Overall I thought it was a very good film. Prior to the Death Star blow up an entire planet we never really got to see just how devastating the power of this weapon was. So to see that this thing was able let like a nuke being set off was insane. I have to admit, it did well in balancing comedy with seriousness, with most of the movie on a really serious note but with the much needed laughs thrown in here and there. It was amusing to see the Storm Troopers forget rule number 1 of movies and tv shows, never go up against a blind monk.
I think one of the best qualities of this movie is that no one has super powers. Sure we have the monk chanting "I am one with the force and the force is with me" and other instances like that, but other than Darth Vader we never really see anyone use the force like we have in the past, and it was kind of refreshing. As great as it is to see someone learn how to use the force, it is kind of already been done, so this was a breath of fresh air.
As for the ending, I thought it was sweet. Admittedly, it caught me by surprise, though I started to suspect that was what was going to happen after they started knocking off all the squad pilots. I was a little peeved it took them so long to think "hey let's crash a star destroyed into the shield gate" because it literally wasn't that hard to think of. But overall, the ending was interesting. I think it really kind of showed one side's answer to one of the hardest questions in a war. Do you sacrifice your own people for the greater good? And in this case, the Imperialists did just that. There's just one little hitch that I have with the whole "everybody dies" ending.
Right after watching the movie I was actually really satisfied with the ending to Rogue One. However, I had been waiting to watch Matpat's Film Theory on it to see how the movie matched up with his theory and something in his theory that caught my attention. If you don't want to watch his theory, it pretty much states that the members of Rogue One aren't dead, they actually become the Knights of Ren. Now, remember, he made this theory before the movie came out, so he had no way of knowing that they actually died. But he provided some pretty intriguing evidence in favor of them actually being captured rather than dead. The two things that really stuck with me are a scene from the Rogue One trailer and the concept art for the Knights of Ren. To explain in brief detail, one of the trailers for Rogue One has a scene where Saw says "What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you? If you continue to fight, what will you become?" and then immediately after it shows Jyn wearing an imperial uniform. Now you'll have to forgive me because for the life of me I can't remember if they said that in the actual movie or not, but I thought it was interesting that placement of everything. It could just be a red herring, or it could be some sort of foreshadowing. The second thing is the concept art for the Knights of Ren. We see a brief glimpse of the Knights of Ren in Episode 7 but you can see their concept art in a book that came out at the same time as Episode 7. And while I recognize this is concept art and could have been scrapped, the idea still stands. The five other knights of Ren besides Kylo are known as "Heavy", "Sniper", "Monk", "Armory" (or something like that), and "Rogue". And except for "Rogue" the other four all look like four members of the crew from Rogue One. And that got me thinking. Where did the Death Star hit the planet with its blaster? If you'll recall, on Jedah, they hit the city head on, so they certainly have the capabilities to aim effectively. But in the climax of Rogue One, they miss the research station. THEY MISS THE RESEARCH STATION. Sure they clip the satellite, but they miss what we as the audience are led to believe is their actual target by a long shot. I can even remember discussing it with the people I went to see it with how they missed the station completely and joked it was to preserve the archives they had on the planet. But what if we weren't wrong? What if they did miss on purpose? What the Imperialists made it look like they destroyed and killed everyone, but didn't?
Honestly if we never really get an answer to that question I wouldn't be mad. Rogue One was so good that I wouldn't really mind it being a "stand alone" that never really connects to the other movies directly except for the ending scene. It was just kind of interesting to think about. It was also really cool to see Saw since he actually shows up in both the canon cartoon series for Star Wars. It makes me want to go back and see if Jyn was there too, just for my own curiosity.
Bookmarks