Countdown to the Rise of Skywalker: Week 5.5

I love some good Rebels action and this shot of the Yavin base is one of my favorites.

I debated whether to include Rogue One in my Star Wars rewatch because it is not officially part of the Skywalker saga, but I caved and watched it this week, mostly because it does not take much convincing to watch another Star Wars movie. Also, Darth Vader is in it, and he is a Skywalker, if not the most pivotal Skywalker of the entire saga. Justification complete. Here are some brief thoughts about Rogue One.

The little details in the background like the downed X-Wing on Jedha help set the movie in the visual language of Star Wars.

A few thoughts:
-The visuals in this movie are spot on. Everything from the streets of Jedha to the halls of the various Imperial establishments look like they belong in the world of the original Star Wars.
-I love X-Wings. A lot. And there are a lot of X-Wings in this movie. The equation is simple. The number of X-Wings is directly proportionate to the amount of enjoyment.
-I particularly enjoyed the POV shots from the top of the X-Wings looking down the nose. See the picture below for a reference of what I mean.
-The beginning of this movie is by far the weakest part. It feels hastily thrown together with a lot of plot chucked at the wall to see what sticks. In the first 25 minutes alone, the movie has introduced several characters and several planets in a whirlwind.
-Everything on Scarif looks amazing and builds tension unlike any other Star Wars movie. The cuts between the ground and space battles resembles Return of the Jedi but actually takes it up a notch.
-I like that everyone died at the end. There was no shoehorned escape to satisfy some unnecessary need to keep the lead characters alive. Everyone's sacrifice felt real and justified.
-James Earl Jones is a wonderful actor and the one and only voice of Darth Vader, but his voice in the scene on Mustafar definitely sounds different from the Original Trilogy. It was only slightly jarring.

These kind of camera angles were so cool.

Here's another one just for fun.

A few memories:
-As one of the newer Star Wars movies, there is a lot less nostalgia wrapped up in my memory surrrounding Rogue One. My main memory is that this is one of the last movies for which we stood in line early to get good seats. Since then, reserved seats have made the opening night experience easier, but also a little less fun.
-I was able to see this movie in Laser IMAX at the Indianapolis State Museum. That was pretty cool.
-I remember a lot of drama surrounding reshoots and behind the scenes shake ups regarding this movie. That now seems to be the regular narrative when various outlets report on any new Star Wars movie.

I like what they tried to do with Tarkin, but he still looked a bit off.