Yesterday, I caught Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for the second time. My first viewing was in IMAX 3D. The second time around it was in 2D Sony 4K. Naturally, I have additional random thoughts on the movie, as well as some points I forgot to make in my first story. Below are more musings on this fine film, directed by Gareth Edwards and conceived by the wonderful Gary Whitta. You may turn on your spoiler shields when ready.
Director Krennic is a Bitch x 2: In my first story, I mentioned how Cassian Andor started off as a character full of promise and became pussified as the movie went on. The same holds true for Director Krennic. In the first scene of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, he’s incredible — a charming sociopath that you can’t help but be drawn to. As the story progressed, he became Tarkin’s bitch…and then became Vader’s bitch. It’s a shame, because he started out as one of those “cool” villains that you secretly rooted for. He was entertainingly flippant while being an evil dick.
Bodhi’s Mental Recovery: Would someone explain Bodhi Rooks’ recovery to me? After two viewings, I still don’t get it. After getting interrogated with the side effect of losing his mind, he’s a blubbering mess in Saul Guerrero Saw Gerrera’s prison. He has a brief conversation with Cassian and becomes lucid for the rest of the film. How did his brains go from being scrambled to coherent?
Score One For the Score: I totally forgot to mentioned Michael Giacchino’s lovely score. He did a great job at creating original music for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. His new compositions were catchy and memorable. They also blended in nicely with the handful of John Williams’ hooks he incorporated. That’s skillful. Naturally, I’m biased for Giacchino’s work, since he spent a long time composing videogame soundtracks. Hopefully, you found his score entertaining.
Scarif, It’s a Magical Place: Is Scarif the nicest Star Wars planet ever? Seriously! After doing some nerd research, it seems that the Empire used the tropical volcanic paradise as a source of valuable starship metals. That seems wasteful. Scarif is like Hawaii, except a plant full of Hawaii. The Empire should have turned it into a resort planet where it entertained its troops. That would have made the stormtrooper benefits package unmatched throughout the entire galaxy! Directors and higher could get their own islands. Sadly, the the Empire squandered this hedonistic opportunity.
Closing Thoughts: As I mentioned in the intro, my most recent viewing of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was in 2D Sony 4K. While the picture was fantastic, the sound was flaccid. While the 3D effects didn’t do much for me in the IMAX viewing, the sound was incredible. *sigh* I miss having access to the wide variety of theaters Los Angeles has available. If you can swing it in your neck of the woods, try to see the movie in 2D, but with an excellent 5.1 surround sound system.
As for seeing it thrice in theaters…I probably won’t. I greatly enjoyed two viewings of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in theaters and am happy to wait for a digital release. While it’s objectively a better movie than Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I ended up seeing that movie four times in theaters. Part of it was family circumstances (had to see it once with my mom and once with my brother). Part of it was that the comedy in The Force Awakens made repeat viewings easier. (And really, who wants to watch a suicide mission again and again?) Many of my nerd friends believe that Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. It’s hard, but not impossible, to disagree with them.