Sunday, April 21, 2019

Rogue One 2016

There is talk about yet another Star Wars flick coming out for Christmas.  So I thought I might re watch the last batch of them, the later ones after the three "revival" ones of some years ago.  Started with Rogue One.  I had the DVD.  I saw this one live in theater, with my daughter, back in 2016 when it came out.  Medium speed for a Star Wars movie.
   No names.  Watched the whole thing and when the credits finally rolled, I could not think of any character's stage name.  Not like the good old days when names like Leia, Skywalker, Obi-wan, Vader, and Han Solo were on everyone's lips.  Major problem is no character ever addresses another one by name.  Secondary problem, junior sound men who aren't very good at their jobs and the dialog is often inaudible.  Good sound requires good microphone placement, good mikes, and actors who don't mumble their lines.  And good sound mixing.  They must mute the score and the sound effects when dialog is happening.  Anyhow, the sound in Rogue One was mediocre to poor.
   As bad as the soundtrack was , the camera man was worse.  It was 2016 and the cult of the unlit scene was raging thru Hollywood.   A good third, maybe a half, of the scenes were dark, so dark I could could recognize who was in the scene.  Just plain annoying. 
   And the writers missed a few good ideas.  Opening scene where slimy Imperial Count whats-his-face, dressed in white, swoops in to arrest the father, a high powered scientist involved in Death Star development, who has fled the project and is living on a remote farm with wife and young child.  Didn't get his name either.   If the old man is such a hot shot scientist, he should have brought some wonder weapon into play and vaporized Count whats-his-face, rather than submitting to arrest.
   Young chick protagonist acts a pretty good part.  Didn't catch her name either.  Handsome guy is OK but his acting is no better than ordinary.  The writers left out a scene that I would have enjoyed, a scene were the two of them get a chance for a quiet talk, uninterrupted by bad guys with guns,  where we hear what she thinks of him, and vice versa. 
   The was an A movie, huge budget, great box office.  But re watching it makes me understand why Hollywood is dying. 

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