I mean I can understand why people aren't doing flips over J.J. returning (I know I'm not), but all this appraisal of Rian Johnson for being 'creative' and 'experimental' is ridiculous. I hope he does a great job with VIII, but for all we know it could be just as average and safe as VII was.
Also, while we're talking about Rogue One, I really don't get all the love for that one. Sure, the prologue and the last 40 minutes were pretty good, but the rest was just plain bad.
I thought the section in Jedha City was pretty cool.
- It was interesting to see Star Wars in an "occupied city" environment.
- I know everyone thinks Chirrut and Baze are toss ins to win over the Chinese market, but Donnie Yen doing some martial arts was pretty cool and I like Baze's awesome gatling gun style weapon. I totally bought in to Donnie Yen maybe not being a Force user but Force sensitive and was my "heart" for the movie.
- I like how Forrest Whitaker looks like a crazy man as Saw compared to how he looked in the prologue and has a bit of Immortan Joe in him with the breathing apparatus
- I wish they didn't have the stupid CGI monster thing "read the pilot's mind". Number one, it's unnecessary GCI. Number two, the pilot never seems to have any effect to his character because of it. Number three, it would have been perfectly understandable for Saw to have a modded interrogation droid like the one in Star Wars that tried to get information out of Princess Leia. Same era, made sense, less CGI, no "warped mind" effect.
- And yes, the cameo from the Dr. Evazan on Ponda Boba was unnecessary. I mean, how do they get off the planet before the city gets attacked? What's the damn point?
My biggest problem post interlude is all the planet hopping they do before they get to Jedha City. From the prologue planet, to Jyn's capture planet, to Dantooine to Jedha. Too many planets!
It would have been perfectly reasonable for Jyn to be captured/rescued on some remote part of Jedha by Cassian and K-2SO, bring her to a secret Rebel hideout in or around the city where they are in contact with the Rebel alliance, and blackmail her to get access to Saw.
It's not like she had to be on some other planet for Saw to keep his distance from her. He even said people would try to use her to get close to him. I mean, Luke and Obi Wan were on Tatooine and then make a trip to Mos Eisley, where apparently Luke had never been if Obi Wan has to explain to him the city upon arrival. It's possible for a planet to be big enough that you can have separation without needing to be off planet.
The scene on Eadu was a bit up and down. I liked that it showed Cassian torn between duty and trusting Jyn, it gives them the Imperial plane they needed to get to Scarif, and it shows Chirrut able to shoot at crap he shouldn't be able to see lol. But it's another planet to jump to, then on to Dantooine, then whatever lava planet Vader is on, then finally to Scarif, where it really picks up.
Again, I watched it once when it came out and liked it, then again a week ago and really liked it but recognized some annoying flaws, so I'm not some sort of Rogue One obsessive or anything. Just enjoyed it a good bit. I have lots of thoughts about how certain things could have been better (how cool would it have been if they only time you saw Vader was at the very end and nobody had foreshadowed him coming?), but I liked the characters, thought the bad guy was excellent, and overall enjoyed it as a lead in to Star Wars.
