Well I was hoping days or longer… ‘we’ve traced the rebel spies’ sounds like a long process not just glancing out at the corvette’s license plate. Comments floating around make it sound like the latter though. I will see how this all holds up on second viewing.
Yep you’re 100% right about that. This all Vader/Leia affair (sic) which ends the movie is a huge continuity mistake. Leia should have never been at this battle; Vader should have engaged charcaters we know and not just random rebel troopers we don’t care about. This clearly shows the limits of fan-service when it doesn’t serve (and even damage) the story. Without its “OT skin” this movie would already be forgotten.
Maybe they are random rebel troopers you don’t care about - though to me, for what they were fighting for, in the situation they were in, for the actions and sacrifice of others to get this far, knowing they were likely going to die - yet still did their utmost to get those plans out of there… I sure did care. I think probably many others do too?
It certainly didn’t ‘clearly show the limits of fan service’ or ‘damage the story’ - in fact, for me it was just the opposite… the everyman characters making a difference too, making their deaths count for something, to contribute to the cause in which they giving their lives for - along with the ‘heroes of the story’ in the Rogue One crew.
Yes, it was a great scene itself with Vader showing his prowess, but the overall message of the film - for me anyway - was that of sacrifice for a better future, or at least a chance of a better future.
Whether that be Galen working for the Empire for years to actually hinder it in the design flaw and to delay it as long as possible, the Rogue One crew & the rebel soldiers on Scarif knowing the situation was likely a one-way mission, to the overall actions of the Alliance when they decide to join the fight.
‘Without its “OT skin” this movie would already be forgotten.’ - well, erm… considering the whole film is set in that OT timeline and a big part of that OT story - to the point where the story of the film is embedded in the OT, it is not quite a valid criticism, is it?
You could equally say Return Of The Jedi wouldn’t have been made ‘without it’s OT skin’, no?