Star Wars Cinematic Universe

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While I'm not a fan of every single franchise on the planet trying to form a cinematic Universe, this is totally a thing that's going on right now, whether anyone likes it or not. And since Disney is doing so great with the MCU both financially and critically, and being that The Force Awakens was such a huge hit, I think it's safe to say that the SWCU will most likely have a decent life-span.

On those grounds, I figured that it was worth giving it its own thread for all future Star Wars-related discussions.

On that note, the Rogue One trailer just dropped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wji-BZ0oCwg

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of having yet another prequel, and the trailer itself barely shows anything so I'm pretty indifferent to this movie at the moment. However, I will admit to enjoying The Force Awakens a fair amount, even though I didn't love it nearly as much as most other people did, so it's definitely possible to have good Star Wars films again. As for this movie, I think that it has the potential to be good, but I'm still going in with a healthy dose of skepticism. I would of course love to be proven wrong in this regard, though, as always.

[Dr. Insomniac]

How dare they discriminate against blue people worldwide by casting a white Thrawn? I am so triggered by this that I will consider writing an angry tweet to the official Star Wars twitter before getting bored and doing something more productive.

[gunswordfist]

Oh, so Rogue One is a prequel? I kind of thought so.

[Daikun]

[Dr. Insomniac]

Rian Johnson has listed 6 major influences for the next Episode.

Twelve O'Clock High
Bridge on the River Kwai
Three Outlaw Samurai
Letter Never Sent
Gunga Din
Sahara

[Daikun]

Trailer #2

Also, R.I.P. Kenny Baker

[Daikun]

Star Storm: The Destruction of Father

[Daikun]

Just got back from Rogue One.

We finally got it, you guys--a good Star Wars prequel.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This movie once again reminded me of that age-old question that I've always had about Star Wars since the first time that I saw these movies as a kid: Just what the hell is the point of Storm Trooper armor? Or, really any armor in Star Wars for that point? I mean, it's not like it protects them against blasters or lightsabers. They still get one-shotted just as easily, and if anything, that bright white clunky over-gear arguably makes them easier to spot, slower to maneuver, and just bigger and easier targets in general. And hell, the only people who don't die in one shot in this movie weren't even wearing any armor to begin with!

As for the movie itself, my thoughts are as follows:

-K2SO reminds me HK47 from KOTOR, making him the second best Droid in the Star Wars Universe

-I still like Kyle Katarn more than Jyn Erso

-Ip Man is in this movie!

-CG Peter Cushing looks weird

-James Earl Jones has finally recorded dialogue for the first time in over a decade that isn't doomed to become a ridiculously over-parodied Internet meme

So, overall, it's pretty good.

[Dr. Insomniac]

-James Earl Jones has finally recorded dialogue for the first time in over a decade that isn't doomed to become a ridiculously over-parodied Internet meme

He's recorded lines for Rebels, and little of his dialogue there felt particularly silly. Odd to hear him say Ahsoka's name though, but then seeing TIE Defenders and Dark Troopers in that cartoon felt weird as well.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I got back from watching it, and thought it was cool. Liked it more than The Force Awakens in some parts.

Then I watched Half in the Bag's review of it, and wondered just what they were talking about by saying it sucked because it had too much fanservice and was too different from other Star Wars films. Other than a few glaring elements, it wasn't as fanservice-heavy as TFA was, and criticizing it as too different is hypocritical when remembering their prior Plinkett reviews where they discussed how the prequels took too much from the original films to form their own identity. Just a few minutes apart, they complain that this movie hits too many of the familiar Star Wars beats while also saying it's too experimental. Not helping is Mike saying he just wanted Ocean's Eleven in space and thought the movie didn't have enough jokes. But the biggest issue I had was Rich saying Star Wars was too limited to create more than a few types of stories, because it's a franchise with a million planets. Say what you will about the EU, but they managed to figure out hundreds of ways to tell a Star Wars story in a different way. Some of which were successes like KOTOR II, Darth Bane, and the Thrawn Trilogy. I know that's because of the Red Letter Media guys not giving any spin-off material the time of day, but that's still uninformed to say, especially from people who've spent years making several 90-minute long Star Wars reviews.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Star Wars fans are a fickle bunch. I didn't outright love this movie, and it has its flaws, but it's still miles better than The Force Awakens, IMO.

[Dr. Insomniac]

The biggest flaw I saw was Krennic's character. When people complain about MCU movies having overly simplistic and uncharismatic villains, that was what I felt with Krennic. He felt too one-dimensional and lacked the grandeur other Imperial villains had. Didn't help at all that Tarkin was a major character, because I kept thinking Krennic could have been easily replaced with him for most of his scenes since they had very little difference in terms of personality.

[Daikun]

R.I.P. Carrie Fisher

[gunswordfist]

R.I.P. Carrie Fisher