If I Solo When I saw it in the cinema at the time, I was quite disappointed. I actually liked it quite a lot at the Rewatch – with a few prints. This is primarily due to the fact that the chemistry between Han and Chewie also works very well with Alden Ehrenreich, even if I am otherwise not so satisfied with the casting for Han. Harrison Ford is simply inadequate to replace… The chemistry between Han and Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), on the other hand, was not particularly tangible. However, I found the cast of Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian convincing – in an almost direct comparison a few days later with the Lando from the original trilogy (Billy Dee Williams) it shows that Glover Williams is very close. And then, of course, Lando also has a wonderful sidekick here, the robot L3-37 (brought to life by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). One can at Star Wars yes, criticize a lot, but their robots and androids are always fantastic.
The story works pretty well on the whole, but the robbery on the train is a sequence that really annoys me when I watch it again: Val (Thandie Newton) sacrifices himself FOR IT?!? Seriously? For a robbery? That’s nonsense, even if the client is someone who cannot be trifled with if the goods are not delivered… That’s the biggest point of criticism for me – I enjoy the rest of the film, because the dialogues are also quite successful. My brother recently criticized the fact that there is too much fan service here, in which you not only learn how Han and Chewbacca “get together” and how he gets the Millennium Falcon, but also where his weapon and his “last name” come from. Yes, precisely that with the name seemed a bit artificial, but I found that the other elements were largely built in organically. Overall good entertainment.
Rogue One didn’t really grab me when I first saw it in the first third, but the last one hit me so deep that I was completely stunned by this consequent non-happy ending. I would never have expected that Disney allowed all protagonists to die in the end, without exception. Well, with the third or fourth rewatch, I already liked the first third very much, but the end lost its emotional impact a bit and I couldn’t shed any more tears.
One of the highlights here is the android K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), and – as in the sequel trilogy – a young woman is at the center, played by Felicity Jones, which I still like very much. Otherwise I can refer to what I wrote in my review at the time. However, who I have completely suppressed there is Ben Mendelsohn in the role of the villain Orson Krennic. Mendelsohn knows how to fascinate me in each of his roles, and so here too. I should also add that I can now appreciate how well the end (with Darth Vader’s appearance) and the beginning of A New Hope goes together: the same white corridors, the same uniforms … if you go straight after Rogue One Episode IV looks, it’s even more exciting how well the two films can be linked. Still one of the best for me Star-Wars-Films – even without Star-Wars-Opening-Crawl und Star-Wars-Fanfare.
