meh. (response with MAJOR SPOILERS) (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Monday, December 26, 2016, 02:58 (2678 days ago) @ Kahzgul

Second, the movie sucks until the moment they rescue Princess Leia. It is slow, uninspired, and uninteresting. Yes, we get to learn that Luke is a whiny bitch, but we don't like him as a whiny bitch. Of course, we do grow to like him over the course of the film, and for that reason it works perfectly, but those opening 40 minutes are very, very poorly paced with lots of time spent sans dialogue or action. It's a very dated style that is very much of the time it was made, whereas - once Leia's rescue is in full effect - the rest of the film is perfectly modern in style and pacing. Her dialogue and character bring the whole thing to life, and suddenly the ensemble gels brilliantly.

I file this with "Star Wars was good for its time." I kind of hate this notion of a "dated style" as if film has made a steady progression in the direction of quality. There is an argument to be made that the best year for American cinema was 1939--I'm sympathetic toward that argument.

The problem with Rogue One is there isn't enough down time--give me the "dated style" if it lets me see the characters as more than action heros.