Post by Martin Stett on Oct 26, 2017 13:38:15 GMT
...why nobody likes it. 
Okay, I'll put aside my complaints with this movie (hoo boy, do I have some), and just focus on why I had such a blast with it and why I currently consider it to be my third favorite SW film.
First off, the paper-thin characters were a real treat. No, I mean it. These aren't characters at all; they're character-types. We have the rebellious orphan, the ruthless assassin, the smartass robot, the equally smartass rent-a-wizard, the barbarian, and the "I'm not trained for this shit" guy. We know exactly who these people are within 5 seconds of meeting them, and we don't need anything more. The type is set up, we know who this is, GREAT, move on and have them trade barbs and argue and do their jobs.
The plot moves fast through its 3 1/2 big fights, and no time is spent on little things like "character development" or "introspection." Why have those when you can have Robot insult Assassin as Barbarian threatens to kill Defector while Wizard laughs at everybody because he's an asshat? The character motivations needn't be anything more complex than "the imperials killed my family" or "I saw the vaguely defined evil of the imperials' ways," because this movie isn't about that. It's about the types bickering about the next course of action before either agreeing and working together to make it work, and disagreeing and setting about their own ways to get out of this situation alive.
And in the end, it all comes down to that finale. HOLY SHIT, that finale is what the end of ROTJ should have been. In ROTJ there's a ground battle, a space battle, and Luke fighting the Emperor and Vader, but none of it links together very well; the land battle is tangentially linked to the space battle, but there's no real sense of one affecting the other.
In this, every one of the three groups matter to the success of the other two; the infiltration team can't get the plans out without the ground and space teams clearing the way; the ground team can't extract the infiltration team without space support and if the infiltrators die all is for naught; and the heavy casualties of the space team mean nothing if they can't protect the ground team or take out the defenses long enough to get the plans out. It gives a real sense of every action and every team mattering, because if one team fails the entire operation is a failure. And then the movie shows nothing going according to plan and every team has to improvise and send orders to the other teams about changes in plans, keeping everything constantly shifting and unsure.
Also, since every team matters, every part of the team matters -- so when somebody is in danger, there's real pins and needles suspense: if someone dies before they can complete what they're doing, everybody will die unless someone else steps in and makes the decision to get in harm's way and SUCCEED, dammit. This makes every sacrifice mean something, even if it is only a nameless redshirt who volunteers to head into enemy fire to get a plot device and gets killed the moment he sticks his head out. Because his death means nothing, it is just one more casualty in the inevitable annihilation of the rebellion if somebody else fails to get that plot device.
In short, this is plot-driven fanfiction at its finest.
Now, for my problems.
1. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH CGI TARKIN!?!?!?
2. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH FOREST WHITAKER!?!?!?
3. Needless fanservice moments and linking of the prequel and original trilogy gets in the way of the important business of watching everybody argue and insult each other.
4. Saul (Forest Whitaker) is a terrible character serving little purpose to the narrative.
5. All of the "hope" stuff is really cringey.
6. The ending is abrupt.
7. And none of that matters in the slightest. Damn, what is wrong with me.
Okay, I'll put aside my complaints with this movie (hoo boy, do I have some), and just focus on why I had such a blast with it and why I currently consider it to be my third favorite SW film.
First off, the paper-thin characters were a real treat. No, I mean it. These aren't characters at all; they're character-types. We have the rebellious orphan, the ruthless assassin, the smartass robot, the equally smartass rent-a-wizard, the barbarian, and the "I'm not trained for this shit" guy. We know exactly who these people are within 5 seconds of meeting them, and we don't need anything more. The type is set up, we know who this is, GREAT, move on and have them trade barbs and argue and do their jobs.
The plot moves fast through its 3 1/2 big fights, and no time is spent on little things like "character development" or "introspection." Why have those when you can have Robot insult Assassin as Barbarian threatens to kill Defector while Wizard laughs at everybody because he's an asshat? The character motivations needn't be anything more complex than "the imperials killed my family" or "I saw the vaguely defined evil of the imperials' ways," because this movie isn't about that. It's about the types bickering about the next course of action before either agreeing and working together to make it work, and disagreeing and setting about their own ways to get out of this situation alive.
And in the end, it all comes down to that finale. HOLY SHIT, that finale is what the end of ROTJ should have been. In ROTJ there's a ground battle, a space battle, and Luke fighting the Emperor and Vader, but none of it links together very well; the land battle is tangentially linked to the space battle, but there's no real sense of one affecting the other.
In this, every one of the three groups matter to the success of the other two; the infiltration team can't get the plans out without the ground and space teams clearing the way; the ground team can't extract the infiltration team without space support and if the infiltrators die all is for naught; and the heavy casualties of the space team mean nothing if they can't protect the ground team or take out the defenses long enough to get the plans out. It gives a real sense of every action and every team mattering, because if one team fails the entire operation is a failure. And then the movie shows nothing going according to plan and every team has to improvise and send orders to the other teams about changes in plans, keeping everything constantly shifting and unsure.
Also, since every team matters, every part of the team matters -- so when somebody is in danger, there's real pins and needles suspense: if someone dies before they can complete what they're doing, everybody will die unless someone else steps in and makes the decision to get in harm's way and SUCCEED, dammit. This makes every sacrifice mean something, even if it is only a nameless redshirt who volunteers to head into enemy fire to get a plot device and gets killed the moment he sticks his head out. Because his death means nothing, it is just one more casualty in the inevitable annihilation of the rebellion if somebody else fails to get that plot device.
In short, this is plot-driven fanfiction at its finest.
Now, for my problems.
1. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH CGI TARKIN!?!?!?
2. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH FOREST WHITAKER!?!?!?
3. Needless fanservice moments and linking of the prequel and original trilogy gets in the way of the important business of watching everybody argue and insult each other.
4. Saul (Forest Whitaker) is a terrible character serving little purpose to the narrative.
5. All of the "hope" stuff is really cringey.
6. The ending is abrupt.
7. And none of that matters in the slightest. Damn, what is wrong with me.
