Tuesday 10 January 2017

Notice of Rogue One: a Star Wars Story

[No spoilers]

I went to see this movie with my son - and I knew nothing much about it except what I saw in the trailer and that John C Wright had said it was good.

http://www.scifiwright.com/2016/12/rogue-one-spoiler-free-review

I agree with JCW - Rogue One is good!

I liked the spirit behind the film - its confidently measured build-up; the cast of characters and their development; the fact that the action scenes (fights etc) were the proper length (having been skilfully constructed and edited by criteria related to dramatic effectiveness), and not drawn-out and artificially-extended, as is usual with such things .

And most of all I liked the spiritual dimension which underpinned it and was referenced throughout - this made the film be 'about' more than just an adventure.

Perhaps because of the somewhat Zen-Buddhist-like spirituality, the overall plot of the movie was very unusual, and often surprising - the only other films with this feel and dramatic shape that I have seen were by the great Japanese director Kurosawa.

I can see why Rogue One was a box office success - it is an excellent movie. But what is more important, I think it is likely to be - overall - good for the audience. Timely - one might say.

Well done to the people who made it!