I thought K-2SO (Your son, 1SO?) stole the show. Comic relief that never felt trite or pandering.
My wife thought they came up with him by asking "What if C3PO was autistic?" His speciality was blurting out whatever was completely honest but also inappropriate to say. I'm seeing that type of super-honesty is becoming the new sarcasm in movies, evidenced by the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer that preceded the film.
The biggest laugh for me was Donnie Yun's remark when they put a bag over his head.
Chirrut Imwe was also a cool force sensitive character. I was initally worried he'd be your typical annoying monastic Jedi figure, but he turned out to be sort of this odd sage character that wasn't quite like anything we've seen in the Star Wars films before.
dull, and again his relationship with Jyn Erso, with their conflicting takes on their past, was flat. I also don't know what they were going for with his final moment. Something off about Forest Whitaker's reaction. I expected something more zen or a feeling of relief. Perhaps a look that the future is something he never had to deal with. Reminds me of one of my favorite moments from Phantom Menace. During the Darth Maul battle, Liam Neeson is between laser doors and while Maul waits for combat to resume, Neeson meditates and calms completely down. That's so Jedi. This was not.
There were a lot of emotional beats that fall flat because the film never does a great job of investing us in that father/daughter relationship. I thought the whole first act was a drag because of how much time is spent talking about characters we don't know anything about. I get dropping us in the middle of a story, but maybe you could have at least given us some bearings. Do I dare say that maybe this film could have used a text crawl?
Can't say where the problem is having only seen it once, but there's the brief dream where we see Jyn with her parents on an Imperial ship. Some more of that is needed. Something where they're doing something not directly related to the plot. Even his nickname for her is an important plot point, repeated so you can't miss it.
That's what I mean about the story being tired. Like how at the very end, Krennic has the blaster on her and starts a conversation so you're basically waiting to see what's going to save her at the last moment. Considering how the film ends, why not have Krennic kill her and the plans still get out? Could've been more interesting.
New Point: this may be the worst Star Wars film regarding how bad the stormtroopers aim is, and that's because there are a number of times when the good guys are firing wild shots and killing with a single blast. Happens a lot in the city ambush. Cassian and Jyn both do this, but when a flock of stormtroopers appear and fire on them, nobody comes close. I thought of it again when the 100 Tie Fighters come out during the final battle. The rebellion ship has a giant glass window right at the front, and nobody takes a shot at it?
3. I couldn't stand it. Took me out of the film. Looked too plastically. Would have been fine with either less of the character, or more creative shooting around showing his face.
I liked the creative shooting for the first scene and would've been fine with more of that and with less of the character. They decided to go all in with the technology and they're going to suffer for that, but I still thought it looked better than I ever imagined it could. Same with the final shot.
I'm going to try to write a full review soon. This film has a lot of rough edges, especially that first act, but once it gets going, it's super good. That final act is probably the best action setpiece of the year.
Once it got going I was thinking "about damn time" and the best action setpiece this year is the airport in Civil War. I also prefer Dead Pool and Doctor Strange. This is about even with the best parts of Star Trek Beyond.