If nothing else, Rogue One provides definitive proof that the SW geeks will defend any shit Disney pumps out with a Star Wars logo attached to it. However this film is so obviously bad that even I am shocked the fanboys attempt to defend it. In fairness most concede how dull, forgettable, boring, and lame all the characters are, and how flat the script is. BUT THERE IS A SCENE WITH DARTH VADER WOW AND HE KILLS PEOPLE WOW!!! Why don't you idiots demand more competently written films? Or more stylistically interesting films? Maybe there was a grittier or more interesting cut of this film out there somewhere, what we get is little other than a lifeless action film with no character whatsoever and boring action sequences.

The film opens on Jynn's father being taken by the Empire. This scene is rather well shot compared to the rest of the film, which is a bit bland outside of some decent looking shots of the Death Star. Even those are hardly incredible though. The score is rubbish. I get they don't want to just reuse the old Star Wars themes in everything and I respect that, but if the alternative is just such stock music then don't bother. The music is in no small part one of the things that made the original Star Wars films an event, it was grand, imposing, and memorable. TFA was moving away from this style as well, but I think it makes the films a bit less exciting and a bit more generic.

The cast is boring, but they're given nothing to do. Gareth Edwards clearly struggled with the characters in Godzilla, here it's even worse because the film is more dependent on them. Particularly in the middle there are several quiet character scenes, they're dull and miserable to watch. These characters are the most boring and deeply uninteresting I've seen in any film from 2016. They have no personality and nothing to say. Even compared to TFA, where the characters constantly interact, here they just stare blandly into space because they're so boring. In Godzilla the style was similar, but the film relied more on the suspense and terror of Godzilla himself, so worked irrelevant of this. That film was also more excitingly framed with a real sense of scale and spectacle, and a better sense of build up and how to construct the big moments. This was oddly missing entirely in Rogue One.

As a result I have a theory. I think Edwards went out to make a gritty SW war film, and the studio balked upon seeing it and decided to do reshoots to make it a bit safer. Due to this the film we get is bland, tonally inconsistent, lacking in suspense, and has a truly garbage script (like Suicide Squad levels of bad). I'm not saying that film would have been amazing, but in the final battle there are small remnants of it and it would have been stylistically distinct at the very least. I may be wrong. It seems like a classic case of studio interference resulting in something dull to me. Either way its irrelevant, no matter what the truth is the film we got still sucks.

The script never engaged me either and reflected how unnecessary the existence of this film is. It's drab, boring, and features several generic lines, clichéd speeches, and painfully unfunny jokes (the robot was ridiculously cringe-worthy, not even joking no one in the cinema laughed at any of his "jokes"). At times I found it a little contrived and also uninterested in exploring more interesting elements. The opening scene hinted at a more morally ambiguous film, yet what we got was typically black and white with no nuance or depth. It failed to add any interesting layers to the political climate of the galaxy or to craft characters the audience could care for. Seriously these people were so insanely boring. Did anyone even care when they carked it?

I thought the Peter Cushing CGI was dreadful and overused. The whole time it just looked off. When he was standing still and not saying anything, it was passable I suppose, otherwise it looked wrong. His presence didn't add anything to the film really either, and the attempts to align with ANH at the end were unnecessary and felt a little try hard to me. CGI Carrie Fisher looked fine for the very brief moment of screen time, although I'm confident if she started moving around and talking, or was shown for a longer period of time, it would look just as clunky as Tarkin. The other CGI was all fine. Pretty standard blockbuster stuff. Nothing to see here. Moving on.

The references were also tiresome. The C3P0 and R2D2 cameos were particularly distracting. Why is it necessary? This type of filmmaking always irks me, it's never done with any grace except to have man-children nudge each other with how incredible it is that something from a vastly superior film has appeared on screen again. I don't get it. At least in, say, Skyfall, they put some effort into their fan-service moment to make it genuinely cool, even for those who haven't seen a Bond film (for reference I mean the Aston Martin scene). These are just slapped in with no rhyme or reason beyond cynical fan-service. I find it really distracting.

Ultimately this was a story that didn't need to be told, and the lacklustre script and direction reflected that. One of the very worst films I saw all year, even forcing me to raise my score for other miserable failures like Suicide Squad and Civil War to 2/10, given this film is obviously worse than them. Truly incompetent and just downright boring, which is the worst part. It's not even a really enjoyable film to make fun of like TDKR (for example). The Darth Vader scenes were OK, literally everything else was poor and lazy. A soulless cash grab to say the least.

Go see La La Land instead, a film worth your money.

1/10.

NOTE: Before people complain about my rating as they always do, claiming it isn't "that bad" or isn't incompetent or whatever, I don't consider a basic competency benchmark in terms of visual effects and cinematography worthy of a point in a $250m film. My reasoning for this is as follows:

a) I'm not assessing objective qualities, simply my enjoyment (or lack thereof).
b) I can't think of a $200m+ film that DIDN'T meet this basic competency.

Some may find this disclaimer unnecessary, but it's a clarification I feel is important given past responses to my reviews (this isn't really intended as a review given I wrote it in a hurry, more a quick summation of my thoughts). I'm sure people will call me biased and all that nonsense to ignore what I say about the film, I don't care. You're wrong and I have nothing to add to that.

Disney manipulates fanboys and the general audience with "good movie" checklist and nostalgia syndrome, but really they just care about rehashing, planning unnecessary spinoffs, sequels, and prequels for large amounts of profit. They're even remaking classics into live action.

Yeah I agree, but it's not really a deep conspiracy. How are they remaking The Lion King into live action? Which elements are live action lol?

It's pretty disappointing how the studio very likely demanded Edwards make a more generic film. I don't think he's some auteur genius, but I've liked both of his other films, and both of them were pretty unconventionally shot despite being fairly standard in other aspects. If nothing else I was hoping this film would be visually interesting, but from all reports it isn't. It's a shame, because this movie did have some potential if they just went all-out with the darkness and grittiness, rather than half-assing it by trying to be dark and gritty but also having shitty unfunny humour and lazy fan-service.

There are some nice looking shots here and there, and the opening scene is quite nice looking, other than that though it is just bland. I was really disappointed as well, I thought if nothing else the film could offer impressive cinematography based on Edwards' other films. I can't say for certain the studio intervened for something a bit safer, but I highly suspect it, especially given Godzilla was a much darker and much more intense film.

rather than half-assing it by trying to be dark and gritty but also having shitty unfunny humour and lazy fan-service.

This is exactly what the film is like. If I were you I'd avoid it. Seriously it's just so boring. It has nothing going for it. You'll likely hate it.

For reasons I won't get into, I have a seat-specific ticket pre-purchased for a showing tomorrow. I'll read this through when I get back, but I expect to agree.

"Soulless" is a good way to describe it. Seeing Darth Vader and CGI Leia was worth the price of admission though.

Btw, what did you think of the production value? I was amazed that some scenes looked so cheap. When Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus were battling the stormtroopers, the setting looked like a 1980's B-movie.

Yeah the production values were a little mixed. Parts looked fine, others did look a little cheap. Generally just seemed like a normal blockbuster there to me.

I mostly agree, though I did find more than you that I liked - things that I thought worked fine, the third act is the strongest part of the film. But still suffers in the end from being heartless and feeling very pointless.

The score is rubbish.

I liked at least one of the tracks !! but honestly, most studio blockbusters lack great score these days, they're all starting to sound the same

That film was also more excitingly framed with a real sense of scale and spectacle, and a better sense of build up and how to construct the big moments. This was oddly missing entirely in Rogue One.

I do think he managed to display scope pretty good, and his squadron battlescenes were very good - far stronger and better than those in The Force Awakens. It felt more real and was easier to connect with - since it was shot in brighter light (final squadron fight) and you could see what was happening. And I think by having brief shots of pilots fighting for their lives, sacrificing themselves in a massive uphill battle (I cared more about the pilots - that had less than 15 seconds of screentime - than the entire main cast) made it seem more personal and real.

But my main problem, as you wrote, is that the story isn't interesting enough.

Good write up man 👍

Go see La La Land instead, a film worth your money.

The most important sentence to be said all year.

Fuck Rogue One.

Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime.

I love it when people want their reviews to be taken seriously, but can't simply review the movie but have to have a few paragraphs attacking the movie's fanbase.

If my review of Mad Max started off like "anyone who likes Mad Max is a dumb fanboy who will defend anything" I'm sure the OP would have his heiny hairs twisted in a knot.

Yeah exactly. The OP is a moron and doesn't respect those who genuinely loved the film (like me).

Gareth Edwards is a boring director.

I could tell from the trailer that none of the characters looked interesting.

I don't think I've read anything positive about this from anybody whose opinion I'd trust - yet I'll probably pay to see it anyway, given my history with the franchise. It's funny, relating both to this and to La La Land, I watched The Amazing Spiderman last night, which certainly qualifies as soulless and incompetent (in the storytelling department); apart from Emma Stone and Denis Leary, it's pretty damn worthless. Afterwards I watched the RLM dissection of it, which was pretty accurate and nice because one of the guys is a big fan of the character and the other two aren't - but they all came to largely similar conclusions. Honestly I think I watch these things now more to enjoy watching RLM and other comic-critical dissections of them than anything else. What does that say about me? Or about the blockbuster cinema of today?

It's totally fine if taken as just a bunch of dramatic and somewhat inspired stunning set pieces. I thought the action was great. Don't go in expecting great characterizations because it's not there or it's much too rushed. But to be fair, it's not a continuation of the saga. It's a war mission action film with some Star Wars thrown in. It's not a great film but it's light years ahead of the prequels.

Good to know. Of course I know the OP is being his usual hyperbolic self, and I don't expect to think it's totally worthless - being better than the prequels is a low bar to cross but that seems a reasonable expectation to set.

I think you will like it less than me to be fair. My friends and I treated it as more of a social event too so we got reasonably drunk beforehand at this happy hour. It's not serious cinema. That said I believe a 1/10 is pretty outrageous for what it is. Even if you dislike it, this isn't Transformers 2 or anything.

I suspect you'll hate it anon. Doesn't seem like your type of thing at all, really poorly made, lazy, bland, just a cheap cash grab. Mr Plinkett from Red Letter Media actually did a good review of this film that accurately describes why the characters and story are bad, I'd watch that if you haven't already it's quite entertaining.

I have not seen it. Personally I wasn't overly enthused about The Force Awakens but I think it's a good film nonetheless and still Star Wars. However, I'm amazed at how just how gullible and easily led fanboys are. I'm be willing to bet that many fans of the Star Wars prequels were swayed by the tide of nitpickers and snarky youtube critics despite their true feelings, and are easily pandered to. So of course these new Star Wars films are going to look a lot like the original trilogy, because according to most people the original trilogy is objectively far better than the prequels, and of course they're going to be streamlined and dispense with the perceived indulgences of the prequel trilogy because that's what most people seem to want. There's nothing wrong with that of course, but due to the superficiality of fanboys I doubt we can expect anything new, or different, or daring in these new Star Wars films. I may need to rewatch The Force Awakens and reconsider, I too may be blinded by my own gaze, decorated by the colour, effects and ridiculousness of the prequel trilogy which I hold so dear.

However I dislike trends, bandwagons, and a snarky attitude had better have some wit and humour so as to not be offputting. I'd rather not take any side, for even if Disney is controlling these films to try and make as much money as possible, that doesn't mean creativity can't thrive under that, in the same way that Lucas being an amazing businessman and using his films to sell merchandise didn't take away from his creativity in any way and was actually a testament to his vision in seeing the opportunities, crafting great scenes and also selling toys from them in order to further fund his films.

Fanboys are too interested in stuff like canon, and how a film looks, as opposed to what it's about.

You're a lot harder on it than me, but I generally agree with most of your points. I was never too keen on the idea of doing these spin offs, but I figured it they were entertaining enough, then they could justify their being made. But apart from a few select action sequences this didn't do much for me. Unlike TFA, which at least had likable and interesting characters to help elevate the otherwise derivative storyline, this one didn't really have anyone that was engaging or well developed enough to make a connection to. On the whole, it's fairly well made and like I said, the action is at times pretty thrilling. But apart from that, there wasn't much I found memorable or worthwhile in this. Ok for one viewing, but that's all.

I think it should have been more stylistically distinct than TFA. However it may have been tolerable at least with more interesting characters. The ones we get are so incredibly boring. I would contest that I don't think this is a well made film, the story, pacing, writing, etc. is truly dreadful. Really bland, pretty shocking people seem to actually like this film, I'm surprised to be honest.

Agreed. Rouge One was a piece of crap. The people who like it are gamers who think plastic, artificial characters who say a few flat lines about "Taking down the power supply" is what films should also aspire to. Rogue One was dull with about the same production values as tv show and managed to suck any fun out of its Star Wars pedigree. The abomination of the blind martial artist as a "character' was a particular low point in creativity. The sniveling, cringing supporting characters reminded me of the kind of bad acting you saw in Ray Harryhausen films like "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" and equally annoying was the carefully planned "international" cast that you'd see in low-budget "international" productions of that time: There's the girl with the sultry British accent, the black man (I don't know what kind of accent that was supposed to be), the Arab, the Spaniard, the Japanese warrior, Chinese warrior - could disney have made it any more obvious? It was nothing but a crap b-movie that if it wasn't a Star Wars film, would otherwise being forgotten on Netflix under "action adventure." What a waste of money. And who thought the director who managed to make a Godzilla film boring would be a great choice to direct another big budget film? I'm amazed at the create decisions that go on in Hollywood. "He made a really lousy Godzilla blockbuster, let's hand Gareth the Star Wars legacy."

The people who like it are gamers who think plastic, artificial characters who say a few flat lines about "Taking down the power supply" is what films should also aspire to.

I actually think there's some truth to that. There is definitely some correlation between being a gamer and loving this film.

It was nothing but a crap b-movie that if it wasn't a Star Wars film, would otherwise being forgotten on Netflix under "action adventure."

I have no doubt in my mind that this is 100% true.

The droid character was funny as hell and the audience erupted in laughter several times in my screenings. Anyway, just your usual knee jerk loudmouth rambling from you, as always.

Jesus man, I'm sorry you felt that way. I enjoyed significantly, though most of my praises come from the fact that it delivered everything TFA failed to, in my opinion. I wanted TFA to be different and was extremely disappointed when it turned out to be a boring and generic rehash of ANH with a shot of most modern blockbusters. R1 took the Star Wars universe and filmed it from a new angle, which is what I wanted TFA to do.

I thought the characters were fresh and interesting, far more so than just female Luke, token black stereotype, pointless pilot character, and all the bored and tired returning characters from the original. I loved the two Asians guys in this and I wish I could see more of them in future films. I definitely wanted to know more about their history together. I thought K-droid was hilarious and shared great charisma with the rest of the cast, moreso than any other droid lead in the Star Wars films. He wasn't irritating or useless, and he was actually funny when it was warranted. On top of everything, I thought Felicity Jones's character was actually interesting and had more backstory and personality than just making Luke a female in TFA. She had actual spunk (sorry to the UK'ers for using that word) and I loved her feisty no-BS attitude far more than Ray's "generic Hollywood tough girl #671" copy-and-paste writing.

On the downside, I do agree that Edward's directing can get very boring at times. A lot of the slow moments made me realize how long this movie felt (the answer being "very very long"). I also thought the story didn't need to be told at all and, if it needed to be, it could've done much differently and much better, thus making the entire film pretty pointless. The script seems like it belonged more on Star Wars: Rebels and not for a $200 million big screen blockbuster. I do think Edwards has vastly improved from Godzilla, though many of his tropes still annoy me (why do we need to see EVERYTHING from the prologue? Did we really need to spent 15 minutes in Godzilla to see that power plant collapse? Did we really need to see Jyn's mom dying here?) Still, I don't think the movie is even close to being bad, and it's far more interesting than ANH's remake.

And, for the record, that Darth Vader scene at the end was indeed really damn cool.

I don't agree with a lot of what you say, but thanks for the detailed response on why you liked it! So much nicer and more productive of yet another moron claiming I'm biased or some similar nonsense.

R1 took the Star Wars universe and filmed it from a new angle, which is what I wanted TFA to do.

I think that's what the film should have done, but really failed to take it far enough to be interesting.

I hate the word spunk lol. But you know which character did have spunk? Leia. And she also had a personality. Felicity Jones was just boring to watch and as I've said elsewhere on this thread, the characters really just have nothing to say to each other and share no chemistry. They are so boring and disposable. You're right about the characters in TFA, but they were better performed and shared more chemistry for me, even though I thought the film as a whole was bland and dull as well (albeit less so than this one).

I do disagree partly about the Darth Vader scene. I'm a bit divided. I'll concede on it's own it's kinda cool, but I think it detracts from the character in the originals. I found him more menacing, intriguing, and mystical in the originals where he used the force more than his lightsabre. It made him seem more powerful, like he didn't even need to pull out his lightsabre to kill everyone. But the force is no longer mystical in these new films. I also thought it was a bit ridiculous that the one guy managed to escape with the plans amidst Vader murdering everyone so that distracted me as well. He just seemed more powerful when he was calmer and more mythical to me.

Typical RW overreaction. I personally thought the action was great, and while the characters were a bit underdeveloped, I found the interactions between them to be very good. Plus CGI Cushing didn't bother me that much.

BTW, no need to attack fanboys. That's just going overboard IMO.

I found the interactions between them to be very good

I know right? Why are people ignoring this? It's part of the character development

Eh, some people can like the dialogue or not. It's part of having an opinion.

I take issue with people saying that the entire cast was boring. The two leads weren't so great, but the supporting characters really made the film for me, especially Donnie Yen who was as expected, a badass.

Fuck you, it's an honest opinion not an "overreaction". There were hardly any interactions between the characters, they had nothing to say to each other. I will attack fanboys as much as I like, they constantly support dreadful films like this and claim they're something special.

The one thing I took from this hyperbolic review is that you need to get laid more.

Well, it looks like someone didn't read the disclaimer. I agree that his reviews on anything Disney related are always very hyperbolic, as it's always apparent he goes in with the intent of disliking these films, but that "you need to get laid" insult was fucking stupid and immature.

s>tupid and immature.
yet not entirely unwarranted. You have to understand this is an adult raving and ranting for paragraphs on end about some generic, kiddie flick...

I wasn't bothered by TFA and have a net positive opinion of Disney based on their older work, but I didn't really think it was hyperbolic. I thought it pretty much was that bad.

The road warrior is a big boy I'm sure he'll see the humor in it.

Nothing hyperbolic there though, I really thought it was a dreadful film.

When you bump your rating of this movie to like 2 or 3 (like you did for Civil War, TDKR and Suicide Squad), can I call you out for being hyperbolic and looking for attention?

Not trying to defend these movies at all but your shtick is wearing a bit thin dude.

I never rated TDKR a 1/10, and the other two are 2/10 because I saw this film and it's one of the most miserable cinematic experiences of my life. The other two were terrible, but I can't say they beat me down THAT much.

Lol at the Star Wars fanboys getting upset over your thread.

This is more or less what I thought you would think.

The film opens on Jynn's father being taken by the Empire. This scene is rather well shot compared to the rest of the film

I even thought that was boring. Just a mechanical "sad family backstory" scene trying to be like Bambi or The Lion King, except that those had actual emotion.

The score is rubbish. I get they don't want to just reuse the old Star Wars themes in everything and I respect that, but if the alternative is just such stock music then don't bother. The music is in no small part one of the things that made the original Star Wars films an event, it was grand, imposing, and memorable. TFA was moving away from this style as well, but I think it makes the films a bit less exciting and a bit more generic.

I actually didn't mind the score. It's obviously not as good as the Williams scores from the first six films but I preferred it to the TFA score and thought it was effective in parts.

As a result I have a theory. I think Edwards went out to make a gritty SW war film, and the studio balked upon seeing it and decided to do reshoots to make it a bit safer. Due to this the film we get is bland, tonally inconsistent, lacking in suspense, and has a truly garbage script (like Suicide Squad levels of bad). I'm not saying that film would have been amazing, but in the final battle there are small remnants of it and it would have been stylistically distinct at the very least. I may be wrong. It seems like a classic case of studio interference resulting in something dull to me. Either way its irrelevant, no matter what the truth is the film we got still sucks.

I don't think there was any way to make a not terrible movie with characters that were this dead. Even b-movie horror films develop their characters more.

I thought the Peter Cushing CGI was dreadful and overused. The whole time it just looked off. When he was standing still and not saying anything, it was passable I suppose, otherwise it looked wrong. His presence didn't add anything to the film really either, and the attempts to align with ANH at the end were unnecessary and felt a little try hard to me.

I didn't think it looked bad so much as it just creeped me out. I just don't like the idea of using CG to make actors look younger or make it look like dead actors are in the movie. I've thought it was creepy and exploitative ever since they did it with Paul Walker in that one Fast and Furious movie.

At least in, say, Skyfall, they put some effort into their fan-service moment to make it genuinely cool

I specifically thought of Skyfall and the most recent Star Trek movie after I saw this as examples of movies where the fan service had a point and actually made the movie better as opposed to it being just "there".

Ultimately this was a story that didn't need to be told

I guess it didn't "need" to be told, but the premise was just fine for a movie and could have been good if the execution (specifically the script) weren't so lazy.

1/10

I initially rated it a 3, which was probably a bit generous and I would probably lower it to a 2. I use 1's (and 10's) very rarely and I did think this was more or less competently made from a production perspective, so at least I can give them that. This is still unquestionably the worst Star Wars film and probably the worst of the year for me. If Episode VIII is this bad (which I am not concerned it will be) I probably won't even bother with Episode IX

I'm really fucking annoyed right now. I spent like 15 minutes writing a big response to this and the internet cut out so I lost it lol. Well I'll give the abridged version now. My other post was terrific and very detailed. Sadly the world will never see it

This is more or less what I thought you would think.

I wanted to like it. I really did. I want to like everything I see.

Just a mechanical "sad family backstory" scene trying to be like Bambi or The Lion King, except that those had actual emotion.

Oh yeah I agree. I just meant the cinematography looked quite nice compared to the rest of the film. It was still a dull scene.

I agree with everything else you said.

Now on to the last paragraph.

I use 1's (and 10's) very rarely and I did think this was more or less competently made from a production perspective, so at least I can give them that.

I'm still not sold on this idea, because I can't think of any $250m films that weren't competent on a basic level in this area. For example, much better films are made with far less resources available. Even Evil Dead, a film made for nothing with cheesy special effects is a masterfully constructed film with unique cinematography and many memorable sequences. In a way I think it's pretty sad when such production values are put towards such a soulless, uninspired, and visually boring film.

However for me this was the final straw for Star Wars. In cinemas at least. This was one of the worst cinematic experiences of my entire life. I found it genuinely disheartening and depressing to watch, a real challenge to sit through. I don't make comments like that often, but it's true. This film really beat me down with its awfulness and soulessness, it was just a downright miserable experience for me. That's why I rate it 1/10. It's amongst the most despondent a film has ever left me. So I won't be seeing Episode VIII in cinemas most likely, unless the trailers are really mind blowing. Edwards was probably the most interesting director Disney hired though and made this awful film. I don't doubt Episode VIII will be better (how could it not be?), however I'll find it challenging to gain the enthusiasm to go and see it. I'll probably watch it on Netflix or something, but I think it's clear that the direction Star Wars has taken is not for me. I hope they fix the franchise. I really do. A lot will need to be done to win me back after this though.

I actually had a typo in my post, I meant to say "which I am now concerned it will be" rather than "which I am not concerned it will be". I'll still see it just because it's pretty much an entirely different creative team aside from Kathleen Kennedy producing, who I doubt was that involved with Rouge One creatively (although she was with TFA).

I have to disagree. And I am not some SW fanboy. I was very sceptical about this film before seeing it. Mostly due to the trailers.

Fortunately, they did the extensive reshooting and changed much of the story. From the trailers it was going to be a happy-ending, "chosen one" kind of narrative, with a quirky girl "rebel" who "rebels" as its main element. It reminded me a lot of those lame young adult adaptations, such as Hunger Games and similar.

But then they did the re-shoots and probably removed lots of the girl's rebelling dialogue. It made her character more mysterious. It ballanced the story out, made it more subtle. The humbleness of the characters (they are not some glamorous thieves, princesses, jedi or chosen ones), made the film so much better and made the ending that much more powerful.

After finding "Monsters" to be completely unwatchable for its characters, I'm starting to think Edwards has no idea how to direct humans.

He has his own vision and method to work with characters, it's not necessarily bad just not for everyone.

No. The characters are just flat and forgettable. It's not a stylistic decision to his own vision and method.

LOL. Good for you in bucking the trend and thinking for yourself. Not every highly acclaimed film is for everyone.

Since you gave Batman v Superman a 7 out of 10 and gave Civil War 1 out of 10 you will excuse me if I take your opinion with a grain of salt.

I gave Captain America: Civil War a 4/10. That film put me to sleep twice in the theater.

BvS is a very good film, much more ambitious and interesting than most other recent blockbusters despite its flaws. CW was pretty boring.

BVS was the most boring film I saw last year.

It was completely jumbled, lacking motivations with the most cringe-inducing villain I have ever seen.

I'm STILL trying to figure out why Superman hated Batman and how Lex Luthor figured out everyone's identities.

I was so looking forward to it and ended up thinking it was shit.

Ehh I thought it was actually pretty good the action was great especially in the third act which really made the film for me. I do agree with the character development that part was pretty weak but the chemistry between the characters were really good and entertaining to watch especially with that new droid. I honestly didn't mind the CGI. Overall I didn't mind I thought the film was good nothing more but It's certainly not one of the worst films of the year IMO. I still prefer TFA a bit more.

I noticed you actually prefer Attack of the Clones to the original film. Why is that?

Yeah what's up with that? You say Rogue One has a bad writing the writing in Rogue one is golden compared to the awful wooden writing in Attack of the Clones.

Also Episode III over Empire Strikes Back? Each to their own.

Good on you for not going along with the trend I suppose.

Oh I didn't realise that lol.

My ratings on particularly on older films are pretty inaccurate. For the record, I think ANH is better than AOTC, but I do really like AOTC and I don't think the difference is that great. I still fail to see what is so bad about AOTC, I actually find it much more in the spirit of what I personally like about SW than the new films. I think SW original trilogy in general is overrated and people are too harsh on the prequels.

Oh okay that's understandable some people really like the ATOC I'm not one of them but I'm glad you enjoy them.

It's made by Disney and the guy who did Godzilla 2014, why would you expect any different?

Meh, it is what it is. And Di$ney is just doing what it always does, run a franchise into the ground until its beating a dead horse and no longer of value.

Personally I find the Star Wars franchise of late rather tiresome. Movies, cartoons, books, comics, etc. I'm really burnt out on it. Especially all this prequelized material.

Seriously, when are they going to give another space opera a chance to take off and be popular?

NO WE CAN'T HAVE ANYTHING NEW!!!

THERE IS ONLY STAR WARS!!!

(I agree, I'm kinda sick of hearing about SW lol)

I am not a Star Wars fan in the slightest and I really enjoyed this movie.
I liked that none of the main cast were really corny or cheesy unlike all the other films. There were legit funny moments that didn't feel forced or cliched even if some were.

The action was dope but I wanted more. This one had the best characters and cast out of any other movie and I think the change was a vast improvement.

I thought it was pretty good.

What was so bad about it?

It was enjoyable.

Lol pretty sure if you read my review it's quite clear what I thought was so bad. It's one of the most miserable filmgoing experiences of my entire life.

I mainly agree with you - although I rated it significantly higher, because I enjoyed the film on a subjective level, mainly for its aesthetics and design - which is of course a callback to the OT.

I think you would enjoy this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3gf6qyAHOw

Also, interesting that you bring up TDKR in this review. Reminds me of something you might get a kick out of:

https://letterboxd.com/thatsantiagoguy/list/ben-mendelsohn-as-a-villain-who-thinks-too/

I didn't like Rogue One.

I gave it 4/10. It deserved points for a very good looking movie, and that Darth Vader scene at the end.

Otherwise, the movie needs to be forgotten.

>>38
So do you concede that your opinion is liable to change when the next "wurst movie eva!" comes out, since you have done so on numerous occasions in the past? If that is the case, what is the point of this thread beyond venting/looking for attention/trying to provoke fanboys/being hyperbolic?

Changing it from a 1 to a 2 isn't really a big deal. If he'd changed it from a 1 to a 4 or 5 you'd have a point.

No, I concede none of that because it's insanely stupid. I changed the rating from a 1 to 2. That isn't a shift in opinion whatsoever, but I personally guarantee the rating for this film isn't going anywhere. I'm never watching this shtty film again and it was amongst the most miserable filmgoing experiences of my life. This isn't hyperbole simply my reaction to this atrocious film. So no I don't think any of what you said is accurate. Even then all my other ratings remain pretty consistent. The force awakens still gets the same score I gave it last year, so does tdkr. So I really don't see what your point is given its not based in any reality.

>>41
I'm really fucking annoyed right now. I spent like 15 minutes writing a big response to this and the internet cut out so I lost it lol. Well I'll give the abridged version now. My other post was terrific and very detailed. Sadly the world will never see it

This is more or less what I thought you would think.

I wanted to like it. I really did. I want to like everything I see.

Just a mechanical "sad family backstory" scene trying to be like Bambi or The Lion King, except that those had actual emotion.

Oh yeah I agree. I just meant the cinematography looked quite nice compared to the rest of the film. It was still a dull scene.

I agree with everything else you said.

Now on to the last paragraph.

I use 1's (and 10's) very rarely and I did think this was more or less competently made from a production perspective, so at least I can give them that.

I'm still not sold on this idea, because I can't think of any $250m films that weren't competent on a basic level in this area. For example, much better films are made with far less resources available. Even Evil Dead, a film made for nothing with cheesy special effects is a masterfully constructed film with unique cinematography and many memorable sequences. In a way I think it's pretty sad when such production values are put towards such a soulless, uninspired, and visually boring film.

However for me this was the final straw for Star Wars. In cinemas at least. This was one of the worst cinematic experiences of my entire life. I found it genuinely disheartening and depressing to watch, a real challenge to sit through. I don't make comments like that often, but it's true. This film really beat me down with its awfulness and soulessness, it was just a downright miserable experience for me. That's why I rate it 1/10. It's amongst the most despondent a film has ever left me. So I won't be seeing Episode VIII in cinemas most likely, unless the trailers are really mind blowing. Edwards was probably the most interesting director Disney hired though and made this awful film. I don't doubt Episode VIII will be better (how could it not be?), however I'll find it challenging to gain the enthusiasm to go and see it. I'll probably watch it on Netflix or something, but I think it's clear that the direction Star Wars has taken is not for me. I hope they fix the franchise. I really do. A lot will need to be done to win me back after this though.

I actually had a typo in my post, I meant to say "which I am now concerned it will be" rather than "which I am not concerned it will be". I'll still see it just because it's pretty much an entirely different creative team aside from Kathleen Kennedy producing, who I doubt was that involved with Rouge One creatively (although she was with TFA).

Although Rogue One is pretty damn far from a great movie or anything even approaching one, I appreciated the attempt to reintroduce some gravitas, moral shading, and even pathos into the universe after the corporatized light-hearted nothingness of The Force Awakens. Did it work? Not often. There were a number of scenes where I could see I was supposed to get emotional, but the only time I felt anything was when Darth Vader appeared and started massacring rebels (which was a genuinely thrilling scene). Still, it's a well intentioned attempt to inject some feeling into a stale franchise with some nicely executed action scenes and a kind of unexpectedly sombre vibe I enjoyed. I was relatively engaged throughout much of its (far too long) run time. It is easily the best SW film since Empire Strikes Back (though that film is a gargantuan masterpiece in comparison).

Well, I saw it today, and I don't disagree much with anything you say. The only comments I can be bothered to come up with that don't exactly mirror yours are -

- I thought the beginning 20 minutes or so of flipping back and forth between planets was a bit confusing and convoluted, but maybe this was just because I was already getting bored and not paying much attention. In any case this was a chance to develop characters, and they failed to take advantage

- I actually sort of liked the robot; I know he was being used in almost exactly the same way C3PO was, but he was more competent and therefore at least *slightly* different from everything we've seen in 7 previous films

- ultimately this was one of the most utterly tedious and pointless films I've ever seen; I mean, we go into it knowing more or less how it will end, if we've seen the original film, so clearly the buildup to the end can't be as dramatic as it would be in a truly stand-alone film - but there are plenty of films based on real-life events and people that nevertheless manage to be dramatic and exciting, because they have well-developed characters or good dialogue or terrific direction. This had none of that.

- this now beats out Tarzan (slightly) for the worst movie I've seen this year. I think given this and my other recent experiences I'm as down on blockbusters as I've ever been; I suppose I'll see Episode VIII as my own tribute to Carrie Fisher, but I really hope I can keep myself from paying for much more of this kind of crap. Life really is too short.

Well, it surprised me that everyone died at the end. I thought that was quite ballsy for this franchise.

It seriously wasn't that bad. I wasn't expecting a great movie going in and I didn't get one, but it was largely enjoyable for what it was. At least it tried something a little different. It wasn't entirely "safe" like the utterly soulless dreck that was TFA. It deserves some props for that alone. I simply don't understand this hyperbolic negativity.

- I thought the beginning 20 minutes or so of flipping back and forth between planets was a bit confusing and convoluted, but maybe this was just because I was already getting bored and not paying much attention. In any case this was a chance to develop characters, and they failed to take advantage

Another bit I'd add is confusing is the bit where they go to the beach planet to get the plans - I didn't really follow well how they actually discovered the plans were there. In fairness, by that point I had a headache and was bored out of my mind, so probably wasn't giving it 100% attention lol. The whole story was just poorly told and confusing at times. Very bad writing, and pretty stupid. They had lots of character development scenes in the middle of the film, and they were just so unbelievably boring and tedious because the characters were so unbelievably bad. You'd think statistically when you have a team of like 6 characters, one or two of them might be good, interesting characters.

It was pretty ambitious filmmaking to make a film where every character is boring and deeply uninteresting, with bland facial expressions that look just as bored as the audience and all the "development" being as contrived and random as possible. I applaud them for going with such a strategy, very interesting.

but there are plenty of films based on real-life events and people that nevertheless manage to be dramatic and exciting, because they have well-developed characters or good dialogue or terrific direction. This had none of that.

Agreed entirely. There is no reason this film HAD to suck. With more interesting direction or better developed characters (preferably characters who HAVE character), this could have been good. In the end it felt like they took as few chances as possible to play it safe, and didn't even do so well.

I actually found Tarzan perfectly watchable, I think I gave it 6/10. Parts were pretty drab and it was far from a masterpiece, some of the special effects looked a little lame, overall though unlike this it at least had some moments of real gravitas and emotion (mostly from the acting), and Samuel L Jackson's character was funny. It also touched on some bigger themes that I found quite surprising for a mainstream adventure film, even if it did little to explore them in any real depth. Nothing special but I think these elements put it far ahead of Rogue One which had NOTHING I liked.

I think given this and my other recent experiences I'm as down on blockbusters as I've ever been; I suppose I'll see Episode VIII as my own tribute to Carrie Fisher, but I really hope I can keep myself from paying for much more of this kind of crap. Life really is too short.

I can't do it, I'm done with Star Wars (in cinemas that is). I'll download the next one (or Netflix or whatever it's on) and give it a chance, I'm not paying and going out of my way to see it though. As I've said elsewhere on this thread, it was really one of the most miserable and tedious filmgoing experiences of my life, so I see no reason to try and recreate that by seeing Episode VIII. Funny how this came only a few weeks after seeing La La Land, one of the best cinematic experiences of my life. So I guess it balances out in the end

OK must have forgotten that. Either way, he is right that the first 20 minutes with all the jumping around was a bit confusing, and the script was still flat out embarrassing.

While i didn't think it was great i enjoyed it overall especially the scenes with Darth Vader and i thought Felicity Jones was terrific and in my opinion it's a shame she isn't the lead in the main saga films as she is much more likable and a much better actress than Daisy Ridley. Overall i give Rogue One 5/10

Well, I liked it.

Well that's because you're an idiot

Words can hurt. 😨

It sounds like you just want to hate it, and just compiled a few reviews and found things to hate.

>>82
That's exactly what happened. I doubt he's even seen the movie. He's simply learned that hyperbole gets him attention.

Especially sickening (or laughable, depending on your point of view) is his desperate attempt to crawl up oldale's butt with random mentions of La La Land as the gold standard that all movies should now be held against. He is a pathetic clown.

Oh ffs. Typical "how can anyone possibly hate the film" bullshit. Yeah I've seen it, sorry I don't agree with you cunt.

You rated the Star Wars Prequels above the Originals, so you are a useless poster who is not in the position to review artistic films.

>>85
We're not talking about "artistic films" here, we're talking about Star Wars. Either way, your hypothesis is wrong. My rankings are:

ROTS - 9/10
TESB - 8-9/10
ANH - 8/10
AOTC - 7-8/10
ROTJ - 5/10
TPM - 4/10
TFA - 3/10

ROGUE ONE - 1/10

I have frequently told people to largely ignore my ratings on this site, either way I'd say those ratings indicate that I like both trilogies about the same. I really never got what was so offensive about the prequels. I'm not getting into this discussion though because it's completely irrelevant. Doesn't change anything about this film.

I completely agree with you about the opening scene on Jyn's dads planet. It gave me hope that the movie would be shot in a way that was different from other Star Wars movies. It's the only nice bit of cinematography in the movie, and even it is overly cut, and lacks the subtly it's trying for.

I hated just about every minute of it. There may be more cringe worthy scenes and overt flaws in the prequel films , but their more memorable than Rogue One. I can't even remember the plot aside from horrible shoehorned references to past movies.

I'll stop short in criticizing fans of the movie. It's easy to get caught up in Star Wars mania. I just didn't this time. I thought it was terrible from start to finish and kind of takes a bit of the luster away from A New Hope.

At we the same person by any chance? I was so disappointed the rest of the film didn't look as good as the opening, and was instead much blander.

I agree entirely except for your restraint in attacking the fans. As far as I'm concerned they deserve to be attacked, given they're so ready to condemn anyone who doesn't overwhelmingly love the film. A pointless exercise both disliking the film and not attacking them. They're largely tasteless morons anyway who will like anything with a SW logo slapped on. I can definitely see Rogue One being considered more like the prequels once the hype wears off in a few years, and it's still a small minority on the internet of fanboys who really hate the prequels, most normal people I know have nothing against them.

Can't be the same person, I (moderately) enjoyed Civil War. Although I did re-watch it a few days ago and found myself disliking it a lot more than I did the first time.

I'm curious if you have any hope for Episode VIII? Like you, I didn't care much for The Force Awakens, but that Star Wars fan in me isn't quite dead yet. As Leia would say, there's still....hope *cringe*.