I liked it a lot. It wasn’t perfect–the scenes with Saw go on too long–but it was really good. Will probably see again. I had it spoiled that everyone dies, but I guessed that was going to happen. The action in the final act really made the movies, a good old fashioned Star Wars battle.
I liked the blind monk character. When He first showed up I was worried that he would be the trite character who uttered vague sayings that don’t really mean anything, so I was happy when he turned out to be a snarky wise ass. I didn’t get a gay vibe, though one of the people I saw it with did. I just thought he was really close with his friend.
I thought Vader had a lot more swagger than he did in the original movies. Part of that I put down to the actor playing him. I can just imagine the conversation with his agent.
“Hey I got you a role in the new Star Wars movie. You’ll be in costume the whole time and won’t have any spoken lines.”
“Oh, so I’m a random stormtrooper then. OK, that’s cool.”
“No, you’re Darth Vader.”
“I’VE BEEN PREPARING FOR THIS MY WHOLE LIFE.”
I did find the pun cringeworthy, although Vader did have a sardonic sense of humor in Empire. “Pray I do not alter it further.”
I guess I can see the criticism about a lack of character development, but it didn’t really bother me. The spectacle made up for it.
Haven’t gone back for my second viewing yet but thinking on it the past few days this film would really have benefited from the ‘traditional’ Star Wars opening with the scrolling text.
A few well written sentences could have laid out he background of the defecting pilot, who had him and why the Rebellion needed Jyn - open to the meeting with Cassian Andor meeting his contact then cut to the existing opening as a flashback. Rescue Jyn and then proceed pretty much as is. Get rid of a lot of the jumping around between planets/characters at the start.
If that was meant to be a Spaceballs reference, was the constantly opening and slamming shut circular door at the top of that tower/data bank on Scarif a reference to Galaxy Quest?
It had the same door configuration as the top hatch of the Millennium Falcon, (that you saw when Lando rescued Luke from the bottom of Bespin), which was the only reference I could think of.
After the movie ended my wife turned to me and told me she had no idea it was going to be a prequel and didn’t realize until they started talking about Vader.
I feel really bad for anyone who remained spoiler-free who hasn’t seen it yet. That ending is going to be a real emotional roller coaster given her passing.
I’ve defended the pun in a few conversations about the movie. Just like you, I point to Vader’s established (if infrequent) sense of humor.
Neither your example nor my example are puns, but the dark humor is there (my example is “Apology accepted, Captain Needa”).
So, I don’t mind the line “Be careful not to choke on your aspirations”.
What kills it is the quarter turn and reveal of the choking gesture with his hand. We all know he’s Force choking Krennic. Krennic knows Vader is Force choking him. Before the quarter turn I was actually thinking it was extra cool that there was no physical gesture to go along with it- we needed the physical gesture in the 1977 movie because we were just being introduced to the use of Force powers for the first time. Now that the audience understands what’s going on, it’s extra cool that an experienced Force user can make use of powers with minimal gesturing.
Then they ruined it with that quarter turn and gesture.
They might as well have gotten Mark McKinney to play Vader reviving his Head Crushing character from The Kids in the Hall.
“Be careful not to choke on your aspirations” was fine. The quarter turn and gesture was like adding a rimshot to tag the line- that’s what made it so bad.
It was like having the pit orchestra play “Yadda da duh da DAH!” or inserting a CGI-resurrected Ed McMahon saying “HEY-OHHHHH!!!”
I could see it either way. The pun didn’t bother me, this is still Anakin Skywalker, whether he wants to admit it or not, after all.
I like to imagine that Vader is just a font of puns and grim jokes that everyone is too afraid to laugh at or complain about. Just imagine some grim-faced Imperial admiral trying not to roll his eyes at the latest offense. I mean, we only see him for a small fraction of his day.
A little ironic that the first week of it’s release, the movie featured a digital recreation of one dead star and in the second week of it’s release, it features two.
I heard that she had already filmed her scenes for episode 8. I wonder if she was intended to have a role in episode 9, and if so, will they do rewrites, or try to go the digital route again?
Especially when you consider that the appendage he is gesturing with is not actually a part of his body. Why does the position of his prosthetic hand have any effect?
I did like how the movie cleared up oddities from the original trilogy in regards to the Death Star plans:
[ul]
[li]Why is there only one copy of the plans? Because they had just gotten away with it.[/li][li]Why does the DS have such a stupid design flaw? Because it is deliberate sabotage.[/li][li]Why don’t they just put a grate over that exhaust port? Because the flaw was designed to be subtle, and the DS peeps haven’t noticed it.[/li][li]Why does Vader need to recover the plans, instead of just blowing up Leia’s ship and being done with it? Because knowing what specific part of the DS plans were picked up would let them find the sabotage and fix it.[/li][/ul]
That was me. I had gotten spoiled about the fate of the cast of characters and that Vader was in the movie. The ending tho’… I might have gotten a dust mote in my eye causing an unexpected watering reaction.
As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it a great deal and felt it was better than The Force Awakens. I’ve tried to re-watch TFA and just can’t get more than half-way through the movie before losing interest. Although this movie had moments that had me rolling my eyes, overall it was a fun ride. Random thoughts…
[ul]
[li]Vader’s “choke on your ambitions” line was the most groan worthy moment of the film.[/li][li]“I am the force and the force is with me” mantra just fell flat on my ears.[/li][li]I might have slightly squeed in glee over the Red Leader and Gold Leader cameos.[/li][li]Was that Porkins’ brother who bit it in the space battle? What are the odds the Alliance has two significantly overweight fighter pilots? I want to join the Alliance, it’s the only place a guy as big as me could fly a fighter! (And I’m no where near the size of Porkins)[/li][li]The movie was not as gritty and dark as I expected going in based upon some comments from friends who had seen it before me. Definitely a different tone than the originals but I expected a much more darker movie.[/li][li]That said, at times I was surprised at how violent the movie was. Shooting a wounded Stormtrooper in the head at point blank range was certainly not something we’ve seen before.[/li][li]I thought Mon Mothma appeared weak and ineffective in the scene where the Alliance debated what to do. I always had this image of her being this great leader of the rebellion. She didn’t show any leadership, political will, or strength there. Disappointing.[/li][li]Vader’s part of the finale scene was just awe-inspiring in his brutality and violence. We’ve never seen Vader fight like that before and it was stunning.[/li][li]Although I agree with some comments that the ending re-cast the opening of ANH in a different light I’m not sure I agree with the comments about Leia. I mean, yes she was a bad-ass completely lying to Vader. But I still see that as I did originally, Leia played the only card she could - her position as a member of the Senate, her family’s prominence in the politics, and the diplomatic mission card. Enough plausible deniability to try to give the Vader pause and consider the ramifications of outright killing a senator. Granted, it was a weak bluff but her only play.[/li][/ul]
I enjoyed the movie and plan to see it again before it leaves theaters but I can’t escape the fact that this movie is basically a Parasite latched onto the original Star Wars. Imagine a world were Star Wars didn’t exist. Would this movie feel satisfying or complete? Probably not. But does that matter? I’m honestly not sure of the answer.
I liked that the rebellion was shown as really fractured with groups at various levels of militancy involved. Basically the death star was the unifying opponent that brought them together enough to be more effective than just lightly coordinated guerrilla attacks.
Also, at that point she was basically just stalling for time. She had already given R2 the plans, and the more time Vader spent dealing with her, the more time he wasn’t searching the ship and potentially coming across an astromech droid trying to hit the silk and get off the ship.
