodiest, most difficult File Transfer Protocol: now a Major Motion Picture. This makes me (1) lol and (2) want a lot of meta from librarians and other such types. (
pearwaldorf, I would especially love to hear your thoughts about this if you are so inclined! I mean, since you care about Star Wars a normal amount. <3)2. Generally, I liked it! I didn't like it as much as the Poe-Rey-Finn Show, but it's hard to top that. I think the editing in this was not very good, especially in the first 20 minutes; once the movie settled down into itself, however, I had a great time. I also appreciate that there wasn't a lot to keep track of -- it was an intensely linear movie, setting up and knocking down a bunch of dominos in order rather than trying to be ~clever~ the way a lot of franchise flicks do these days. This is the kind of thing that Star Wars does better than any other franchise, for my money: it gets a ragtag group of heroes together and then storytells its little heart out.
3. The worldbuild was AMAZING. I cannot imagine how much work all the costumers and set designers had to do in order to get everything to match the original films just right, and yet also look different enough to be distinctive. This goes for the warfare, too -- I deeply appreciated that we didn't have any hedgehog lightsaber bullshit, unlike the fucking prequels.
4. BAZE AND CHIRRUT BAZE AND CHIRRUT BAZE AND CHIRRUT. One of the people I saw the film with commented that this was really an homage to the early '50s war films (so true! the shots of storming the beach especially were right out of those classics), and that the real issue is that they didn't complete the homage by having The Two Dude Survivors (usually Lee Marvin and Steve McQueen or smth -- see also mid-20th century westerns). Because BAZE AND CHIRRUT WOULD HAVE BEEN IT. I wanted them to walk into the sunset together. Wah. Seriously, this is my new OTP.
5. Similarly but differently: while I definitely ship Jyn/Cassian, I liked that they didn't kiss at the end -- instead they just held each other while they waited for the explosion to reach them. It reminded me a lot of the final moments of Pacific Rim, between Raleigh and Mako. I liked that the love, pride, and compassion they felt for each other didn't have to be Sudden Unrelated Heterosexuality: In Space! in order to be meaningful. (ETA: Though who am I kidding, I also want to see them kiss. Just -- not in a mandatory heterosexual way? IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN THIS. I wanted them to kiss in the elevator but then I was glad they hugged and held hands on the beach.)
6. Mads Mikkelsen was SO GOOD. Truly, they cast him just right. Also, Forest Whitaker was SO BEAUTIFUL AND FULL OF PATHOS but so criminally underused??? I felt like a lot of his scenes flipped back and forth between "we're in a classic Star Wars movie with creepy pointless monsters and ableism" and "we're in a 3rd Gen Star Wars movie with complex family networks and different kinds of heroism." So that was weird? I didn't understand why he didn't try to escape the temple city when it blew up.
6a. I LOVED THAT JYN HAD TWO DADS. WHERE IS MY LYRA/GALEN/SAW POLYAMORY BACKSTORY.
7. I realize the internet will probably disagree with me about this, but I deeply don't care about Darth Vader. If they someday do a better cut of the original series where James Earl Jones is the one who pops out of the costume at the end of RotJ, then I will care. Not before.
8. So I don't have the complaint I thought I would have about this movie, aka "I can't tell these boring Nazis apart," but only because ONE OF THEM WAS A CREEPY DIGITAL DOLL??? THE HORROR. THE HORROR. My D: face at that was matched only by my DDDDDDDD: face at the creepy digital Leia doll!! WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. NO. TAKE AWAY THEIR PHOTOSHOP.
9. I thought the rainy night battle was really beautiful. So much of this movie takes place in darkness, and yet the cinematography was lovely: never once did I have that squinting-at-the-screen problem I so often have with ~gritty~ action movies where the supposed "darkness" (aka boring boyfeelings) of the plot become a literal screen darkness that obscures the action.
10. Jyn ended up being super cool! I was afraid that the movie was going to undercut her; all the trailers looked to me like the movie wasn't quite going to take her seriously as a hero, because it focused on her accent and her ~rebel~ attitude rather than, y'know, who she was as a person. But she went through a lot of complex and very human feelings. I liked that her superpowers were basically (1) being more stubborn than u (2) doing whatever the fuck she thought was right and fuck everyone else's opinion (3) protecting others. And I LOVED that she went from being sad and alone to making so many friends and allies that she essentially saved the rebellion.
11. I really liked that this movie focused on how every individual person matters. There were so many places where things could have gone wrong: if Galen didn't jump in front of those scientists to save them, causing Cassian to think twice about taking the shot; if Bodhi didn't plug in the radio to tell the alliance their plan; if the Admiral hadn't brought the ships to reinforce Rogue One; if Jyn didn't decide to have a conversation with Chirrut instead of brushing him off; if the soldiers at the end hadn't passed the plans through the door; if if if, idk, there's like a million steps in this movie and recounting them all would fill a volume. But anyway, I think a lot these days about how much is on the shoulders of each individual person, about how much it is our responsibility to be brave. And I loved that every single person in that chain had to decide, really decide for themselves, alone and scared under fire, to give everything they could give.
12. The council scene really annoyed me and felt weird. This is the same council that shortly thereafter is like "full speed ahead, send this force-sensitive kid into the trench"? Idk. Honestly I felt like they were forcing it -- like the council had to be cowardly so that Jyn could look heroic. (Much like the perfunctory scene in Ep7 where Han Solo is like "YES I'VE BEEN IN THIS SCENE BEFORE, can we skip to the end please.") I reeeeeally did not like that the staunchest voice in favor of surrendering was a WOC. No thanks, Star Wars.
13. ANYWAY tl;dr I think this was a good solid movie and I will probably watch it again! Mostly I would like (a) Baze and Chirrut to make out, together, with their faces, (b) Jyn and Cassian to make out, in a fix-it, with their faces, and (c) Diego Luna to visit me and make out, here, with my face.
no subject
Date: 2016-12-26 02:35 am (UTC)(לא עליך המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן-חורין להבטל ממנה)
no subject
Date: 2016-12-26 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-26 02:15 pm (UTC)The remaining Rebellion would then be made up of the types who would throw everything they had including a fanboy in an X-Wing and a decrepit smuggler's ship at the Death Star - they know it is their last and only chance. It also provides an explanation why their fleet so old and tiny.
One of the things that bothered me about the prequels was how fancy and high-tech all the ships were. Where did they all go between those movies and a new hope? Even if the rebellion didn't have them, the Empire should. The movies were so eager to show off new CGI, they sacrificed meshing the look and characteristics of the originals with the prequels (see also Padme dying without knowing Leia THE WORST). I am so happy the new movies are mostly avoiding that. :))))
no subject
Date: 2016-12-26 02:52 pm (UTC)You may enjoy this short but delightful meta from
no subject
Date: 2016-12-26 04:12 pm (UTC)(A. on the data transfer issue. "Well, they're archivists. If they'd been proper librarians...")
no subject
Date: 2016-12-27 07:34 am (UTC)So while I definitely enjoyed the movie, Writer Brain is going mad because I want to take the script and rearrange its excellent components so they'll punch me in the gut instead of just kind of socking me in the shoulder. If that makes sense. <g>
But yeah, I ship Jyn/Cassian in a way that has me sort of wanting them to kiss except I'm glad they didn't because by the time that ship took off they were counting down to their deaths and any PDA beyond them hugging would have felt extremely tacked-on. If I were more inclined to the sort of fanfic that says "screw the canon timeline" I could run with it, but since I tend toward the highly canonical end of things, I can't see shoehorning in anything more than Meaningful Looks Etc during the span of time where I feel like they finally click.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-13 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-12-27 09:18 pm (UTC)3. YES
11. yes yes yes
12. yup
my big problem was "where are all the women" -- i'm glad there were a couple female x-wing pilots, but otherwise... ugh. yay jyn, but a female protag is not actually enough.
i wish someone had warned me going in that this was a "no one gets out alive" sort of movie (i guess they have to explain somehow why none of these people were in IV-VI.)
i was amused at some of the shoehorned-in vector graphics to try to make things look at all contiguous, technology-wise, to the old movies...