Star Wars: Five Big Mess Ups In ‘Rogue One’
To many, Rogue One is the best of Disney Star Wars, but it still has its bad parts,
Star Wars is a great franchise. Lately, we’ve taken a good, hard look at some of the things the Sequel trilogy got wrong, some things it got right, and some things it just kind of… did.
We’ve also been taking a look at some of the things Star Wars Prequel movies have gotten right, and a few things they’ve gotten wrong here or there. We’ve looked at Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, Attack of the Clones, and more. Some silly git even had the temerity to pan The Phantom Menace.
Today let’s take a look at Rogue One.
5. The Reshoots
Courtesy of Disney
It’s no secret that Rogue One had a lot of reshoots. While the full details aren’t public, it seems that a significant amount of the ending was reworked and redone. A lot of promotional and trailer shots didn’t make the cut. Now clearly some mistakes were made leading to the need for reshoots. Was what we got better? Probably. But it still leaves fans wondering what could have been. What was the original plan and shot like? Unlike most other Star Wars movies, we are all forced to wonder if a better movie was stolen from us, even if it almost certainly wasn’t.
4. Vader’s Dad Joke 
During a confrontation with Director Krennic, Vader first Force Chokes the bureaucrat, and then makes this joke. Umm, it’s a pretty great dad joke. And Vader is a dad, so I guess it makes sense? I don’t mind it. But I know a lot of people did. It was an odd joke, and muddled the tone of the scene. Vader’s never really been a humorous character in the movies (Anakin, of course, is a different deal). To some, it was a mistake.
3. A Muddled Middle
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There is a train of thought that Rogue One doesn’t really come together until the third act. In particular, people will either point to the first or second acts as being muddled. The movie does spend a while getting the crew together. There are a few kind of false starts here and there. In particular the mission to try and rescues/kill Galen Erso is a bit of a odd peace. The movie has a fairly clear three act structur. Act 1 is the setup. Act 2 is Jedha. Scarif is Act 3. The mission to rescue Galen doesn’t really have a place in that and muddles things. It doesn’t really change the status quo and could likely have been cut.
2. Saw’s Death
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Maybe I’m the only person kind of bothered by this. Saw Gerrera is the original Rebel. He rebelled against the CIS and the the Empire. He’s a fighter so intense the Rebel Alliance kicked him out for going too far. He’s relentless in his goals. And when the Death Star fires on Jedha, he just kind of gives up. He makes no attempt to escape, even though others do and succeed. After a movie where he really did little, he dies with out any fight at all.
1. Bohdi
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Bodhi’s issues are likely partly due to reshoots. Out of all the main group he ends up being the least utilized and developed. Despite him being central to the kicking off the plot, we never really get to know his past or motivations. He’s the defector, but we never really know why. It wouldn’t be such a big deal, it is an ensemble cast after all, if there weren’t hints that more was supposed to happen with him. At one point he is forcefully interrogated, and experience which its said might break his mind. For a scene he seems really out of it, maybe even destroyed. Then he just gets better. It feels like there must have been more here at one point.
Let us know what you think the biggest mistakes in Rogue One were, down in the comments!
