))
It's a beautiful movie to look at, but the story and characters didn't work for me at all.
Saw it last night. Needs a premium format to be fully appreciated but if you have the choice do not spend an extra dime to see it in 3D. We saw it in 4K RealD and 3D added NOTHING, to the point where I think they maybe deliberately underplayed the 3D effects to keep the image clarity and brightness. Had 3D glasses but it looked like a 2D film. Seeing it in Dolby Atmos 2D on Sunday and I think that's where it's at for this movie, or 4K or 70mm IMAX if you have one.
Anyway --
Read a few reviews, at least the summaries, and I think I agree with everything that's been said, pro & con. How that all works out for you in the wash is going to be different for everybody.
One thing I will say: critics who have said this movie is playing it "safe" are bat**** insane. There is NOTHING safe about any of the choices made in this movie.
And there is nothing kiddified, Disneyfied, slapstick or dopey/goofy. THANK GOD.
It's got some cohesion problems in the middle, when I think the plot gets a little muddled, and it could use some more depth in the characters (TFA is much better in that regard, IMO), but everything else is pretty terrific. It looks amazing. All of the combat sequences are incredibly well-done.
Re: the relative merits of Acts I, II, III. Act I is gangbusters. Suspenseful, taught storytelling. I thought it was a masterful set up and the "choppy pacing" criticism about the character intros didn't bother me a bit. That wouldn't have even occurred to me as a thing if I hadn't heard it going in. I *do* think that things in Act II apart from the action sequence get kinda confusing. I had problems following some of the dialog at times. A little bit too much of the "faster! more intense!" thing going on, I think and the accents from some of the non-native English speakers don't help. Otherwise, I felt like the story got a bit needlessly convoluted. As for Act III, well, yeah. What everyone else said.
Diego Luna's character was the big surprise for me. I thought he was quite richly drawn and complex and Diego's performance was very well-done and masterfully underplayed.
Comments from Nitty McNitsterston: I thought the score was a little too prominent in the sound mix. It's like, if you're going to boost the soundtrack like that, you better be John F*ing Williams, and unfortunately JW is not the composer here. M. Giacchino wrote the score in about 4 weeks, so that's not a slam on him, but if you're a big JW fanboy like me, you will certainly miss him.
Oh, if you're a quasi-hardcore fan and didn't read Catalyst, READ CATALYST. It ties in with that book very well and that book provides a lot of backstory for Galen & Krennic and
that the film doesn't have time to go into . There are some nice touches that reward having read the book, too -- flashback-type things that are very well-done.
Spoiler
New Year's Day Weekend Thread: Late Friday estimates (DHD) - TLJ 19.5M, Jumanji 17.5M, PP3 6.7M, TGS 5.3M
in Numbers and Data
Posted
Love this movie. My favorite science fiction film of the last I-don't-know-how-many-years.
Thought-provoking, unpredictable story that subverts more than one genre trope, great performance by Sam (who's perfectly cast), terrific production design and great-looking practical VFX.