Will Goes Rogue

In which we dive back into the Star Wars Paradox.

Here's what we wrote about Rogue One: A Star Wars Story the Monday after we saw it. Nut graph, as the J-School no-talents would say, we loved it. 

We remember the experience well. On Saturday Mrs. Stroock took the girls to see, I dunno, Trolls or something while we went with our neighbor, Bill to see Rogue One. The parties emerged from their respective theatres at the same time. We saw Mrs. Stroock and the girls, shouted and held up duel devil horns in triumph. We don't do that often.

We were blown away, overwhelmed, we felt like we'd been swimming underwater. Eighteen hours later we took Oldest Daughter to see Rogue One.

After the Force Awakens, which at the timed seemed ok to pretty good, it seemed as if Disney had figured out Star Wars. Which is why we wanted to cry after The Last Jedi. 

We are left with nothing but questions. We're confused, actually. We don't understand a world in which the last three Skywalker movies suck, Solo is interesting and Rogue One is totally awesome. As Billy said in Predator, 'It just doesn't make any sense.' 

So we watched Rogue One over the weekend and we'll be discussing it all week.

The Last Jedi: Review Redeaux

So last night we saw The Last Jedi made it to Netflix and wanted to give the film a second chance. Twenty minutes into the picture we thought, Why are we doing this to ourselves, and switched to Rogue-One, which is friggin' awesome.

We really like the way Felicity Jones plays Gin Urso in Rogue-One, and not just becuase we think she's adorable.  Of course we could stare at that pouty English face for hours, but still. Gin Urso has the MaGuffin, her father, but is vulnerable yet driven.

We've heard a lot of criticism that Gin Urso is just another 'Mary Sue' character, but we think director Gareth Edwards killed this trope early on. Remember Gin tries to get away from her Rebel rescuers, but is knocked flat and held upside down by K, the reprogrammed droid.

This is hardly the stuff of a 'Mary Sue'.

Rogue One Helmetology

In a lot of ways Rogue One, my knew favorite movie, BTW, seems very familiar. Take a look at some of the costume props.

Here's a screen cap of one. This looks to me like the old standard issue helmet from the Second World War:

And these here, well, they look Israeli:

Nice.

Has anyone else noticed that Captain Cassian's outfit looks a lot like a vintage Battlestar Galactica Viper pilot uniform? Behold:

The later is probably just a sci-fi 'name check' as it were, Our director saying, 'See, I'm one of you.' The former when combined with the olive and brown uniforms is a not so subtle message, 'We're the good guys.'

I mean come on. These guys look like they're about to scale the cliff at Point du Hoc:

Well done Rogue One people, Well done indeed.

Rogued

So I saw Rogue-One on Friday.

First a bit of context. Alert reader(s) will recall I'm 43. Those in my demographic cohort know what that means. I had all the toys, I had the pajamas, the curtains, the bedspread. I had a pirated copy of Star Wars in 1980, nineteen freakin eighty. Do you have any idea what that means? It didn't even come out on VHS until like 1985. I can say all the lines in order with all the proper inflections. Not kidding. If you're a woman married to a man just a few years older than me then you have the Princess Leah slave girl outfit in your closet.

[No!-Mrs. Stroock].

Yeah but...

[I have spoken! - Mrs. Stroock].


 I was ten at the time I didn't really care and the Ewoks never bothered me.

Yesterday I took my oldest to see Rogue-One.  Saw the movie twice in eighteen hours. That's the third time I've been to the movies in the last decade people.

[So I guess you liked it -Ed]

I came out of the theater with my fists held high in the air, metal devil horns pointed toward the gods in ultimate triumph and proclaiming, 'rock on!'.

At this point I think a strong case can be made that Rogue-One is the greatest Star Wars movie of the five.

[Five?-Ed]

We don't recognize the prequels in Stroock Manner.

[oh-Ed]

There are lots of great characters. I thought the ass kicking Baze Mabus and his cohort the blind mystic Cheut Inwe were particularly fun and interesting. Forrest Whitaker should get an Oscar for his portrayal of the extremist rebel Saw Gerrera, broken and skeptical he doesn't know how to do anything but fight. The Imperial Director Orson Crennic was also memorable I felt. The droid K-2 lives up to expectations.

Felicity Jones is a revelation and this middle aged man has found his new celebrity crush.

There's a lot of clues and set ups in this movie that are aimed at people my age and people like me, I loved all them. Bail Organa is going to go talk to his reclusive Jedi friend!

The last forty five minutes or so, the assault to get the Death Star plans, well, its like Saving Private Ryan in space. Great combat sequences, exciting, detailed in the way I prefer, gritty. Lots of old friends show up here too. This battle is easily the rival of the epic fight on and above Endor in Return of the Jedi. You know what other movie it reminded me of? Serenity. I think there some derivation from Serenity to Rogue-One, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The battle is also unpredictable. The ending is particularly brutal, almost like a horror movie and this very nicely links it in with the beginning of Episode IV. Throughout, this movie is about loyalty and sacrifice and boy is there a lot of sacrifice.

This movie is tough and gritty. Its better than The Force Awakens. Is it better than Empire Strikes Back?...

Rogueing

Well, just saw a news report about Star Wars: Rogue One. I have to say it looks fantastic. It looks like a return to the world of Star Wars. That is, think back to 1977. Star Wars was dark. That word was dingy, tired rundown, kind of like everything else in 1977. Just look at the TV shows of the time.

Here's one in NYC:

Here's Chicago:

Star Wars really captured that. Buildings are old. Ships looks cobbled together. Helmets are all dinged up. The old non-ass-clown George Lucas had a touch for these sort of things. Also he was a gear head, so he knew how to make the ships look real. Everything about that world, except the Death Star of Course, looked old and tired and worn out.

If they've recreated this look in Rogue One then bravo.