After pondering the complaints of Saw Guerrera being a pointless addition to the film, I think the creators are actually setting Saw up for a larger role in movies and shows in the future, possibly a stand-alone. I mean, just look at the dude, plus he’s too “extreme” for the rebels?-- he has to have an amazing backstory (aside from the little bit we saw in The Clone Wars series)!
In fact, I’d rather see a Saw stand-alone than a Han Solo one.
ETA: In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the studio was planning a Saw movie, but didn’t want to announce it before R1 came out because most people would be like “WHO?” They created a character that’s just begging for a movie of his own.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Boba Fett movie, and maybe even a Lando movie. But if anything, this movie planted the seeds for an Ancient Jedi movie (Involving the Journal of the Whills, Old Jedi Temple) with a very young Yoda as the main character, and characters like the ones in Rogue One as the Guardians.
One thing that made this movie a lot of fun was seeing all the things from the original Trilogy in different places and scenarios. It harked back for me to playing with my Star Wars figures as a kid.
Sorry to double post but I forgot to mention something else. Another detail I enjoyed:
At one point a character says (I think during the Rebel briefing scene) “What if this information was released on purpose to draw our fleet into a trap?” I laughed because that is exactly what happens in Return of the Jedi.
To me, Tarkin looked like a video game character. You know, one of those characters in the cut scenes of modern video games, that look extremely realistic, until you look close enough and can see that it’s not really a person. Maybe that’s what people mean by “uncanny valley,” but to me CGI-Cushing was never truly convincing. Every second he was on screen just screamed, “There is a video game character standing amidst all these real people.”
I don’t know if that’s because I’ve been a fan of Peter Cushing since long before Star Wars, and am well aware of what he looks like and of the fact that he’s been dead for years. Nevertheless, that’s the way it was. Nothing took me out of the movie as much as CGI-Cushing did. Not even CGI-Carrie Fisher or Obvious Film Clip Gold Leader or Walking Dead Man Red Five, because if there’s one mystery that just had to be cleared up, it was “Why was the call sign Red Five available for Luke to use?” Thank goodness they explained that!
Hmmm, I didn’t remember that Cushing was dead, and nothing seemed off to me on-screen and it certainly didn’t trip my uncanny valley. CGI didn’t even enter my mind, I only wondered if it was a lookalike actor or if they somehow had Cushing actually act and then made him seem younger somehow (which is a different thing IMO).
CGI-Carrie OTOH looked plasticy but still didn’t trip my uncanny valley. The two of them must be on the upward-crawling-toward-realism section of the valley to me. With CGI-Carrie I could tell there was some digital cleanup, but also thought that they may have used a standin and then just digitally made her seem more Carrie-ish (which would be different to me from using a standin that looks nothing like the actor just for motion capture, lighting, and other actor’s reactions.)
Speaking of video games, what was with that tunnel that opened & shut every 3 seconds that Jyn had to climb through? It almost seemed like a shout out to the “Chompers” scene in Galaxy Quest. “This episode was badly written!”
I enjoyed it and agree with others that Tarkin and Leia entered the uncanny valley at first. Subsequent scenes with Tarkin allowed my brain to relax, I guess, and seemed more real. Although my mind was having a hard time with things, I still got nerdy full-body chills when Leia turned around, despite not being surprised to see her.
Although I’ve read plausible reasons elsewhere in this thread, it made no sense to me why Leia would’ve been present during the battle to retrieve the plans. Was it supposed to be a big surprise to see her in the movie? It can’t have been. But they way they never mentioned her and never gave her a reason to be there makes it seem like it was. I’m not sure the rebel alliance is comprised of any other royalty, so it seems weird they’d allow her to be in a position to put herself at such risk. And then I had to dredge up the fact that R2 and C3 belong to her, so they must’ve been on her ship, although we didn’t see them. Seems like an appearance or mention here or there would’ve primed things for the ending we got.
Overall, I really liked this movie, but afterwards I found myself thinking about what sort of after action interview Tarkin filed with the Emperor or whoever he answers to regarding his actions at the end of this movie.
“Yes, after I arrived, the Rebel fleet immediately made preparations to withdraw, and I knew a superior fleet was just about to arrive headed by Lord Vader, so just before the fleet action decisively ended in our favor I ordered the huge planet-scouring beam fired at our own base, killing thousands of Imperial personnel, destroying vast amounts of expensive equipment and material and disintegrating a large amount of priceless and irreplaceable technical information. This action prevented me from interrogating any Rebel prisoners from the surface and determining where their base of operations was and what they were trying to accomplish with this raid. I hoped this action would lead to the ironic demise of my political rival, but I didn’t actually confirm that he had even survived the battle up until that point. I publicly ordered this action to maximize the number of people who knew about it and could gossip about our carelessness towards our own troops and negatively affect morale. Please promote me and allow me to continue running this apocalyptic battle station.”
Regarding Leia, if the recent Marvel comic miniseries centered on her is any indication, the Rebel Alliance leaders literally couldn’t keep her out of trouble if they put her under literal house arrest for her own protection.
As in, she recruits a pilot to steal a shuttle and take off to go rally the surviving Alderaanians (since she feels responsible for what happened to their homeworld.) Given that the pilot in question doesn’t even like her, she probably gets pretty far on audacity and charisma checks when it comes to getting into trouble like this.
Am I the only one who had never heard the naval use of the term corvette and had only ever thought of a Chevy Corvette as a corvette and therefore thought calling small spaceships corvettes was a really dumb idea?
And for a species that look like sea creatures to have one called a Hammerhead (another sea creature) Corvette seemed (sure, based in part on my ignorance of the term) very very silly?
A Hammerhead Corvette just sounds like the kind of thing Dr. Zoidberg would drive around New New York (if he wasn’t so pathetically poor).
Not enough AT-ATs. Only a few (3?) and only for like two minutes. Disappointed not to see star destroyer rain down on the planet after smashing through the shield. Boring first hour. Even at the end I couldn’t tell you any of the character’s names. Too much “emperor” he wasn’t even mentioned in Star Wars 1977. Competent but overall pointless. What’s the point of “prequel” films anyway when they only tell you what you already know.
Never mind the fact that any reference to an empire implies the existence of an emperor, but…
Grand Moff Tarkin: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away. General Tagge: But that’s impossible. How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy? Grand Moff Tarkin: The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.
