Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Canon-Strike III: Star Wars

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    #76
    Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
    Or with the passing of time is that legacy an unfair one?
    One of the main facts I know about this one is that it's (surprisingly) one of the most expensive movies ever made.

    Also that it went through extensive reshoots/recuts and I'd be curious to see the original.

    Mainly, though, I just don't know what they were trying to achieve with it (besides "make money"). Who wanted an origin story for Solo? The EU books had done one, but I didn't remember it as a celebrated part of the franchise, and at least when you read those, the person you pictured in your head as Han Solo was Harrison Ford.

    This marked the first Star Wars film I didn't even bother to go see at the cinema.

    I saw it about a year later when I bought the bluray off someone, and honestly... Okay, as said before with these films, there are different "levels" of discerning for different franchises. I was kinda checked out of Star Wars at this point so, watching it from that perspective, I was entertained end-to-end, as in, I didn't check my watch, I didn't pause the film to do something else... I think there was a lot to like. Though it was tonally uneven and a bit muddled in places. An interesting question is to ask whether people liked it more or less than something like Valerian.

    Comment


      #77
      My main curiosity about Solo and the director change is this only had a few weeks of refilming and the casting was always set so presumably a lot of what we got we were always going to get, it's hard not to imagine (given the original directors) that a lighter tone wasn't planned which would have made more sense given the characters. One thing Solo smacks of is the end product being one of committee, its visuals through to the tone is completely wrong for Star Wars in my eyes, the film veering too close to Rogue One's image style which that film got away with for different reasons.

      Comment


        #78
        Even without a single reshoot, a director can change a lot so, with just a few weeks of reshooting, I have a feeling the end result was significantly different. One thing that stood out was how grey and flat some of the effects visuals were, totally contrasting with some of the shot visuals (like costume design), making me think that it was originally aiming to be a much more colourful movie. I think had it been a more colourful, funnier movie it would have felt even less Star Warsy but might well have been a more enjoyable experience.

        Comment


          #79
          That would tie in with where I'm going to end up with the sequel trilogy, there's a definite element of the heads of Disney/Lucasfilm having an idea of what modern Star Wars should be (Mandalorian also tonally fits in with this as well) and for me it's way off base with what it should be. Solo was like a lightning rod moment where that vision struck against completely the wrong material to be alligned with that vision.

          Comment


            #80
            Originally posted by Neon Ignition View Post
            (Mandalorian also tonally fits in with this as well)
            Literally my favourite TV/movie thing that Star Wars has done outside of the original trilogy.

            Comment


              #81
              Originally posted by Asura View Post
              Literally my favourite TV/movie thing that Star Wars has done outside of the original trilogy.
              Same. Unfortunately, it feels thirty years too late.

              Comment


                #82
                Solo really felt like a movie on fast forward his time as oliver twist with Worm Fagan and his time in the imperial army where given like 30 seconds of screen time each, and with so littel time you kind of dont care as these story bits dont have any weight, meeting chewie also has no weight as dose him getting his name or his train heist gang.

                You think your gonna get to see Han as some sort of cool space smuggler getting into scrapes and playing party's of each other and escaping stuff by the skin of his teeth, you know like he is in the later movies, what you get is a crap heist movie.

                Comment


                  #83
                  Movie 05 - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
                  A mining ship stranded 3 million years from Earth in deep space, the Rouge One is... scratch that, Rogue One was the first live action spin-off movie delivered in the franchise and the first attempt from Disney to break out from the main saga's shadow despite how interwoven the films narrative is with the next film in line. With a more dour and somber tone than the main films this entry also showcased Lucasfilms future undoing in meddling with expensive projects late in development, though here the film found success at the box office where Solo did not.




                  Where does Rogue One sit in your appreciation of the franchise, did it make a worthwhile contribution to the arc of the series and what did it get wrong?

                  Comment


                    #84
                    I love Rogue One. It felt different, like it had its own vision and it just went with it. The story was good, the end really hit me and I thought Donnie Yen was fantastic. It's a very cool movie. And yeah, it's a bit grey and bit bleak and doesn't have the fun Star Wars adventure heart (although interesting seeing people say it's very SW - reminds me of when people want 'gritty superheroes') but that's part of what makes it stand out and makes it interesting.

                    There isn't much to any of the characters and, all these years later, I still feel there are stronger choices for the lead but it's not really a character movie. It's a plot movie. Forest Whitaker's character was godawful and he can be so good so I have no idea what happened there. Vader seen in the mid section of the film really doesn't seem like Vader, it's like the suit and his actions don't fit. And the music felt like a Star Wars game where it's kind of Star Wars but they can't afford to license the real music so it's a soundalike. But none of those things really detract from the movie for me.

                    I think it's great.

                    Comment


                      #85
                      I think it has tons of problems. But it's definitely one of those films that I can watch and enjoy purely on an aesthetic level.

                      It totally obliterates one of the things that people used to say about the prequels, "of course they look really different, they're newer" - Rogue One is a great re-interpretation of the visuals from the original trilogy, and genuinely looks like how you remember it, from the props, to the costumes, to the environments.

                      It squanders some of its potential; I think the movie's villain, Kranik (sp?) looked great in the trailers, but didn't quite deliver in the characterisation. In fact characterisation is its main problem; I don't think the characters have enough room to breathe, and when they do, they're a bit inconsistent (like the main character's arc from jaded runaway to impassioned freedom fighter falls really flat, and when the bodycount starts rising, the character you seem to feel most for is the droid). I'm told that Forest Whittaker's character is from the Rebels cartoon, which explains why he's not really given a lot to do in the movie; long-time fans already kinda know who he is.

                      Mainly, though, for me, this film fought back against a slight handicap - the events of Rogue One entirely stomp on the older events of the Jedi Knight sub-franchise (in the "old" Star Wars, Kyle Katarn steals the Death Star plans in the first mission of Dark Forces). Despite that, I really enjoyed it and I like that it's part of the franchise.

                      That thing above, about the visual style... It counts for so much. Maybe I forgive it too many sins.

                      Comment


                        #86
                        Originally posted by Asura View Post
                        when the bodycount starts rising, the character you seem to feel most for is the droid). .
                        This!!! he was the, most likable of the whole cast and also the most rounded out too, that's why it hits harder than any of the other deaths, little story beats like that his kind are being phased out due to him being easy to hack don't just feel like a way to explain why you never see him in the original trilogy but add to his story and explain why he's part of the Team. When you look at the other main character its all tropes Jyn is a reluctant freedom fighter, come on Jyn we know your gonna help in the end why do we have to do this journey i hate them doing this in films as it feels like padding as apposed to character development. and Cassian is the ruthless get things done at all costs Rebel that comes back for the brink supposedly, giving up his murderous ways. Despite these flaws, i still enjoyed Jyn and Cassin more than the mess that was Rey, Finn or any of the new character story lines in the main line new trilogy.

                        That final scene with Vadar and Leia was awesome too, gave me goose bumps in a similar way to how the final episode of the mado did. yeah its a bit pandering and properly smells like fan service but, this is star wars its a slocky space opera with space wizards and Muppets its not meant to be taken as seriously as some people do.

                        Comment


                          #87
                          Rogue One is a film where I feel its influence is either strong in the franchise or someone at Disney/Lucasfilm has a strong feel for how they want Star Wars to be which is something much more serious and dour in tone than the original films where.

                          In this films case I can run with it because it suits the plot and the characters but it's the same vibe that sank Solo. It's a decent film though raises the dual issue Star Wars has which is will general audiences care about films like this when the plots no longer relate to Skywalker? I'm in the camp that find Star Wars universe incredibly limited compared to most other Star Wars franchises, in the past whenever I've come across tales of other stories or the old expanded universe all the way through to Old Republic it's always felt like more of the same but less interesting because ultimately in the Star Wars universe spaceships are about as hard edged as the science fiction gets for the most part, in the end it usually descends into a sword battle.

                          But Rogue One, I think even though it was meddled with by the studio, holds together well and whilst it ties in to the next film so is somewhat tied by that it still feels bold that for the studio's second film and first solo movie was brave enough to rely on new characters and give it the ending it did. It didn't fuel me for more and I wish its tone didn't permeate as strongly as it does (I've still yet to watch Mandalorian S2 but the first seasons flat tone didn't help me push through the 2 pages deep plot) but particularly in the canon starting from Ep1 to this point it's the film that arguably feels the most relevant.

                          Comment


                            #88
                            MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

                            Movie 06 - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
                            Six films in and on the day itself we finally reach the original film in the entire saga. A New Hope introduced audiences of the seventies to that galaxy from far, far away and the very first introduction of the farmer boy who would go on to experience a trilogy spanning adventure on a mission to stop a galactic leading Emperor. From the opening crawl of text and looming mass of the Destroyer overhead through to the celebration of heroes at the end of the film, this fourth Skywalker chapter enraptured a generation of cinema goers.



                            Nearly 45 years on from its release what remain the strengths of A New Hope, what are its weaknesses and is it still the lynchpin of the saga for a dated weak link?

                            Comment


                              #89
                              Well it's the classic. A neat little adventure film at its core but set in an amazing world we had never seen before. It's very simple, plays into some obvious tropes but then adds more to them (like rescue the princess but what if she's a bit of a hardass and takes over?). The characters are great once you get past Luke being a constant whiner and the whole universe it shows implies so much more. Very basic story, very rich setting.

                              Basically, it works. And it works really, really well.

                              Comment


                                #90
                                With New Hope it's a film where I appreciate its importance and I do enjoy it but at the same time it's a little... dull. But at the same time it's interesting that putting aside the Episode IV element that was somewhat retroactively applied the film charts an adventure where they destroy the weapon but don't stop the villains which is very ballsy considering how hard it was to get the film made and how risky it was as a project. It's very dated as it should be after so long but viewed against the films of its decade it easily stands out like only a small handful of others do from the 70s

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X