Denis Villenueve. A solid lineup. A different take on first contact. I loved Sicario but went in expecting a cerebral epic sci-fi.
That was a mistake.
Good things:
- Some really nice visual scenes
- Interesting aliens Calligraphy aliens!
- Clear theme of communication is omnipresent
- A neat score that might be awesome in a different movie
Bad things:
- The acting
- The lack of emotional reaction to ALIENS! The students asking to turn on the TV, all of the main characters
- Lack of useful characters Only the aliens and Louise actually did anything the entire movie.
- Supporting characters are very stupid in an attempt to foil the main character slightly
- Very clumsy exposition. Genre-typical news reports, voice-overs, dumb characters asking stupid questions.
- Very slow pacing. This worked in parts of Sicario, but didn't work in this movie because there was no tension. The main characters never seemed remotely threatened.
- Lousie showing up at school thinking everyone will be there after aliens arrive and there's a state of emergency
- Why can't you translate alien language like you can translate Farsi. This is a paraphrase but in the spirit of what Colonel Weber was saying.
- Useless love interest when the costars have no chemistry.
- Ultrasecure military base lets someone steal a ton of explosives and put it in an ALIEN SPACECRAFT without anyone noticing.
- Many unbelievable plot points
- Poor dialogue Let's make a baby - real quote
- Poor handling of the major plot points Looking through time seems to undermine the fact that the aliens need help. Why did one have to die if they could see the future? Why did only one die when they were right next to each other?
- Very heavy handed moral messaging that didn't align with the rest of the movie.
- Why couldn't Ian also see into the future as he studied the language, or any of the others?
Overall extremely disappointing. I'm honestly surprised critics or general moviegoers like this. The premise was very good. It's a real shame the execution failed so miserably.
Just to preface this, I thought A Force Awakens was emotionless trash that undermined the entire purpose of the original three films.
Rogue One was the opposite.
The best thing about this movie was the emotional impact. It underlined the sacrifices made to make the original trilogy possible. Some people have called it long, but that helped build up characters that you actually felt for, and who weren't carbon copy ripoffs (cough cough A Force Awakens). The final scenes as the two main characters face their fate, recognizing that it was worth it, gave such a high emotional payoff. Each major death scene actually made you feel something.
The second best thing was K-2SO. Very funny, and much needed comedic (but not goofy) relief.
The CGI for landscapes and the world creation was outstanding. When I see a movie like Star Wars I want to be amazed and see things that I haven't seen done before. I want to be impressed and drawn into new, beautifully crafted worlds. In this respect, the movie just kept delivering over and over.
The cinematography was great during the action sequences. The sequences looked epic, and the violence and sacrifice felt meaningful. The Vader fight sequence was intense.
It also had interesting ties to current events with its commentary on terrorism/rebellion/weapons of mass destruction. By the way, the science genius character realizing that he isn't priceless in developing some major device is fantastic. All of the movies with "only so-and-so can figure this out" are very disappointing.
The moral message of the movie was also very clear and well delivered.
I really enjoyed the movie overall and thought that it was a big step in the right direction. It was adventurous again, it was sometimes shocking, original, and most of all meaningful. A Force Awakens failed on all of those points. It's good to see a franchise movie that's taking a bit more risk than average. AFA was just like the new Star Trek films, shiny bling low-impact action movies that just happen to be set in space. Rogue One pushes far beyond to show the what drives the Rebellion in a world we know and love.
Despite the fact that I really liked the movie, it had some flaws:
- Tarkin face CGI
- Some of the acting in the first half.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Some of the cuts were really weird and the pacing felt off for portions of the first half.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Forest Whittaker just deciding to die instead of trying to escape.
- Tarkin face CGI
- A few unbelievable plot lines (thankfully most were minor). Like Cassian being sent to kill Galen for almost no reason, and then deciding not to for no reason, and then Jyn forgiving him surprisingly easily. How did she even know that he was trying to kill her father?
- Tarkin face CGI
- Does every Star Wars movie need to have a father character die? Why didn't Cass follow orders when he heartlessly killed someone else in his first scene?
- Tarkin face CGI
- Heavy handed political messaging.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Said "hope" too many times.
- Tarkin face CGI
- You can just push Star Destroyers that easily?
- Tarkin face CGI
- The word "Stardust"
- Tarkin face CGI
- Too many random worlds introduced that you don't have the time to get invested in.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Too much awkward fan service.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Darth Vader's voice sounded off.
- Tarkin face CGI
- Some of the dialogue was really terrible.
- Tarkin face CGI
Loving crafted and well acted film where the characters mostly swap stories and discuss what it means to love.
The pacing is a bit weird and slow at times but overall the movie has a lot to say and says it well. It reminded me of The Fall in some ways, and I mean that as a compliment.
This was pretty awful.
The entire movie was trying to dictate something to the audience, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
At no point do you feel anything at all for the characters. The kidnapped girls and Casey's dad are not developed at all, so their deaths don't carry any weight.
The one smart character (the doctor) doesn't act rationally. The whole lecture sequence made me cringe. The doctor is originally presented as someone who approaches her patients methodically. She is perceptive and crafty. Then she gives a Skype lecture where she pleads with a group of scientists to believe her. She doesn't present proof or make a convincing argument, even though she must have that capability.
Then in dangerous situations she shuts down. While she can write out his name, she doesn't call it out or check for his presence. She knows how dangerous he is. She suspects him. She even stuffs the tissue into the keyhole, but she still doesn't call out his name to snap him out of it.
The girls are also in an unrealistic state while trying to escape. In most other movies, people in this type of situation are either 1) competent, 2) paralyzed by fear, or 3) completely frantic and flailing. These girls were none of those. Their maddeningly slow pace was inconsistent with the terror they must be feeling.
The whole parallel with Casey's uncle (and being imprisoned after being "released" into his custody) didn't match well with the main story. Why did she pull the trigger on The Beast but not her uncle? At first it seems like both stories were parallels, where at this point in her life she actually overcomes her fear and confronts her aggressor. But then she just goes back to her uncle. It's very unclear what her character is feeling and what she's going through.
Also, the fact that The Beast is immune to gunshots and has superhuman strength is out of nowhere. The story abides in the natural world before derailing into the supernatural. While the supernatural element should be a big reveal, it wasn't. His powers build up step by step, so there is no surprise factor. The lack of surprise implies that we should expect this. Yet the world presented doesn't give us any hint before the build up. Tying it into Unbreakable at the end was jarring as well. The tie-in explains more about the movie's universe, but nothing about the movie's tone or world-building mirrored Unbreakable.
McAvoy's performances were decent but spread very thin. So many characters (8?) are introduced that none of them were well developed. The other thirteen aren't explored at all, which was pretty disappointing. MNS might be saving them for the sequel, but I doubt most viewers will be willing to sit through another ordeal of this magnitude.
The only success of this movie is when Casey goes for a gun and the non-Beast personalities plead for their lives one by one. It makes you think about the twenty-some actual people who would die if she pulled the trigger in self defense. Unfortunately, this was the only redeeming quality of the movie and not enough to justify a watch.
A good-hearted and surreal work of imagination. Great writing and nuanced characters. The audience was laughing throughout and it managed to be touching without being cheesy.
Unlike most Marvel movies, the interactions between characters were actually memorable. When Strange scoffs at the ancient one's chakra "nonsense" she kicks him out of his body. It's an awesome "welcome to the Matrix"-style intro to a mystical world. This movie is The Matrix plus Inception + the Marvel universe in the best possible way. This introduction to the multiverse sets the tone of the movie, and it carries through to the very end.
The special effects were phenomenal. The CGI sequences were more interesting in a visual sense and more artistic than most recent Marvel CGI scenes. It's nice to see something besides exploding buildings/spaceships/robots. The introduction to the multiverse was the most striking sequence. The universe made out of hands and his transition through a portal formed from his own retina were merely highlights of this delightful montage. Fight scenes were well choreographed, especially when focused around the folding world.
The hero characters were all interesting. The ancient one is dealing with the devil to try to help the human race. The baron feels conflicted about the means used to protect the planet. The likeable Dr. Strange goes through a pretty major transition from narcissist to hero. On the opposing side, the enemies were generic. Mads & co were from the common "we want power from the evil thing that destroys everything it touches, but it won't hurt us!" variety.
My favorite character was the cape! It had so much personality, and its scenes were a nice mixture of comedy and practicality.
I hope the Thor+Strange crossover feels more like this than any of the Thor movies.
Overall, this was quite entertaining and solid addition to the Marvel universe.
Criminally misused pool of talent. How do you take this lineup and end up with this?
With close to 3x the John Wick movie's budget and close to the budget of a Bond or Mission Impossible movie, you end up with a bunch of uncompelling action sequences with no oomph, with noisy visuals loading up every scene.
The guy behind me made a loud, angry comment as credits rolled, and for good reason.
This movie is just good enough to give you hope that it has some meaning and payoff and then denies it from you. There are so many almost interesting things that happen throughout.
It also feels so slow. I've enjoyed slow movies like Drive My Car, Valhalla Rising, etc, but this felt like it was 2.5hr and I was shocked to see afterwards that it was 1h40m. It took like an hour to show what was in the trailer without adding basically any plot.
It looked and sounded good, had decent acting. It was just so incredibly disappointing.
I gave this a generous 2/10 because the acting is good. This might be the worst plot out of everything I've ever watched.
Every character makes ridiculously, over the top, bad decisions the entire time. The entire premise is extremely flimsy, and the main message of the story is undercut by the lack of believability.
At least it was only four episodes. The last episode is the worst of them, and the final scene undercuts the rest of the already bad story.
Definitely not a great movie, but it was quite entertaining and (unintentionally?) funny.
There were so many hilarious moments. The whole theater burst out laughing when Harry Styles shows up as a greasy incel, when Harry Styles is shown dancing strangely on stage with cuts back to Olivia Wilde asking Florence Pugh "What's wrong?". This movie had people laughing more than many actual comedies that I've seen.
There are some strange gaps in the plot like why people that die in the metaverse die in real life, if the red shirt people are actually real or programs, why Frank would possibly want to interact with these degenerates on a regular basis, why Shelley stabs Frank at the end (did she know the whole time what's going on?), and whether or not the "technical engineers" actually work for Frank directly in the real world or if they work for some other entities to pay him.
The movie was well filmed and kept your focus for most of it, and the tone really fit the tone of someone trying to create a modern-day idealized version of the past, which is what Frank was trying to do in the show.
One of the main problems with the movie is that while Florence Pugh's acting probably made sense from her character's perspective, the story is told from an external observer's perspective, which makes some of her otherwise good acting look a bit comical.
This is worth seeing if you have a group of people that are willing to laugh at the points where it breaks down.
It isn't really possible to separate the movie from the venue.
The venue:
- best surround sound localization I've ever heard by a very wide margin
- kind of in-your-face sound quality that I'm not sure if I liked
- vibrating chairs are a bit nonsense
- wind effects were cool but you could hear the fans that power them
The movie:
- all the nature shots and shots of humans are beautiful
- a couple of the shots actually give you the same feeling you get when visiting a place in person, which I've never experienced before over video, VR, or anything
- all of the sci-fi parts are kind of pointless and the "plot" is dumb (it's kind of preachy about the environment but in a way that's so abstract that it falls flat)
- there's a sequence that is just a barrage of sound and light which is disorientating
Overall this is a technical achievement and did a few things I've never been able to experience on a screen before. This is the level of immersion I was hoping for with a VR headset, with a great field of view, great visual fidelity, and great sound, all while not having a device sitting on your face!
