Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm beginning this report while still on Skywalker Ranch property, sitting in the back of one of the press shuttles en route back across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city.
Tonight they showed a bunch of journalists, bloggers and movie writers from across the globe about 30 minutes of Rogue One – A Star Wars Story in advance of a giant press day with the cast of the film. Lots of us were wondering why they wouldn't just show us the whole thing and to be honest we're still in the dark about that. Gareth Edwards introduced the footage and said he'd prefer for us to see the whole movie rather than bits and pieces, but the call wasn't his to make.
I want to give you some impressions from what I saw. I won't go into great beat-by-beat depth because why be that asshole 2 weeks before release? However I do have some thoughts that I want to put to down if you'd care to read them.
The footage breaks down to roughly the first 12-ish minutes of the movie, from the opening Lucasfilm logo to introducing a bunch of the key players of Rogue One with a nice time jump in there for good measure (young Jyn to Adult Jyn). Then there were a few extended scenes, including a big action sequence on Jedha, which is the Donnie Yen vs. troopers scene you saw in the trailer. Finally, there was a sizzle reel showing bits and pieces from what I assume is the second half of the movie. Most of what I saw in this montage is impressionistic, moments and still images that my mind held on to as they zipped by, the king of which was a shot of Mendelsohn standing in a room, a door sliding up and open opposite him (and behind camera), Vader's distinctive shadow revealed on the wall behind Mendelsohn. Think the shot of Indy's silhouette on the wall behind Marion in her tavern.
I won't go into plot specifics, but I want to start with what worked for me. The look, for one thing. The movie's gorgeous, the costumes and props well-worn and lived in. Edwards obviously embraced the lived-in universe mantra of the original trilogy.
Giacchino's score is a bit jarring at first because he doesn't use the Star Wars fanfare at all. We do get hints of themes we recognize (like when we first see Yavin 4), but mostly it's him bringing his all without leaning much on the iconic themes. Bold choice. I'm not 100% sure if it'll gel perfectly as a Star Wars movie without those themes used in abundance, but I can tell you that Giacchino's score, the little bit of it I heard anyway, will be up to his high standards.
I basically liked when the footage went risky or weird. Tentacle stew in the background of a market scene, bizarre practical aliens filling the frame, etc. Diego Luna's character is a little more cold-blooded than I expected, in a positive way. K-2SO brings a lot of humor without reaching bumbling Jar-Jar levels. Think of him as 3PO in Chewbacca's body.
Forest Whitaker's Saw Gerrera has a more interesting part to play than I expected. Without going into too much detail, he's being sought by the Rebellion, too. His part in the fight against the Empire is more chaos than organized, he and his group act as more of an insurgent force, which is an interesting take that shows the goodness of the Rebellion isn't so pure.
Of course there was also some really cool new location designs. You've seen those awesome mountain ranges made out of fallen (ancient) Jedi statues on Jedha. There's also an asteroid mining colony that looks badass and new for this universe. I got much more of an inventive Guardians of the Galaxy-esque vibe from the look of this place.
My favorite thing from the footage is how they gently expand the mythology surrounding the Jedi and the Force, mostly through Donnie Yen's character. It's especially welcome since they're approaching it from a point of view of non-Jedis. Yen is kind of a warrior monk type, a follower of the Force and maybe a little force sensitive, but by no means a Jedi. His position on Jedha, an old center of Jedi/Force activity, is an interesting one and the commonality he has with Jyn Erso also opens a few doors I'm curious to see if they explore more.
What I'm not so sure of: The pacing seemed all wrong in the opening 12-ish minutes. Mostly when they get to adult Jyn things start jumping around at such a quick pace that it felt rushed. A sci-fi war picture that moves is a good thing, but once they start establishing the broader team characters it was such a rush of new locations, new people and things just happening without much context that it felt like I was missing a couples pieces of the puzzle.
To be fair, I'm assuming that this special footage presentation was showing that first 12 minutes as it will play in the film and it's possible it was slightly condensed for this presentation, but they made a pretty distinguishable transition between each block of footage, which wasn't present here.
It's also possible I was overwhelmed sitting in the Skywalker Sound theater (which, as you could probably guess, sounded amazing... this is the system the sound designers finalize their mix on, after all) and its quick pace caught me off guard, but it was something that bothered me on this first viewing.
I'm also eager to see Jyn's arc in its entirety. Felicity Jones is a great actress (she absolutely wrecked me in A Monster Calls), but what I saw of her character work here was pretty muted. She's kind of a reluctant hero that's not at all reluctant. I expect she'll get to show shades of charm or annoyance or fear or hate when she actually works within the group that forms and interacts with them on more than a “we're in a firefight” basis. Just in this short burst I didn't see much of a range within the character.
Again, it's hard to make any final judgment based on 30 minutes of footage, much of which was shown in disconnected chunks, so I'm doing my best not to treat this like a review of the movie. I'll get to see that soon enough (the press screening is a week from tomorrow, I believe) and will report back, but figured you guys might want my impressions of this evening's adventures at Skywalker Ranch.
I've got interviews with Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Mendelsohn, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk and Gareth Edwards tomorrow and I'll do my best to get those transcribed ASAP and up as quickly as possible for your reading pleasure!
I'll leave you with a lovely picture of the Main House at Skywalker Ranch all lit up for Christmas. It put a smile on my face so I assume it will put one on yours, too!
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
