Been reading everyone’s thoughts since getting back from a 7pm screening (east coast of U.S.) more than four hours ago.
Did anyone who saw it in regular 'ol 2D think the movie looked kinda dim or did my theater just drop the ball on the projection? I’m like 99% sure they left the 3D filter on. This has happened multiple times in the past. I probably should’ve said something during the trailers but then the movie started and I just thought “well, I either miss some of the movie and disrupt the enjoyment of the people in my row I’ll need to walk past just so I can tell a theater employee, or I wait until it’s over and try to get a free ticket voucher out of this.” Once the movie was over, I made the mistake of telling it to a group of four of the theater employees instead of simply asking for the manager. One of them quickly responded “it (the 3D filter) switches on and off automatically.” It only just occured to me now that he might not have understood why having it on the projector at all during a 2D movie was a problem, but at that moment my desire to take a much-needed post-movie piss and also go warm up my car outweighed my presentation complaints. Like, the bins to collect the 3D glasses were still sitting there inside the theater … If they cared as much about a quality experience as they did about making money, maybe my screening wouldn’t have had as many empty seats. Oh, well. That’s the first and likely last time I’ll ever visit that theater anyway.
Aaaaanyway, sub-par presentation aside, the movie was still very enjoyable. The first act jumped around a little too much for me to get a clear picture (ha!) of what was going on, but I loved watching Mikkelsen and Mendelsohn play off each other in that opening scene. I’d settled into the movie by the time our heroes got to Eadu.
The dim presentation might’ve actually helped cg Tarkin blend in better. The farscape fan in me is disappointed they didn’t get Wayne Pygram back. I’d like to take this moment to remind everyone that RotS’ makeup work earned the movie its sole oscar nomination. As for Leia, she looked fine in her one single shot, but again, why not get Billie Lourd? As it stands, these cg recreations are an interesting part of our continually evolving philosophy of vfx.
Artoo and Threepio’s cameo was kinda jarring until I reminded myself “oh right, this is the new canon and we officially had no idea where they were at this point in time.”
On the other hand, my brain lit up with excitement during the totally unexpected cameos of the other pilots from ANH. I turned to my friend right after they showed up and I said “THAT was awesome” and with a grin on his face he simply replied “yup.” Maybe it’s because it’s so quick, but I thought they were copy-pasted rather seamlessly.
Fighters crashing into the shield = RotJ homage?
What’s the name of the planet where Krennic visits Vader? Was that supposed to be Mustafar or somewhere else?
Loved Giacchino’s little nods to Williams in the score, like the shield passage and the hallways of the Tantive IV at the very end. He also brought the proper gravitas to moments like Chirrut’s final scene.
Riz Ahmed was great.
Sometimes the simplest filmmaking techniques can do a lot with a little, like when Cassian talks to Jyn in the Yavin hangar bay and we pull focus on his men standing behind him.
K-2SO’s demise was surprisingly emotional. Alan Tudyk did a great job in the role, his second time playing a robot.
Oh, and I only just now put this together from Godzilla, but Gareth Edwards sure likes his insanely huge explosions doesn’t he?
I’d love to see the earlier cut of the movie but knowing Disney it will probably never surface. Hopefully we get some interesting deleted scenes. At any rate, the final product makes a convincing case for having multiple cooks in the kitchen.
