Star Wars Thread (a Galaxy Far Far Away) Obi-Wan Movie In The Works! (36)

Spoiler: SPOILERS DON'T CLICK UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE

I didn't want to mention too many specifics just in case someone clicked on it. The Vader scene at the end was awesome. I wanted it to last longer. It was straight out of a slasher movie. I totally agree that for what the story was they were trying to tell, this is the best it could have been. And I did really like the movie. Like I said, it really nailed the feel of Star Wars, especially in that last third where they took actual footage from the New Hope dog fight and spliced it in to make some of the same pilots be in both battles. I give it a 7/10 which to me is good to very good. I have to leave 8-10 for great, excellent and masterpiece levels.

My biggest gripes about it were the score and the fact that the intrigue of where it's going next was gone. And that wasn't the movie's fault. Like I said, I wasn't expecting it to even be a problem for me, but as I was watching that last 30 minutes or so, I almost felt like I was waiting for the scene where this happened or where that happened as opposed to "where is this going?" I think it's more of a general fear I am starting to have about the universe in general. Next standalone movie is a Han movie. Next one is rumored to be Obi-wan or Boba Fett. I just want this universe to expand past this little time frame of 80 years.

As far as what they left on the table, I think they could have came up with a better vehicle to integrate Jyn into the rebellion than Saw Gerrera. It felt a little clunky that they went to all the trouble of kidnapping someone that the guy knew a long time ago in order to try to get an audience with him to kill him and get the pilot's info. It felt like a bit of a stretch to me, that's all.

And I know there might be issues bringing in an extended universe character, but I think what could have sealed the finale would have been to bring in Ahsoka Tano to be the one that stops Vader from getting the plans. Let him mow everyone down like he did, then when it looks like he's going to get them, have her stop him and have him kill her. She has been such a huge character and a huge part of Star Wars canon through Clone Wars and Rebels, it would have been the perfect ending to her character. Anakin's former apprentice dies at his hands, but not before she helps usher in the beginning of the Empire's end.

 

Spoiler: SERIOUSLY STOP READING OUR CONVERSATIONS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED

I agree with you that some of it was known, but you couldn't have known what would happen to the cast of Rogue One, you know? All we knew was Point A and Point B, but all the middle part was brutal. I mean that third act with people dropping left and right really might have been the first time ever that the Empire and their troopers felt like a true threat. I know we know the plans get there, but now we know what it cost and how close they came to not getting them. I thought, for what it was, that was the best way they could tell the story. If a bunch of Rogue One made it off that planet I would have been upset. The fact that they knew the shield was up and they were likely screwed, but kept going anyway was awesome. That's classic wartime storytelling right there.

I agree that they need to get away from these stories in general though. Old Republic seems like the obvious way to go or even unrelated to the saga stories at all. The problem is for more casual fans, what's their reason to watch those movies? What does Old Republic do that provides context for movies that casual fans pay attention to, you know? If we're going prequel style storytelling then I'm actually fascinated by a Darth Plagueis story. I'm not all that interested in a Han Solo movie to be honest, but if anything this movie made me say "okay that one could be alright".

I feel like Forrest Witaker's character was a holdover from another script that they had to tie clumsily into the story still. I agree that part felt weird, but the first two acts of the movie I think were changed dramatically. I bet he had a much bigger role as a character that pushed the line between what constitutes a "good guy" and a "bad guy" as evidenced by the creepy squid monster. I think the movie's first run involved a lot more of the gray areas of war and what it can do to good people. It was probably a little too dark though so they changed it around a bit which is why the start of the movie clunks along a little bit.

As for Ashoka, I think it would have been SUPER jarring if she showed up in this movie. The vast majority of audiences don't know who she is. Also if you're all caught up in Rebels, she's got her own stuff going on right now too. I agree a reference to her would have been cool, but I thought it was fantastic how much service they paid to Rebels. The Ghost is actually on Yavin 4 AND in the epic battle. General Syndulla is also called for over the loud speaker at Yavin 4. Chopper is apparently seen on Yavin, but I didn't catch him.

All-in-all I just felt like for what this movie could be, they hit almost everything.

 

Spoiler: We are REALLY trying to protect you guys and it's your fault if you open this

I'm not so sure the first two acts were changed as much as the final battle. The reason I say this is remember in the trailer she is running with what we now know were the plans to the Death Star down the beach towards a couple AT-ATs. We also saw that scene in the trailer where the tie fighter comes up and hovers in front of her while she is on the tower. Neither of those were in the movie which means at one point they had a cut where something happens to where they could't transmit the signal and she has to take the plans to the beach. That means they likely would have had to physically remove the plans from the planet surface. One theory is that tie fighter actually came up and destroyed the dish forcing them to the ground.

 

Spoiler: I give up. Read this. I don't care, it's your own fault.

That's true, but that doesn't mean they didn't change Forest's character either. He also had the cut line of something like "what will YOU... become?" which hints at sort of a darker path he feels like he had to take because of everything that's happened. I think both of us are probably right. I think trying to force Jyn all the way back down to the beach would have been difficult. There were also scenes were beach troopers were walking slowly through the water like they were searching for something along with Commander Fennic (sp?).

 

Spoiler: So much spoils, so much wow.

I agree forcing her back down would have been difficult. I'm just curious as to what their answer to getting the plans off world was if they couldn't transmit them. It was actually sort of crazy how much was in the trailers that didn't make the film. Thank God they cut out that stupid "I rebel." line. I did not want that to be canon. I will definitely be seeing it again, if nothing else than for the last 10 minutes and the Vader scene. He was slaughtering so many people so quickly I didn't have time to see all the ways he killed people. The dude that got kebabed on his lightsaber along with the door before he sliced through both was amazing.

 

In the theatre right now and the movies about to start. Super excited for this one

 

I hope you went to the bathroom first. Not a lot of great spots to leave to be honest. If you have to go, make sure it's in the first act. After that.. hold it.

 

Spoiler: One of the biggest spoilers here so... go away

The Vader scene was so well done. It was beautiful and terrifying and finally gave him that moment we all needed as an audience to fully respect him. I watched a pirated version of that scene about 15 times yesterday. The first guy he force throws up into the ceiling he casually cuts in half as he walks past him. It's just incredible.

 

Ok, Rogue One is fantastic. I can easily see someone liking this movie better than The Force Awakens (I liked The force Awakens better).

Spoiler: Details of the movie

I loved how they made the movie feel like Star Wars, but not exactly a part of the normal story by little details like starting it off with "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away", but then not using the typical song and scrolling paragraph. There were a ton of nice call backs throughout the movie to tie it in to the Starwars universe, but just different enough from the main moves. I do agree with Savory though that the music was pretty bad.

My favorite characters were K2 and Donny Yins character. K2 especially had some fantastic one liners. The CGI for Tarkin and Leia was nearly dead on. If they had not spent so much time with the camera focusing on their faces, it would have been totally convincing, but as it was, the CGI was so good it didn't pull me out of the scene, even though I noticed it (Amazing how far we've come from Tron Legacy).

But of all the epic great fight scenes on the beach, the best scene by far was Darth Vader at the end. Man I had goose bumps the whole way through that scene. I also loved the way they really tied up all the questions about the events leading up to the beginning of episode 4 perfectly IMO.

All in all, I give Rogue One an 8/10, whereas The Force Awakens was a 9/10 or better for me. The tone of this movie is much more serious, so I think a lot of it is up to personal taste for what you enjoy from a Star Wars movie.

 

The best thing about Rogue One is that it actually improves Episode 4. It seamlessly arrives at the start of that movie and it provides us with context for the start of that movie. It raises the stakes of a movie over 30 years old. Incredible.

Watch the first 10-15 minutes of Episode 4 after Rogue One, it's amazing.

 

Spoiler

If lightsabers didn't self cauterize, that scene would have given the movie an R rating.

 

Great point. I just loved how after everything the movie gave you in that third act, it takes about 20 seconds to put things in perspective.

 

I freakin loved this movie, my gripes with it don't even add up to a handful. It was gritty, FELT like the exact same universe of Episode 4, there was humor but it wasn't forced or silly, and the action was incredible. And I loved how real the worlds felt, going to shoot on actual locations, using as many practical effects and puppets and such as possible really makes a difference. The cities felt real and dirty and lived in, the battle on the beach was like a WW2 movie. This finally felt like a Star Wars WAR movie, it felt like the best parts of the clone wars cartoon episodes without Jedi and Rebels brought to live action, something we really have never seen before. Regular people fighting to save the galaxy with no Jedi powers, with extremely high stakes. I loved the entire cast, I loved how they used Vader, I love all the easter eggs for hardcore fans, I just loved it.

It finally felt like a great SW novel or something about all these side characters that were important but never get their own movie, getting their own movie. We got to see the opening crawl from A New Hope put to film, and it was fun as hell, and IMO enhances ANH in the process, adds to the story. We all know the outcome of the movie going in, same as the prequels, but it didn't matter, I was on the edge of my seat during the battles. That is something the prequels almost never gave me, save for a few moments here and there. We got new characters, ships and weapons, and we got old favorites too, I can't believe some of the stuff they pulled off or even had the guts to try with this one. I don't know that this is better than TFA, but personally I came out of this having enjoyed it more on first viewing. TFA has grown on me more and more over time and I love it, but I guess this hit the right notes with me more. It gave me everything I want in a SW movie, I got nostalgia/this is awesome chills, I cheered, I laughed, I was gripped, and I got the feels. I find myself thinking about the movie over and over since I saw it and wanting to see it again of course, it's so great to have SW back and to have it be this good.

Spoiler: Spoiler line

"Are you kidding me? I'm BLIND!"

Spoiler: More spoilers

I'd also like to add, that I felt the weight of the death of some of these characters more than I did with the death of Han Solo. Again, I love TFA, but I still feel much when Ren kills Han. They needed a scene earlier in the film between them, they needed a flashback scene, SOMETHING to connect them. When they meet on the bridge they feel like strangers to me, I don't feel a father/son connection, so when Han is killed it is tragic, but the weight just isn't there for me. With Rogue one watching Jyn and Cassian embrace on the beach as basically a nuclear bomb engulfs them is brutal. Watching Baze comfort Chirrut with his force mantra as he dies is beautiful. Even Jyn saying goodbye to her father as he dies has weight because we SAW them together as a family when she was a child, one scene is all you need to establish a relationship and add weight. Hell, I even almost shed a tear for K-2SO as he's blasted to death and sacrifices himself, that droid might have been my favorite character, and side note, the effects on him are excellent, I honestly can't even tell he's CGI. Bottom line I cared about these characters, even going in knowing that probably none of them were gonna make it out or we'd ask where are they in EPs 4-6. TFA had a missed opportunity with Han, I can only hope he at least gets a funeral or ceremony to celebrate his heroism in episode 8.

 

As a huge SW fan like me, what did you think...

Spoiler

...of the score? Personally, I thought it was possibly the weakest part of the film. There were a couple times where they seemed to start in on a classical Star Wars riff, then weirdly backed out of it by going into some generic score. I really think they should not worry about getting the big name composer, and just get someone who can play with William's score.

 

Spoiler: Spoilers

It was..fine, not great, not terrible. Honestly the composer had like 4 weeks to do the score, that's not really fair to him at all, that's on Disney, a SW movie comes with expectations for the music and you can't give a guy weeks only. I agree with a lot of what Kristian Harloff has said in that what he probably should have done was lean a little heavier on established themes and add to them like they do with Rebels and did with Clone Wars, given the time he had. I think maybe Disney wanted different feel to this one though, for it to be it's own thing so they gave the guy more freedom, and he does have a good resume. In the end the music never took me out of the movie, so that's all that matters to me, I was so glued to it, on the edge of my seat I didn't even notice. I can't really remember the music in the epic Vader scene specifically now, but I know at the time it seemed awesome, so it must have been decent enough.

 

Off topic, I thought this Snoke theory was interesting:

Spoiler: Snoke is....

 

Spoiler: Barns

I think there's room for an incredible, incredible Mace Windu story where he's a broken and injured man in the underground of Coruscant. He's coming to terms with what it means that he's been defeated and armless. Is he still a hero? Does he protect the downtrodden people in the underground? A friend and I had written the start of a story where he tracks down his lightsaber and sort of skates the boundary between good and evil and creates a name for himself in the Coruscant underground. He becomes sort of a Luke Cage-y/Daredevil-y defender who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

I do not however think he's Snoke.

 

Spoiler: Rey Theory

I know this is a little off topic from Rogue One, but one theory I have seen different versions of that seems to be making the rounds is Rey is Kenobi's granddaughter. This is based on comments made by Daisy Ridley where she said she thought it was obvious where her parentage lied from watching the film (keep in mind, they have told Daisy who it is) and comments by an Entertainment Weekly reporter who has close ties with Lucasfilm where he said the reason they haven't moved full speed ahead with an Obi-Wan movie is because he has heard they have plans for Obi-Wan in this current trilogy and they want to sew that up before embarking on a solo film. If Daisy thinks it was obvious, it makes sense that it had to be Obi-Wan (from the vision) or a Skywalker, specifically Luke because of the Maz Kanata line about the lightsaber making it's rounds. But what if it's both?

Sabine from Rebels is about the right age for Satine (from Clone Wars) and Obi-Wan to have hooked up. We know Sabine is supposed to become almost 1A in terms of importance to the show after Ezra this season in Rebels according to Filloni. What if the season ends with Sabine on Tatooine (a likely scenario with what is currently transpiring) meeting Luke. They are the same age. Then Luke, years after the war, comes home and hooks up with Sabine to make Rey? Or perhaps Rey is Ezra and Sabine's child? It would show a lot of planing and foresight if Lucasfilm pulled a misdirect with Rebels where at first we thought is was just about the rebellion, but actually served as the beginnings of Rey's origin.

 

Spoiler: Spoilers

Sabine is clearly important, the connection to Satine seems to be where they are headed after the mid season finale. I don't quite get how Obi-Wan and Satine, 2 of the whitest people in the galaxy (Satine almost being so pale she's translucent) make a somewhat tan and what I first thought of as an almost..Asian looking character, but ok, it's SW, we can stretch stuff. The Luke and Sabine hooking up years after the wars thing is plausible, Rey is 19 in TFA so it'd have to be at least a decade after RoTJ, but that could be a very interesting storyline. Sabine and Ezra, eh, I don't think Ezra is making it out of Rebels alive, so that timeline wouldn't add up.

Whatever it turns out to be, I'm starting to think the Rey is Obi-Wan's granddaughter is more likely than her being related to Luke. That lightsaber did call to her, but Obi-Wan had that lightsaber a lot longer than Luke did (maybe 2/3 years?), and Obi-Wan is the one speaking to her at the end of her vision, calling out "Rey?", and "these are your first steps". There's a connection there even if it's just good ol' Obi-Wan the force ghost teacher. Now we have these rumors like you mentioned that ghost Obi-Wan might be back in 8 and or 9, so it's all definitely interesting. Rogue One has shown us dead actors doesn't mean the end of characters anymore, they could bring in Ewan in old age makeup, or they could go the CGI Alec Guinness route, the possibilities are wide open now.