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Rogue One vs. The Force Awakens | LFTS video essay.

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Truth. If I'm being honest, the first time I saw Fury Road, I mean I liked it but I wasn't super smitten by it because I didn't feel like much happened in the plot. But then upon repeat viewings I started getting into the characters more.

Now I think it's one of the best movies ever.

edit: you know I kind of like this thread, people are actually (for the most part) enticing more intellectual debate even if it's the same bullshit at the core.

I feel the same way except I fell in love with Fury Road the first time I watched it :p I love that movie so goddamn much.

In regards to Rogue One, that film should've worked hard to trick you into thinking those characters would've survived, even if it's just a second. Unfortunately, they fumbled so much of the setup that the payoff was tepid and hollow.
 
I guess maybe I worded that poorly.

If they feel that connection, I get it. But the moments just felt unearned. The deaths were obviously put there to elicit a reaction, and if that's what happened, mission accomplished. But it all felt like the type of thing slapped into the script to whittle down the character numbers until the last two (Jyn and the guy who's name I can never remember) were left.

But it's all just my opinion. And I'm a shithead, so who cares what I think?

From an outsider's perspective, he's absolutely right. In fact, the Seven reference was spot on, and now I find myself reading your other post in Kevin Spacey's voice. I get people being put off if the filmmakers are resorting to callbacks at the lazy expense of actually advancing the universe in meaningful ways, but the sheer anger that radiates from some of these posts is a little bewildering. Why are people so fucking mad that they put Star Wars stuff that we know and like in a Star Wars movie?

With all that being said, I don't think you're a shithead at all. I just don't fully understand your take on this.
 

border

Member
Dumb? What's so dumb about it?

The Vader scene in the middle of R1 is some interesting world building -- it is cool to see Vader's lava fortress, and have a peek at him chilling in some creepy bacta tank.

Narratively, it serves no purpose though. It exists only to let the audience know -- "Hey guys, we didn't forget about Vader! He's gonna be here in some way, we promise!" So because of this ultimately pointless scene, you're left expecting to see more of him for the rest of the movie.

How much cooler would it have been if Vader showed up out of nowhere at the very end? You've gotten through the entire movie with no force-users, you're expecting a pretty dull denoument, and then out of nowhere Vader appears, force choking and body-slamming his way through a rebel ship. As satisfying as that scene was, it would have been better if it were not ham-fistedly foreshadowed.
 

The Pope

Member
Someone please explain how Fin is a well written character...or Poe for that matter or Kylo Ren. Maybe the standard is just that low for Star Wars movies.

I just hate how they set up the whole Universe in Ep 7. Damn Lazy, cash grabbing Gungans.
 

Magwik

Banned
Someone please explain how Fin is a well written character...or Poe for that matter or Kylo Ren. Maybe the standard is just that low for Star Wars movies.

I just hate how they set up the whole Universe in Ep 7. Damn Lazy, cash grabbing Gungans.
Answer these 3 questions:
Who are they?
What is their motivation?
How have they changed over the course of the movie?
 
Someone please explain how Fin is a well written character...or Poe for that matter or Kylo Ren. Maybe the standard is just that low for Star Wars movies.

I just hate how they set up the whole Universe in Ep 7. Damn Lazy, cash grabbing Gungans.

Finn goes through a believable character arc where he goes from being a massive coward who doesn't believe in anything and just wants out to a brave fighter for a cause that he actually believes in. The arc isn't particularly original (few things are at this point) but it's done fairly competently and he has quite a few memorable moments. Additionally his character still has a lot of room to grow in the later movies as he will likely develop skills that can actually back up his impulsive and often reckless heroism. Frankly I feel like he should be the main character but oh well.

Poe is nothing. He doesn't really do anything in the movie and just feels like he's waiting in the wings to be the Han Solo replacement for the later movies.

Kylo could have been a lot better if they actually made him a credible threat rather then getting defeated numerous times by Rey and throwing temper tantrums when things aren't going his way. They should have spent the first movie establishing him as a legit threat in the first movie so when they show that he's just a edgy teenager that thinks Vader is cool it will be a bit more surprising and a welcome development to what previously likely would have appeared to be a Vader knock-off. Also I hope they have a decent reason for him being evil besides that he thought Vader was the best and wants to be like him.

This is coming from someone that generally didn't like TFA though. Finn was pretty much the only big thing I really liked about it looking back.
 

eot

Banned
I think the movies are complementary in a way. TFA has a good first half and sets up its characters well, and RO has a good final battle sequence (much better than TFA's).
 
What they did with dr evazan in rogue one was subtle and really added to his character in horrifying ways. Its something only star wars fans will appreciate.
 
i only saw rogue one once in the cinema and watched it for the second time last week. my feelings are pretty much what they were after seeing it the first time: i like it for what it is, but narratively it's a total mess.

nothing in the first two thirds is explained and no-one has any development or apparent motivation. at no point am i shown why i should care about saw or donnie yen or any of these people. i've honestly felt more attachment to characters in star wars video games. the final third is entirely taken up with what is unquestionably the dopest extended battle sequence of any star wars film yet, and the ending is pure hype even on second viewing, but it just comes across as trying too hard.

i view it basically as serviceable fan service, whereas TFA was a super polished, coherent and effective (if slightly lightweight) effort to reboot the universe. hopefully the next star wars movies will be more easily judged on their own terms.

one thing i will say is that there are entire scenes in rogue one that i just completely forgot existed and was like "huh?" on the second time, which absolutely wasn't the case with TFA. that's the value of a tight narrative.
 

JB1981

Member
This stuff is just so completely innocent to me. VII was about infusing the old with the new, and for me it's cool to think that when I see that stuff in IV, that... 30 years down the line, however long it is, that a new character will bump into it. That and it's like... seconds of screentime in a 2 hour movie. If something like that makes your eyes roll, I dunno what to tell you. It was about these new characters becoming a part of this huge legacy. I love the fact that for example, despite Han dying, that the Falcon still has Chewbacca, Rey, etc. It's passing the torch to a new generation.

It was just too much man. Like enough already we get it.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Rewatched Rogue One and liked it way better the second time around. Had the opposite reaction with TFA.

This is exactly what happened to me. TFA was far worse on my second viewing, and Rogue One I liked more on my second viewing.

Part of this is probably because when I first saw TFA I was caught up in the excitement of the moment and the bar was stupidly low because of the prequels.
 
I didn't like either Rogue One or The Force Awakens (though I liked the latter more than the former) and I think the guy definitely hits the head on some of the problems I had with both movies. Rogue One's script was a mess, and he did a good job pointing out just how pointless the scene with Jyn's father is. I used to put Rogue One just barely above the prequels in my ranking, because of just how bored I was during it, but now with the advent of the prequel memes, I think I might put Revenge of the Sith above it (I mean, it's still a terrible movie, but going through it knowing the memes turns it from boring bad to enjoyably bad, like The Room).

I also really hate how they wasted Mendelsohn as Krennic in the film. Past the first scene with Jyn as a child, he doesn't really do anything, and I had a hard time feeling anything about his character. His death didn't feel like a triumph for the heroes at all. I mean, they had a good template with how to do a good Imperial villain with Tarkin in A New Hope, but they choose to bring Tarkin and Vader back for the fanservice to bring in the $$$ instead of improving the villain they created.

It's just so disappointing to see all these new movies being so meh. I love Star Wars and I want to see these movies be better than what they are. I really hope Johnston can make The Last Jedi great or I'll probably finish the trilogy, and skip the movies released after that.
 
Good video. Personally I really liked TFA & RO, but TFA edges RO for me mostly because I was thrilled watching it from start to finish. Rogue One's first arc was really rough & it took me a while to get invested with the characters, but once it really got good, I was incredibly invested. That climax man!
 

Kuro

Member
Disappointing video. I like this channel but he basically focused on the one weakness of rogue one while not even touching TFA's major problems.
 
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