Showing posts with label star wars review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label star wars review. Show all posts

Image result for star wars rogue one

When the first trailer aired for this film, I'll admit it, I was scared for the franchise. Star Wars had never had a big budget movie side story before and I wasn't sure how they would be able to weave this into the main story. But goddammit, they succeeded. Rogue One is amazing. In fact I would put it in my top three Star Wars movies. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The story of Rogue One is different than any other tale set in the Star Wars universe. If you've already seen Episode IV then you know the plot of this movie. "It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's secret weapon, the Death Star, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet." That's all the major plot points to Rogue One but it isn't quite that simple. There are many more cogs working in this Rebel machine than it seems from that opening crawl that was written thirty years ago. 

The first problem that I noticed with Rogue One was the lack of backstory for most of the characters. Jyn Erso is the only one who had a significant amount of story given to. All of the others just sort of showed up, which is fine to an extent. For example, Chirrut Imwe, a blind man who sees with the force, doesn't need much to get me to like hiim because that concept is just cool on its own. One character where this problem becomes especially noticeable is with Baze Malbus. He is just there and he has a fast-firing gun. That's boring. He's boring. He's not funny or interesting besides his big gun and he certainly doesn't have e any memorable lines. He isn't a nuisance to the plot, though, unlike a certain Gungan from the prequels. My favorite character has to be K-2SO. He's funny and quick-witted and can also be a badass when the situation calls for it. Overall, the characters themselves are good but do play off of each other well. 

The second major problem I had with Rogue One was the pacing. It starts off very slow and only picks up after about twenty minutes in. That first twenty minutes isn't boring per se but isn't nearly as exciting as the rest of the film which is, might I add, a flooring experience. 

To me, a Star Wars movie is only as good as its villains and Rogue One surprised me in this aspect. Orson Krennic, the captain of the Death Star, is technically the main villain of the film but he is frequently overshadowed by past villains that make appearances throughout the film. That brings me to Darth Vader who, though is only in the movie for about five minutes total, completely steals the show every time he is on screen. James Earl Jones comes back once again to reprise his role and the performance is once again fantastic. The main villain of Krennic isn't bad, though. He just doesn't get as much screen time as he should. 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story looks fantastic from title card to ending credits. It's directed well and the CG is used sparingly enough where it isn't distracting, except for one character. One character from a past film is rendered completely in CG. At first it is very distracting but by the end of the film I barely even remembered that he was CG. Even after the movie finished I turned to my friend to comment on it and he didn't even realize that the character was completely faked. Uncanny Valley. Rogue One is the only Star Wars movie, to my knowledge, to not have John Williams on the soundtrack and it is, unfortunately, noticeable. The music is still great, don't get me wrong, but it has a lack of... whatever John Williams did to make his scores so fantastic. 

Before my final analysis I must say one thing: Rogue One addressed and fixed a major problem that fans have had for many years with the original trilogy. That is all.

I really thought that this movie couldn't work. I was completely wrong. The film is a fun experience with great character dynamics and though it may warrant a yawn or two from the audience in the first act it will definitely be remembered for a long time.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a great experience.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Star Wars V and VI are the movies out of the franchise that have a certain place in my heart. In Episode IV it felt like we only got a taste of what was yet to come as we didn't get very much of a variety of locations and though the performances of the actors and set pieces were definitely good they weren't quite up to the standards that would soon be set for the series.

Star Wars V starts off incredibly well with my favorite location in the entire franchise, Hoth. This place is so barren and bleak but so memorable at the same time just for the interactions that happen here between characters. Another one of my favorite locations and stories takes place in Cloud City where Han gets to meet up with an old friend named Lando who is in league with Darth Vader, if only to protect his friends. All of these locations are very memorable and very unique to each other. The fight scenes are also a lot more intense than in Episode IV. The invasion on Hoth and the confrontation between Darth Vader are both fantastically done. Hoth is fast and it feels important as they are not trying to take down the Empire but rather the Empire is trying to destroy the Rebel's base. It just feels very weighted and important. The Darth Vader fight is also amazingly written and performed. There is so much emotion built up to this climax and when the secret is revealed at the end of it you really feel the weight just as much as Luke does. And don't even get me started on how emotionally light-hearted the Yoda scenes are. 

Star Wars VI is also a very well done movie, though it does suffer very minutely from just a couple of unnecessary scenes. The very beginning scenes, however, are just so memorable and enjoyable. When the audience sees Luke in his black cloak and hood for the first time as he intimidates his way through Jabba's Castle it sends chills down their spines. In fact the whole first half of the film is great. Some of the character dialogue on Endor in the last half isn't as strong as in Episode V and the whole scene where the group gets captured by Ewoks and C3PO is seen like a God to them is just kind of unnecessary. It's not bad as it provides a little bit of humor but it is overall just unnecessary. The final confrontation of Darth Vader and the Emperor is very well done as it does spend a fair amount of time on the relationship between Vader and Luke and the backstory of Vader. This makes Darth Vader's redemption and return to the Light Side all the more memorable. 

Star Wars Episodes V and VI are both great.

Overall the entire Star Wars franchise is very great besides some God-awful films *cough* *cough* Episodes I and II *cough* *cough*. Honestly though, I recommend that a first-timer watch them in my version of the Machete method. My version is IV, V, III, then VI. Watching IV and V first preserves the reveal of Darth Vader being Luke's father and has III as a sort of flashback. Just don't watch I and II. They are dumb and worthless.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
I'm glad I can start talking about the truly great Star Wars movies now. Star Wars Episode IV has solidified itself in many people's hearts across the world and I can see why. It is not only a fun adventure but a state of mind that we all like to put ourselves into now and then. The flawed hero, the strong and standalone "damsel", the cocky bounty hunter, even the wise old hermit is fun! Episode IV is a first in the series and a great starting point for the fandom!

The story is simple enough. An evil force called the Empire has taken over the galaxy and a small group of rebels is trying to rebel against them. A young farm boy who longs to be more finally gets his chance to be something more when he comes across two stranded droids who bring a message of great distress in search of a mysterious man named Obi-Wan Kenobi. So the farm boy named Luke finds Obi-Wan who is now known as the hermit Ben Kenobi and they both meet up with a bounty hunter named Han Solo where the newly formed group goes to save the Princess Leia. Simple, yes. But executed brilliantly because of the varied characters and their relations to each other. The banter between Han Solo and Princess Leia are especially great. This trend continues into the other movies in the trilogy also.

The villains in the film are really sinister unlike the prequels. Darth Vader's main underling is surprisingly awesome as he remorselessly blows up an entire planet after he promises NOT to. Darth Vader is of course great as he is built up for a perfect foil for Luke when he kills Obi-Wan Kenobi. This pivotal moment not only sets up Vader as Luke's villain but shows backstory for Obi-Wan and Vader instead of just telling it.

Though there isn't a lot that this film does badly, it still suffers. In my opinion the movie moves a little fast. The characters constantly bump from planet to planet so I don't feel connected at all to them. This was most evident when the Death Star was about to destroy Yavin 4; where the Rebel base was. At this point I had seen the planet from space and a single bunker. Out of the entire planet the movie could have showed it picked two mindless locations that just serve as minor exposition. This is why the famous trench run at the end of the movie didn't seem so drastic to me. I simply didn't care enough about this planet.

Overall this movie is very great. It not only told a great story but captured an audience that would keep the memory of this movie in their hearts for their entire lives. That being said, the sequels in the original trilogy did do a much better job at pacing and an overall narrative flow.

Star Wars Episode IV is great!
Wednesday, December 09, 2015
This "Road to VII" marathon has been quite a ride. Just glad we got to see a GOOD prequel.

The reason I, and many others of my generation, like this movie so much is because it is a refreshing return for the franchise that we all love so much. Episode I is bad and Episode II is decent; Episode III, however is surprisingly good. It successfully combines all of the good things from the previous prequels (plus one bad thing) and makes a movie that is fondly remembered.

First of all, this is the first Star Wars prequel that feels like a Star Wars movie from the very start. It kicks off with a very fun space battle as the two heroes go to save Senator Palpatine and capture both Count Dooku and General Grievous, whom was briefly mentioned in the opening scroll. They break into the spaceship and fight off droids in their path but come across Count Dooku who wants a rematch with Anakin. The fight ensues and Anakin ends up destroying everything he has been taught and KILLS Count Dooku. This is one of Anakin's most important beats in the movie. This is when he starts being entangled by the Dark Side. I especially have praise the "Opera Scene" where Senator Palpatine tells Anakin of Darth Plageuis the Wise. This scene is such a shift in momentum for the entire prequel trilogy as it gives the viewer some much needed lore and Sith backstory that we just don't get in the other prequels. This theme of corruption continues throughout the film too with it eventually leading to Anakin's complete turn to the Dark Side and his becoming of Darth Vader. And I do have to say, the last act where Darth Vader takes control of everything and becomes a Sith, though a little too fast paced, holds some of the most intense scenes in all of the prequels. All this chaos building onto itself leads to the final fight scene between Anakin and Obi-Wan which is one of the most well made fight scenes in the entire Star Wars series.

Though I do praise this film for the things it got right, I do absolutely have to point out the bad parts that it still kept from Episodes I and II. For example, Padme is still a useless character with little to no development. The only reason she is there is to be a 'forbidden love' scenario for Anakin to get tangled up into. Maybe if the character of Padme was directed better I would have actually cared about her and the whole 'love' they tried to build around her and Anakin would have been worth something. The way the film turned out, it's all pretty inconsequential. Another bad decision they brought back from the other prequels was a total misuse of the villains. Count Dooku is killed ten minutes through the film and General Grievous has a really cool design but is no real threat. Sure he looks threatening, but nothing he does never is actually threatening. He is just a political enemy for Republic.

Overall I have to say that Star Wars Episode III is definitely a lot less lazy than its predecessors. It is not as amazing as I would have liked, but it wasn't a bad movie.

Star Wars Episode III is a very fun watch.
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
I find Attack of the Clones to be a very confused movie. It has uninteresting plots that lead to dead ends, actors again not doing their job, and an unnecessary focus on politics. Long story short, it's not very good.

First of all, the plot of this movie is all over the place. We start out surprisingly strong with the Senator Padme's ship blowing up and almost killing here and then an older Padawan Anakin and his master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, being called to her for protection. For a first scene, the film does a good job of setting up the relationship between a whole bunch of characters. I particularly like the 'elevator scene' where we hear some casual banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin. Though the acting coming from Anakin is forced as always, it makes these two characters' relationship seem like very brotherly one. After this interesting dialogue, however, Anakin becomes a complaining brat for the rest of the movie. Padme doesn't help his cause either as she is so void of emotion that they make the perfect robot couple for the entire movie. I really think that the film should've focused more on the brotherly relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan instead of a ridiculously shoe-horned love story so in the third movie we could have been actually affected by Anakin turning evil.

Another thing this movie does wrong is its use of villains. Episode II doesn't get that a villain doesn't just need to be a foil for the main character physically but also emotionally as well. This is why Darth Vader is a great villain for Luke because we know that Vader is his father so whenever they finally have their final battle it's as tense as ever. Count Dooku in Episode II is a useless villain. They do build him up a little bit in the first half by talking about him only in mystery but it doesn't work unless we get to know his perspective of the situation. If we even at least saw Count Dooku in the first half than This problem wouldn't be so plain to see but none of the characters say his name or his relationship to the dark side and the Sith until halfway through the film. I think that Episode I's Darth Maul had a much better build up as he was first seen sneak-attacking Qui-Gon than fleeing which left you with a bit of mystery at his character. Count Dooku's mystery is just there for the sake of BEING mysterious. There is no depth to it.

One thing I do have to give this movie credit for is its use of large, vast landscapes. Places like Naboo, Coruscant, and Genosis are really just fun to look at and point out all of the little details that the landscape designers gave these worlds. That is probably the only good thing about this movie. It looks good. The story, characters, and villains are all bland. The whole movie, just like Episode I, doesn't need to exist in the state that it's in.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is bland and underdeveloped.

There are things that are really good in this movie like the landscapes and the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan but overall it is just useless. There is, however, a way that it could've been good.

If it had a better writer... like this guy ---> https://goo.gl/ZkWYvt

Belated Media does a great job of making a story that would have actually been interesting for Episode II.


Saturday, November 21, 2015
I know that people give this movie a lot of crap considering the legacy that it was supposed to live up to when it was first released. To most fans of the Star Wars franchise, the prequels are seen as mediocre at best and are panned by critics. The sad thing is, they're right. For the most part, the prequels are not good movies, and it all started with a completely useless prequel called The Phantom Menace.

When I say 'useless' I'm referring to a lot of aspects of the movie at hand. From side characters, plot points, and locations, a lot of it just seems inconsequential. For instance, the opening of the movie is all set up as a diplomatic mission. Nobody once to see Jedi being diplomats. This does introduce the viewer to scenarios that we'll see more of in the rest of the movie, such as droids and The Emperor. But it doesn't really envelope a first-time viewer into a world. Some might make the argument that it is just giving us a sample of the world but in reality it's restricting us to something much bigger. If it was just 'sampling' this huge universe it would at least mention other awesome places in the universe at hand. Instead, we visit a total three planets with little to no mention of anything outside of them. Another useless plot point is the whole premise of arriving on Tattooine. The scenario is that the crew's (Padme, Obi Wan, and Qui Gon Jinn) ship needs repairing and they are stranded on a desert planet. This whole scenario does have some much needed talk between Padme, Qui Gon, and Anakin, but that can happen somewhere else. The only reason the writers wanted Tattooine in this movie is because it is also Luke's home planet. How about instead of having Gungans on Naboo help with the resistance, you can get residents on Tattooine help so there is a reason for being there in the first place. That planet isn't even very interesting besides the fact that they still have slaves. It is useless.

One thing I do commend this movie for, however, are its fight scenes. Whether it be huge armies facing off, running from underwater monsters, or a simple battle between a Jedi and a Sith, it is always a spectacle to watch and gives a real sense of urgency to fights that the sequels didn't have as much of. The villains that the Jedi fight are well done, though I would prefer them to be a little more mysterious. The Darth Maul reveal on Tattooine for example would have been so much more effective if we hadn't seen him at all up to that point except in shots when you couldn't see his face, only his cloak. That's also a huge problem with the Emperor. The movie gives hints that Senator Palpatine is the Sith Lord but those subtle hints aren't very effective when you can see half of his face while he is playing the role of the Sith Lord. That's really a problem with all of the villains in this movie; they need to act more subtly in order to get a better reaction from the audience.

In fact, any kind of reaction from the audience would be very much appreciated as I had a blank face through the first half of this movie as I was trying my best to get through the cringe-worthy performances of Anakin and Padme. Anakin wasn't too bad, thoough, as he was just a charming and curious kid who wanted to please everybody and who can blame him? He's a slave! Padme, however, is just a bore. She gets a little more character wants it is revealed that she is actually the Queen of Naboo and she actually makes a difference in last act of the movie. In fact, it seems like the whole movie gets better in the last half. It seems like every character really gets a chance to shine and do some real good. Anakin destroys an entire army of droids, Padme kicks some butt with a task force of behind her, and Obi Wan actually does something important by killing Darth Maul a.k.a. The Phantom Menace. By the end of the movie, everybody got a chance in showing what they could do and it really gave me hope as to what was up next in the franchise. It's just too bad that the other prequels still aren't very good.

Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was useless!

Though I did really enjoy the last act of this "epic", most of the plots that the characters chased were inconsequential to the rest of this movie and to the rest of the prequels. It was lazy for the first half and only good enough as a whole.


Friday, July 10, 2015
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