Well it's not an adult's film, is it?
Film Star Wars: Pogue One
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It's a kids film. Older kids, but kids. Young adults, teens and below really.
It's basically the same as all those comic book films that my girlfriend insists aren't for kids - probably because she loves them. But that's exactly what they are, aimed at children with some action thrown in to entice the teens.
It's basically the same as all those comic book films that my girlfriend insists aren't for kids - probably because she loves them. But that's exactly what they are, aimed at children with some action thrown in to entice the teens.
Well personally I think it does. The heroes of the story were all trying to defeat the enemy and yet all died trying. None of them "won". Even the capital Rebel ship got boarded and captured fgs. The good guys got spanked.
The later Hunger Games got a bit more adult, but both heroes still survived and lived "happily ever after" at the end. *eyeroll*
You can put this movie as a kids movie only if you put only Star Wars movie, any superhero movie, LotR, Terminator movies, Star Trek movies as kids movies too.
The fact that the baddies won and all the heroes got killed should not be overlooked. It is not something you usually get in kids movies.
The fact that the baddies won and all the heroes got killed should not be overlooked. It is not something you usually get in kids movies.
The prequel trilogy were kids films. Jar Jar Binks, pod racing, colourful aliens with colourful catapult weapons. Jumping from flying cars to other flying cars. Ridiculous light-sabre battles. Contrived romance story lines.
These was a war film set in the star-wars universe.
Rogue One is a 12A, but so was Australia (2008)
All IMO
I still think that lightsabre battles in the prequels were better than in original movies (when it looked more like drunk people got some swords in their hands) or in TFA. And the romance story was fine, just that a lot of people didn't want to see that part of Vader (and yep, the romance lines in Attack of the Clones were absolutely terrible).
I don't know exactly what Lucas had in mind with Jar Jar Binks and with shitty humor that make kids laugh, but it is clear that he regret it considering that Revenge of the Sith was incredibly dark and there was no shitty humor anymore (in addition to Jar Jar having a very small role this time).
Revan you really are the ultimate fanboy if you think that romance was 'fine'. Cmon now.
Yup. I love them because I get to be a kid again when watching. Mufasa dying is more emotionally challenging than these protagonists dying ffs.
It was ridiculously creepy, from the fact they first meet when Anakin's about 9, to the fact that he then talks about how he thinks about her every day, wants to watch her sleep, and stares at her uncomfortably after telling him to stop. Then they go on a date and he starts talking about how great fascism is.
Even the third one has plenty of daft humour: R2-D2 spraying droids in the face, and Grievous essentially being a sort of cowardly comical villain. It's toned down to an extent but still there, and if anything the lack of humour makes the film miserable.
Even though it's significantly darker than some other entries in the series it's still a fairly kiddish movie in many respects: it's full of typically Star Wars humour in the first half, and all the heroes who matter die with dignity: either after doing something heroic or with time to reflect. It'd have been different if Felicity Jones got impaled on Vader's sword (hey-ho!) or beheaded but that's not the case.
Plus we know they succeed in the end, which makes their sacrifice worthwhile. If it'd been completely pointless then maybe not, but the movie takes extra effort to spell it out in the last scene that what the heroes have done will lead to the Death Star's destruction.
Plus we know they succeed in the end, which makes their sacrifice worthwhile. If it'd been completely pointless then maybe not, but the movie takes extra effort to spell it out in the last scene that what the heroes have done will lead to the Death Star's destruction.
This was worse than any of the prequel films for my money. Peter Cushing must be rolling over in his grave.
A war film that didn't really go far enough to be considered an adult film for me. After all, it's still a war film with no blood in it.
They were vocal about making a darker film, but it's only dark compared to the rest of the films, such as the prequels as you say. It's dark on the surface, such as the gritty cinematography, but elements of it's child-targeting predecessors are still present, like that comic relief droid which is only there to make the kids laugh and nag for toys. It's still a film aimed at children, despite the darker tone which is found in basically every other kids franchise these days. Kids films have changed, they're a lot darker than they used to be. Things like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games look dark on the surface but are still films aimed at kids. Rogue One falls right in alongside them for me.
This isn't a criticism either, but at the same time no-one should be pretending it's like Saving Private Ryan or anything.
Cardboard cut-out character after cardboard cut-out character dying, shrug after after.
Who were Donnie Yen and his pal even? They just seemed to randomly tag along.
Forest Whitaker was so bad that it makes me reconsider his performance as Idi Amin.
Who were Donnie Yen and his pal even? They just seemed to randomly tag along.
Forest Whitaker was so bad that it makes me reconsider his performance as Idi Amin.
I've just watched it for a second time and really enjoyed it. Much better the second time around as I was able to track the planet hoping in the first 45 minutes much better.
I really noticed Tarkins bad lip syncs this time.
Also got all emotional seeing Leia at the end. How sad.
I really noticed Tarkins bad lip syncs this time.
Also got all emotional seeing Leia at the end. How sad.
Are you this bitter always? Should make a note not to ever step into your bunker. FFS Nillson
The biggest problem of both the romance and Vader as a kid, was that a lot of people didn't want to see the Vader as the person who was before. So regardless of how it would have been, people would have still complained.
Plenty of people wanted to see that, they were just disappointed with the slop that was served up.
Thought it was boring. Just seen it, very unmemorable.
Worst Star wars yet imo.
Worst Star wars yet imo.
I'm pretty fun, I just don't have a juvenile or nostalgia tinted sensibility, nor can I turn a blind eye to lacklustre filmmaking.
What do you think of the Return of the Jedi? Puerile infantile comedy?
Though many say the Empire Strikes back is their favourite Star Wars film...and I can understand why, I prefer Return of the Jedi simply because it is a lot more fun and we have a total victory of good over evil.
Lots of funny scenes too.
That Darth Vader sequence was incredible! In fact it would've saved the movie even if the rest was a complete atrocity.
It's very well done, and tops even the Batman fracas for me.
It's very well done, and tops even the Batman fracas for me.
That was an issue for me too. I thought Rey was far too wooden. Daisy Ridley lacks the ability to show emotional range. Felicity Jones, Emilia Clarke, Emily Blunt are all much better at acting than her. Jones and Diego Luna were great in RO. TFA suffered from average acting at times, apart from Harrison Ford who was excellent. Adam Driver was good as Kylo Ren. Oscar Isaac was good too. Ridley, who had a lot of screen time was just meh.
They would have been fine if it showed a well written descent to the dark side rather than the strange shite they actually showed. Shouldn't have started with him as a kid for me, should have had him as a padawan in the first film and gone from there.
It's definitely not Saving Private Ryan. Someone said they came out of the cinema are kids were crying though. Probably it's similar to Raiders.
It's a kids film on the surface, but with an adult undercurrent.
If we'd seen the space nazis melting, that would have sealed it.
Simbas dad was murdered in the Lion King ffs and Simba let his uncle fall to be eaten alive by Hyena's. Death doesn't mean something isn't a kids film.
Simba was a prick and he survived to become king of the pride. Pff.
Yeah, taking a feared, inhuman villain and making him a small kid was always a bit of a recipe for disaster. Should've had Obi-Wan ended up stranded on some planet for some reason along with Padme, and the two manage to find help in a resourceful young guy (around Luke's age but sort of wiser and more mature), who also happens to show some proficiency in the force but is quite rebellious and snarky. Fairly basic but I'd imagine would go down better than what was served up.
Eh come on now. ROTS IS the "darkest" star wars movie.
Hardly an achievement to be honest. Problem is when Lucas made the prequels they actually had the technology available to make the fights look good and they failed hard.
It is close between them. In Rogue One everyone dies, in RotS everyone dies (including the 'younglings').
I actually found the fights extremely enjoyable and while I can give to people who say that romance was shit as was the dialogue (I fully agree about the dialogue), the lightsabre battles were fine. Remember, these guys were supposed to be able to return bullets (or laserbullets), so they were supposed to be extremely fast and so fight almost like being in a choreography. Compare this:
It is like two battle gods facing each other (same about Yoda vs Sidious), to:
which is more like two drunkards who have never had a sword on their life, face each other.
The Force Awakens went for the middle ground, which probably is more understandable considering that at least Rey wasn't supposed to be good with a lightsabre (and Ren was injured and emotionally damaged).
Still, it looks more like something from Game of Thrones than two people strong in the force fighting. The music for the fight is awesome though!
Edit: I think that RotS did also a great job by mixing the two main fights on the trilogy. While on Kenobi-Skywalker you see two great warriors, at the same time, it gives you the impression that Yoda and Palpatine are way above them when it comes to the control of the Force.
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Just seen it for the second time. Fantastic.
Out of context the fights in the prequel films are certainly more spectacular. We don't watch the fights out of context though, we watch them as part of the three films they belong to. I suspect a lot of people would prefer the fights in ESB and ROTJ simply because those films did a better job of getting you to invest in the characters involved. I know I certainly do.
@Revan
I think the Luke v Vader fights in 5 and 6 were both brilliant. You could see the emotions involved (even before the i'm your father line), and the fighting was neat and fast without being choreographed (which is especially true for ROTS)
I think the Luke v Vader fights in 5 and 6 were both brilliant. You could see the emotions involved (even before the i'm your father line), and the fighting was neat and fast without being choreographed (which is especially true for ROTS)
The Anakin/Obi-Wan fight in ROTS was great apart from the stupid end.
The emotions were there for sure, and Vader this time looked like he had a week of training, but hardly the great warrior you expect someone who has been training each day for 35+ years is. Luke looked like a noob though, even Jon Snow would had totally dominated him.
"Everyone dies" is a bit too simple IMO. In RO we just had people we hardly knew dying. In ROTS we had characters we knew for a long time dying. Anakin is a character who we followed for 3 movies since he was a child and we saw him getting maimed by his best friend and mentor after he choked his pregnant wife. That's not really the same as a guy who had three lines getting shot by a random stormtrooper.
Don't get me wrong. The general idea of making the fights between force users look more spectacular isn't wrong. In fact it's the right decision. The problem with the prequels was that they didn't have the technology to make them look like Lucas wanted AFAIR. For the prequels they had all the tech they needed and made the Jedi fight spectacular. The problem was that they stopped fighting and started dancing. They hardly ever try to hit their opponent. FFS they hardly ever (only Sidious?) thrust which should probably be THE most used attack. It looks like kids with sticks fighting - only ever aiming for the other kids stick.
New trilogy might do better but so far we only got two noobs fighting each other which makes it hard to compare.
I think that seeing the villain as a child, growing and being shaped by circumstance and choice is a great idea for a prequel series. The trouble with the prequels is that they are poorly plotted, badly cast, horribly paced, horrendously scripted and ugly as hell to boot.
There's no way films from this century, made with enormous budgets, should be worse to look at than anything from the 70s, yet they are - by miles. How can anyone can rate this one lower than any of the prequels? It's not a great film by all time masterpiece standards by any stretch, but it's comfortably in the top 5 of this series.
Speaking of fights, just watched the Finn vs Kylo one again. I remember a lot of people complaining about it, but Kylo pretty much toyed with Finn until Finn got his one single shot. When he did that, he was pretty much destroyed.
For RO, having Vader defeat or kill one of the main characters would have good, but it doesnt really affect or destroy the movie for my perspective.
I get what Revan means with regards to the romance within the prequels (I think). Its not a bad idea, but the execution was just cringe. The "I dont like Sand" is still roflworthy, given that was clearly the best they could come up with
For RO, having Vader defeat or kill one of the main characters would have good, but it doesnt really affect or destroy the movie for my perspective.
I get what Revan means with regards to the romance within the prequels (I think). Its not a bad idea, but the execution was just cringe. The "I dont like Sand" is still roflworthy, given that was clearly the best they could come up with
Yeah, was the problem I had. Didnt mind it started as a kid, cos if we just saw it randomly go to him as a teenager or even older, think people would have asked questions about it. Just dont think it was pulled off well.