I liked Rogue One, but not as good as Force Awakens tbh 1. Empire Strikes Back 2. Return of the Jedi 3. The Force Awakens 4. Rogue One 5. Revenge of the Sith 6. A New Hope 7. The Phantom Menace 8. Attack of the Clones 9. The Clone Wars movie come at me bros
But really, I'd like to say why Krennic's shuttle kinda messed with me. It's a nerd thing but whatever. I didn't feel like it fit. It looked way too "The Force Awakens" era and didn't have the gray and non-flashy design scheme of most Imperial ships. Star Destroyers, TIE fighters, Interdictors, Lambda and Sentinel shuttles all have very plain gray looks. Even after the fall of the Republic the Venators, ARC-170s, and V-wings were painted gray in place of red at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Obviously this is a minor and insignificant thing and it's my only real complaint, which detracted none from the film (because it was that good). It was just kind of irking, especially with how many people actually thought this is a sequel to The Force Awakens. Didn't understand why he couldn't just get a Lambda-class like Vader, Tarkin, Palpatine and every other Imperial officer does. /end rant and prepare for snark
I kind of feel similarly about the death troopers. Cool-looking, sure, but a little out of place. Especially because there seemed to be so many despite not seeing them in the OT. However, the incredibly faithful look and feel of the star destroyers makes up for it to me.
The Death Troopers were Krennic's personal guard, and were pointed out as such several times. And Krennic's shuttle? He's literally the head of Research and Development. Of course he's going to have a completely different shuttle model. Because Research and Development. Of course these highly specialized troopers aren't seen widespread. Because they're R&D personal guard and probably weren't in mass production yet. And then all those "special" versions were destroyed on Scarif. "But we saw shore troopers that never showed up in the OT!" That's because we never went to an island planet. "But those atmospheric TIE fighters!" We've never seen an all atmo fight. "Yes we have, Starkiller Base!" And those dogfights weren't restricted by a planetary shield, therefore could also happen in space. Scarif's dogfights were entirely atmospheric, hence the specific TIEs. Which ended up being destroyed by the Death Star anyways. "But why didn't they just make more Death Troopers or TIE wings or Krennic's shuttle?" Because 1) A New Hope starts 10 minutes after Rogue One and 2) all records were destroyed. Because you know, Scarif was destroyed.
Just wanted to say that the movie is stunning, and the tone is quite different from any other SW even with the reshoots to "lighten" it up to align with ANH. Though CGI Tarkin and Leia was a little uncanny. There are some cliches and I do have some nitpicks, but I'd put it in my top 3 SW movies as of now. The pacing is a little slow at parts, but I never thought there was a dull moment. I'm far more eager to rewatch this one than I was with TFA, to catch the details I may have missed. I've seen plenty of complaints from people towards this film, but only a few I personally would consider valid. I feel like some people are always looking for reasons to dislike or pick apart these movies instead of just enjoying them for what they are. It's a beloved franchise, but the standards people expect from this is absurd. On another note, this made me want to binge watch all the others for the millionth time. Can't wait for episode 8.
I think there's some legitimate complaints to be had. My main issue with the film is that the characters aren't really given much to do. Once the end part of the film comes, it just wasn't really that emotionally effective (at least for me), because I didn't know these characters that well, nor did I really care about them. Though there are some vailid complaints for TFA and its rehashed plot points, I personally believe that movie was so successful because the new characters were just so good, despite the aformentioned plot points. And though that Vader scene was great, I feel like it was a reshot version. Just based on the footage in the first few trailers that got reshot, I get the vibe that that scene was supposed to be the killing of all our heroes, not cannon fodder Rebel troops. It would have been much more effective imo. The only thing that would be missed would be that excellent Chirrut scene.
I feel like the death troopers were a little more reconcilable under the same rationale as the TIE Striker, being deployed only at really important bases or as escorts to top secret information. Since this all revolves around the Death Star, one of the most top-secret projects of the Empire, it would seem logical for them to appear with greater frequency. Krennic is a pretty high-ranking guy with an important status. Krennic's shuttle, however, is not as easily written off because we've seen Lambda shuttles being used for everyone from Grand Moff Tarkin to petty commanders on Lothal and even the head of the Galactic Empire, Palpatine. "Research and Development" does not really make his shuttle's case closed. Not just that but it didn't look as if it was set in the right era. There are tons of shuttles that are a lot like the Lambda--the Theta-class we see at the end of Revenge of the Sith, the Sentinel shuttle that drops off the sandtroopers on Tatooine, and so on. This one looked like a counterpart to the First Order's Upsilon shuttle. But again because I know I'll be burned at the stake I'll say that this did not impact the movie. It's an offhand qualm I had with design.
The Visual Dictionary book said Krennic's shuttle was a prototype design that he became fascinated with, the angular shapes and all that so he had one made for him. It's not as advanced as the shuttles we see in the other movies but Krennic prefers it.
Thanks for the info. Krennic has bad taste but I'm glad there's something behind it. EDIT: I see some Easter eggs were slipped in Rogue One... (Somewhat spoiler alert) http://i.imgur.com/gufbBJi.jpg
Putting this in the spoiler tag, thumbnail might spoil it for people who haven't seen earlier seasons Spoiler: Star Wars Rebels season 3 mid-season trailer
I really want to get into rebels, but I just can't get into the visual style. Especially the movement. None of the action scenes are entertaining to me because of it. I wish it was a Netflix live action series, or just animated differently, because I really want to like it.