Mocata said:
The problem is that we are told his backstory not shown it. The same with Jyn since hers was cut. It’s the same as Anakin and Obiwan being “good friends”. We never see that. He’s in a bad place after being in the war so long? So much for TLJ being the only example of deconstruction and grey areas. Too bad our experience in the movie is him flying about with a comedy robot, and a couple of darker moments that are quickly glossed over.
I see what you mean, though I’m personally glad that the film wasn’t a collection of backstories. I feel that backstories are quite overrated, and what I liked about RO was that we learned about the characters through their actions and interactions with other characters. Though I’m looking forward to this series, as for RO taken on its own terms as a movie; I never felt that I needed to “see” Cassian’s past as I got what I personally needed to know from his personality and actions. I see RO was being similar to John Carenter’s The Thing, which also had a strong cast of characters, despite none of them having any clear backstory, shown or told. We learn who those character truly are through their response to the crisis in the film, and I personally think that’s so much more interesting than just a series of flashbacks (though that can of course work in other movies/shows).
Also, how was Jyn’s origin cut? The first 10 min. or so is her backstory (as well as Galen & Krennic, plus an introduction to Saw, which IMO is quite efficient storytelling), then we can extrapolate the rest from a combination of visuals and dialogue post time jump. Her being in a jail, being transported to a labour camp, her fighting the rebels who tries to save her, as well as her interactions of Saw, her initial disinterest with the rebellion, etc all speaks volumes of what happened post flashback. They only speak about her past twice in the film, and I don’t really see that as a problem, I’d say that’s quite efficient, not perfect of course, but quite efficient for a film like this with so many characters.
TK-949 said:
I honestly don’t remember. I have seen the movie twice, and just remember I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, especially Ando Carissan (I’d like to buy two L and an I), therefore I didn’t care if they were successful or if they survived or not. Not to mention the further damage done to Darth Vader’s character. I’d have to watch it again to come up with specific reasons, why I dislike him so much, but I don’t intend to, unless it’s a version without Special Effects and cut to only Alan Tudyk’s scenes.
But I have to admit, I might give it a chance. It could be as awesome as the Mandalorian, if the right people worked on it. Filoni managed to make Anakin a likeable character. I watched the hell out of The Clone Wars, but I still won’t watch any of the Prequels ever again.
Fair enough. This is of course very subjective and I personally really liked all the characters, especially Bodhi Rook, whom (apart from Jyn) I think changed the most. I can see why Andor was a bit underwhelming to a lot of people though, but that’s one of the reasons why I think this show could be really interesting.
Not sure what you mean about the Vader scenes though? How did it “damage” the character. There were no signs of the PT version, he was foreboding, lethal, witty, all things that I personally would associate with OT Vader. I get the fanservice argument (I just don’t see that as a problem myself), but I honestly can’t see how anything was wrong with his characterization. If anything I’d say that was one of RO’s big accomplishments.