Hah... I should explain (Rogue 1 Spoilers) (Gaming)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Monday, March 19, 2018, 12:34 (2446 days ago) @ Korny

About 6 months before the release of the film, I read an interview with one of the producers (can't find it right now, but I'll try to track it down). At one point, when asked about Darth Vader's role in the film, the producer said something to the effect of: It's a small, but significant role. At this point in the story, Vader isn't exactly public knowledge. He's kinda like the boogie man. Nobody in the rebellion is even sure if he's real. So he's basically this shadowy figure looming in the background.

Except, ya know, A New Hope established him as someone who was clearly known about, and who had a reputation. It was also clear that even he was subordinate to the Imperial Senate.

"Lord Vader, I should have known. Only you could be so bold."

Right... we care about him because of previous movies. But there is nothing done in this movie to justify his inclusion, other than some lightsaber porn.

I'm totally cool if the filmmakers are going to say "look, this movie is just one part of a long, complex series of movies, so don't expect us to explain everything or who everyone is". That's totally cool. I can run with that. But each movie in such a franchise still needs to tell a compelling and complete story. If you're going to include characters, the writers need to come up with a good reason for them to be there. Make them a real part of the story in this movie. I've said before that R1 feels like fan fiction to me, and a big part of that is that the filmmakers treat the pre-existing characters like mountains that can't be moved or changed, and they're just included so that the new characters can smash off of them or swerve around them. They want to reap all the coolness benefits of having Darth Vader in their movie without doing anything risky like treating him like an actual character.