Hey guys! I just couldn't not do a Star Wars video. Hope you enjoy! What films should I do in a future video? Comment below to let me know your thoughts!

I work at a gas station, so I see a lot of crazy homeless people, but one of my absolute favorites was this old guy yelling in the parking lot about how Star Wars was inspired by the Hero's Journey as explained in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. And I mean literally shrieking about it. Most well-read homeless guy I've ever met. I was beyond impressed.

Right now, "Rogue One" is the only Disney SW movie that I actually like.

Before I start sharing my drastically different opinion, it is important that I make clear the fact that I absolutely adore your channel. Okay, allow me to differ... I think the point of Rogue One is totally missed by so many. Jyn is written to be a passive protagonist - it's not a mistake. Much less is it a problem. The overall goal of Rogue One is to establish what is going on in the background of the Galactic Civil War. In order to do that, we are introduced to the character of Jyn Erso, the woman who makes none of her own choices due to the choices of others, due to the circumstance. The entire point of the film is to show how the war affected the lives of bystanders. It's also important to notice that, due to Jyn's choice to partake in the war, she helps in the Battle of Scarif and becomes the ultimate active protagonist. She shares the plans to the Death Star itself. Her character has entirely evolved thanks to her own choice, in turn finally becoming an active protagonist, active in the war. (heavy breathing) Okay, there we go. I hope you see this, because I'm proud of myself for it.

If you ask me, Rogue One’s characters felt more earnest. It’s actually a very simple story, a suicide mission. Is it perfect? Nope but the themes feel much more clear than in TFA and TLJ. Still, a great video.

the problem i have with TFA is that it makes the events of the original trilogy feel ultimatly pointless. We're right back were we started there's an evil empire led by the sith trying to take over the galaxy with planet destroying weapons, the group who stands in there way are out numbered and out gunned and the jedi are practicaly non existent and are basicly just legends. Nothings changed everything that luke,Leia,Han and everyone else did was all meaning less in the long term.

just some thoughts here regarding rogue one: Jyn's character arc IS the fact that she lets things happen to her, and finally she does something about it. She finally faces the Empire that has killed her mother, taken her father and somewhat dictated her life. They go to rescue her dad because Cassian is really there to kill him (and hide it as 'we need him to convince the rebel leaders', which is a fair point since they don't actually believe her when she tells them) Bor Gullet doesn't always make people go insane, he says "it tends" which isn't 100%. The reason for Bor Gullet is to show how paranoid and delusional Saw Gerrera has become, when he doesn't even trust the things that are proven to be true anymore. The fact that she teams up with them to face the Empire is because she realizes her father gave his life to give the death star this one flaw, and his life would have been for nothing if the rebellion fails to exploit it. (She also probably realizes that what Cassian said earlier was true, he changed his mind and actually didn't kill her father. In fact, he tried to help save him and actually saved her.) Rey, however, goes through no such change. She is the same even throughout the eighth movie. Naive, good and all-powerful (lol). That intro with Rey, alongside the intro to Kylo Ren as well as Han Solo's death are the only really well made parts of TFA, great parts imo.

I think Jyn and Rey show two different outcomes to women who have had fight to survive their whole lives, and have been through the rough of it. Personally, I was able to relate to the grim, emotionally hardened, hopeless, and ultimately distant character that was Jyn Erso, more than the proactive and hopeful Rey. Like Rey, Jyn has had to claw for her survival since she was a child, however where Rey was able to hold onto an intact sense of hope that things will get better as long as she keeps going, Jyn has abandoned that hope and energy in favour of grim survival. She has nothing to latch onto that gives her anything to look forward to, her whole life has just been going from one moment of survival to the other, and to do this she has accepted that this is what her life is, and has abandoned the concepts of fighting for anything more than purely staying alive. And with this beaten sense of hopelessness, of emotional detachment, and fighting only to keep herself alive, the movie sets her up perfectly for a story about finding hope and fighting for causes more than yourself. Her starting the movie as a passive protagonist is a character development point, it is the start of her journey into becoming a character that sacrifices herself in the name of hope - the exact opposite mindset to how she started.

Rogue One is my favorite of them all. None survive, they do what they must. Perfect.

Still perfered rogue one.

Honestly none of this really bothered me about the characters in Rogue One. Can the same things be said about most of the characters in Dunkirk? Yes. Do people ever criticize Dunkirk because of this? No. This is basically what RO is to me, a film like Dunkirk in space.

Rogue One - No Opening crawl, no John William's score, no Jedi/focal point, a new SW formula/perspective/darker tone, etc, etc, etc. And still was better than TFA & TLJ, period!!! Ironic how Rogue One was more traditional SW than TFA, despite all the disadvantages and risks, taken.

I feel this video mostly proves great artists know when to ignore theory. Rogue One follows none of the rules you shared and yet is so much better than Force awakens.

This was basically a WAY better version of Chris Stuckmann's "Analysed review". This video actually got the point across without seeming like they were saying 'anyone who likes this movie needs to have my opinion'. Great video, I've been waiting for something like this.

I was studying, but this is a video worthy of a break.

I thought we saw Jyn making choices through the first half. Just a few... - She makes a choice to attempt to flee during her rescue attempt (tells us she doesn't see it as a rescue). - Leaving the rebel base, she finds and keeps a blaster (she's someone who wants to be prepared and expects the worst). - On Jedha, in the ambush fight, she ignores Cassian and runs out to save a kid (she cares about other people's lives). - And it's her running out that puts her in danger from the grenade, that forces Cassian to shoot the rebel, which in turn gets them captured by the Rebels and puts Cassian in place to find Bohdi. In fact, we do see her pretending to be passive and uninterested, but by her actions and choices, revealing that she's active and engaged... which helps explain why she can inspire and lead the team.

Rogue One is my favorite out of all the Star Wars movies. There's something different about it... more raw, almost. I kinda knew what was gonna happen in The Force Awakens (the only plot twist being Solo's death), because they practically used the same old recipe. We knew the heroes were gonna triumph, Rey was gonna find her power and everything was gonna be alright. But Rogue One truly made me believe it was a heroic story. I agree with what I've been reading in the comments, it's a much more mature film and it felt real. Personally, I felt the characters' sacrifice, their fear, their commitment. I connected with their motives. I'm not saying TFA is bad, it's just... familiar, conventional, but Rogue One took risks. And that's why I love it so much!

I loved rogue one, but I agree the Jyn's character ark was... wonky, but it could easily have resolved by swapping around the scenes on Eadu and Jedha. The main mission at the beginning of the story is that the rebellion heard that Galen is part of a superweapon program, and they want him to testify in front of the senate. However, they believe that he will resist (they don't know at this point of the sabotage), so they ask Jyn to come along to convince him to testify in exchange for her freedom. Same plot, etc. Jyn has nothing to lose, so she accepts. After they crash on Eadu, Jyn convinces Cassian to rescue Galen instead of killing him, however in the attempt Galen is killed by the rebel strike force. Jyn comes to hate the Rebellion since they wanted to assassinate her father (and eventually killed him). However, news about the pilot arrives to the rebels, so the original deal stays the same, but this time Jyn is forced to come to Jedha. However, upon arrival she begins to see the brutality of the empire (beating people in the streets, destroying religious buildings, etc). Then she receives her fathers message (making her reaction more believable because she had seen her father die), but also witnesses the destruction of Jedha. She decides to carry out her fathers wish to destroy the Death star, as well as begin to understand the rebellions cause. When she arrives at Yavin, the same thing happens. The leaders are too afraid of the deathstar to fight, so she forms the suicide squad etc etc etc, same ending. I feel that would have made Jyn's character way more believable and fleshed out than the "those were alliance bombs that killed him.... Lets kill the empire" change that felt really rough.

To quote the nostalgia critic's review of rouge one: "Remember how the force awakens was an awesome movie with an ok climax? Well, Rogue one is an ok movie with an awesome climax"

I would argue that when we see Jyn being forced to help the rebellion, this isn't about Jyn as much as it is about the rebellion and how they work. One of my favorite things about Rogue One is how it shows that the Rebellion doesn't operate very differently from the Empire. The rebellion imprisoned her and forced her to work for them, not too different from the Empire forcing her father to work for them. And Cassian's character really expands on that idea too. This idea goes hand in hand with The Last Jedi and I think it really exposes the faults that perpetuate the war.

I was 8 yrs old when my mother took my brother and I to see A New Hope, I've seen every SW film ever made at the Theater. SW has always been my favorite sci-fi saga. When I went to see Rogue One it felt like watching the original trilogy on film. TFA and TLJ to just didn't have that deep SW feel. Just my opinion...

Begun... the Fan wars has

Well let's see.... this video is worth.... ONE QUARTER PORTION!

I disagree that the action vs reaction dichotomy has anything to do with how good a character is. Bilbo is deeply reactionary and he's among the best characters of all time.

The whole point of Jyn being a passive character at the start of the film is to show her development throughout the movie. It's so at the end they can show us her decision to fight for the rebellion, and eventually give her life for it. At least she has some sort of development in the movie. Rey isn't developed at all. She's already the character who can do everything.

could you do Kaufman's eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? thanks!

My biggest problem with TFA was that it was an opportunity with a huge blank canvas to explore a rich universe, but they threw that away with making a big bad super death star. Really a disappointment that I cannot forgive.

I can only imagine how much harsher the comments would have been if you had used The Last Jedi instead of The Force Awakens. And while I can appreciate this analysis and The Force Awakens does have a few moments I liked, Rogue One was a way more satisfying movie to me

This is the difference between a character driven story and a plot driven story. And both can be executed either well or poorly. The best movies are the ones that balance both aspects and are executed very well. A character driven tale will make you concerned about the well being of the protagonist and a plot driven tale will make you curious about what happens next. Both of these techniques have one end goal in mind which is to get you, the audience, to care about what you are watching or to at least be interested in it. Good character driven story: There will be blood Good plot driven story: Inception Bad character driven story: Daredevil Bad plot driven story: Now you see me Good balanced story: The count of monte cristo I would consider Rogue One to be a pretty good plot driven movie while The Force Awakens is a character driven movie that needs improvement. Rey might be an active character, but she is neither believable nor likable

Finally a video that talks objectively about the new Star Wars movie without being so extremist with "they're the worst thing in the world" or "they're the fucking best wow so perfect"

I rebel is a terrible line, i am glad that they removed it

I stood in line for "Star Wars" when I was 6 in 1977, and I loved Rogue One! And you can go right into the first film seamlessly! I had hopes for The Force Awakens but it forgot too much and changed even more and not for the better. Don't ask me about The Last Jedi..............just no lol

Personality I think Rogue One was a much better movie. It was meant to be a Classic War Movie. I knew enough of their motivations to care for the characters. Where as TFA, I couldn't get behind any of the new characters. Granted I have been an Imperial since 1977, I still could not get behind any of the First Order characters. Something in The Force Awakens got displaced for me, it felt more like I was watching a TV Sci-fi show. The Last Jedi, destroyed what little I liked in the first one. I can't put a finger on those two movies as to why they both seem broken and missing. Rogue One though I really did enjoy.

I like the video very much and hope to discuss it with the fans in the comments. *Scrolls through* ABORT ABORT!!!

I think the first half of Rogue One is intentional. We have passive and meaningless actions convey a sense of hopelessness... until they make a choice to be hopeful and take positive control over their lives. We are also rewarded pacing wise with this. The second half is much more fast-paced and filled with what we want from Star Wars... I.E. the wars part. I think instead of looking at show vs tell as a good/bad thing you should look at them as tools in a toolbox. They should be applied for specific reasons. Basically, we should ask what does it do to service the narrative.

Rogue One wipes the floor with The Force Awakens

Both have bad issues on screen and off screen but I prefer Rogue One. You overlooked so many things about Rey that made her disliked,Jin may be boring but the story of Rogue One is not just about her but how the entire crew got together who later sacrificed themselves to get the Death Star blueprints.

Oh boy.. you're about to have a lot of "constructive criticism."

Are you kidding me? The trip to Eadu was super important, it built Cassian a bunch, showed us how much Jyn really cares about her dad, and in the end, connected Jyn and Cassian

TFA and rogue one are two very different kinds of movies with different themes, and I think one fails and one succeeds in the job they are allotted to do. Comparing them with a single standard is a little erroneous. TFA is supposed to be the grand hero journey with high drama and deep emotionality following strong, well-definred characters- a space opera. Rogue one is a war movie- essentially a 'realistic' portrayal of military conflict about the sacrifice of NAMELESS nobodies for the greater good. TFA fails to deliver because there is no discernible weight to the hero journey. Contrary to your criticism, what's great about Jyn Urso is precisely her 'everyman' quality, which refreshingly (as opposed to the in your face 'women can be strong heroes too ' of TFA), more passively (?) subverts gender expectation by making our identification with this everyman, be, with a woman (I would arguably way more effectively dissolving gender barriers by ignoring them altogether). But what's the most memorable scene in Rogue One? It's not some cathartic moment of drama, its the BAD GUY mowing through nameless characters you've never seen the faces of, and your in awe and terror, still hoping nameless guy 7 is able to pass on the thingy to nameless guy 8. It's one of the few movies that elevates the ANONYMOUS struggle of people for what is right; rogue one throws a rose on the grave of the unknown soldier. On the other hand, the characters in TFA, while shown to BEGIN in grave and pitiable circumstances, are far too coddled and never really, truly SUFFER, or fail catastrophically and surprisingly. It feels as if the whole movie is on 'safe mode' and it makes the viewer never care, or want to care about the characters, because they getting away with too much and seem ENTITLED to proceed on to the next stage of the plot without having earned it.

Great vid, I really love your analysis! However I disagree with some of your take on Rogue one. I think Jin's passive ride in the first half is reinforcing her characters passive approach to 'the cause' (as her conversation with Saw finally voices)...it's not until her father's goal is passed on to her that she becomes active and makes the 180 degree turn in commitment, leading to the second half of the film. The Edu scene is crucial for two reasons: 1) she experiences her fathers death which is key to actually accepting his mission - just as many young hero's require their mentor's death to fully grow into their role (Saw's death doesn't serve in this because she broke from Saw, but never broke from her father), and 2) it illustrates the depths to which the hard-core elements in the rebellion will stoop in favor of their cause, the ends justifying the means behavior that Cassian refer's to in his speech before the final mission. The weight of that fact/speech is significant in the SW universe because we have previously seen only black and white, good and evil in the forms of the empire and rebellion. Edu shows us instead of telling us...Edu also shows Jin what commitment costs right as she's making the decision to commit, and challenges us, the viewer, to take sides in the argument she has with Cassian about what are acceptable behaviors for the 'good guys'...and Cassian brings us all around by pointing out that such commitment is only worth the sacrifices if you take it all the way to the end...which is where this story, unlike so many others, will ultimately take these characters: to their very end.

The way I see it, Star Wars has always come from two sources- the Western pulp serial (Flash Gordon, cowboy westerns) and the Eastern samurai adventure (Hidden Fortress, Seven Samurai). Western: Escapism, action heroes, cliffhangers Eastern: Philosophy, zen masters, weighty despair Force Awakens captured the fun heroes and pulp escapism. Rogue One has the Force philosophy and heavy war themes. They're halves to the Star Wars formula- the Originals successfully merged both. So your mileage on the new films varies based on which half you prefer.

First of all, great summary of both protagonists character arcs! Secondly, I would say the passivity of the entire main cast of RO is delibirate because the audience have to watch them all die for the cause. The movie in itself is a study of the physical manifestation of hope, so scenes of the Bor Gullet and the sequense at Eadu are character building as more and more of the cast put their hope in Jyn. Through Bor Gullet we discover the irrational paranoia of G Saw, whom in the end gives up his brand of rebellion in favour of Jyns, and we see Cassian starts trusting Jyn as he directly disobeys the orders of the alliance to kill Galen. I can agree, the sequence at Eadu is way to long for its purpose, as our main cast has no meaningful impact on the outcome, but it doesn't invalidate it. We learned more about Cassians hopefulness through his resolve to trust - trust Jyn, and it is worth the wait. Personally I loved both RO and TFA, and for completely different reasons. An active protagonist was right for TFA, Rey was our surrogate, our motivation. Jyn was a cog in a somber universe, and others putting their hope in Jyn throughout the movie IS the plot, so I have to disagree with you; I think the first half of RO was great! :)

Rogue One was the best Star-Wars movie outside the original Trilogy, period.

You've perfectly pointed out the reason I couldn't quite get into Rogue One the same way I got into The Force Awakens. And it's not just that Jyn is passive - it's that we don't see her wanting any different or wanting anything at all.

I appreciate your videos, but I have to totally disagree on your statement that TFA “continues OT storylines”. As a lot of people already said, it completely nullifies them, as the main three characters are rebooted to what they were doing 30 years ago: Leia is still leading an underdog army, Han is still a smuggler who gets into trouble for not paying his debts and Luke once again is in a far place of the Galaxy and has no involvement in the conflict.

I'm in the intro. This is the high point in my life.

"Making us eager to see what lies waiting for them, in episode VIII". Well, that ship has sailed.

You make a lot of good points in regard to the storytelling in these two films. That said I think one of your assumptions is wrong: That Jyn is the protagonist. Yes, she's the main character, but this movie isn't about her. This movie is about the rebels as a whole. I think that changes a lot of your points when you open that focus. This could also be because, like everyone I've talked to in person on the matter, I felt that Rogue One is the strongest Star Wars film to come out in my life time (born after episode VI and before I). It didn't make a mockery of the universe created by George Lucas and countless others. It wasn't packed with cartoonish characters that's only purpose is to be sold to children. So was the character development worse than episode VII? Probably, and to that end I can't argue. But the point of this film isn't character development. It's telling a legend that was hinted at years ago in Episode IV and getting you to empathize with the rebels which until this point we only cared about because the protagonists did. I'm not saying that's definitively right, but that's my 2 cents on the matter. Side bar: Agree 100% on the diversity in casting, long overdue.

I can't agree that Jyn being a "passive" protagonist is a bad thing. It's not that she's simply indifferent to her environment, rather she's one individual in the middle of a huge, and complex, conflict, involving, presumably, trillions of people. I'd say that makes her a lot more relatable, as well as making the setting feel bigger and more dangerous.

Really? I think Jyn has an amazingly better introduction. Her mother dies, her father was "captured", she was adopted by an extremist rebel, felt betrayed by her adopter, became some kind of criminal (all she learned to do in her infancy), was brought back to the rebelion and to both "fathers", to understand their failures, forgive them, the alliance, and finish their job (pretty bravely). She is a rebel, she has some past issues, felt abandoned, she is brave, she loves her family, she doesn't trust blindly on anyone or anything... Rey is a scanvenger and she is "good", aparently, or the film wants us to buy this (but she kind of steal the captured droid, but thinks about selling it later, and hits Finn with no evidence of he doing nothing wrong). She waits for her family, and is the most OP force user ever. We know nothing else about her, she has 0 personality. All the characters relationships on the movie are forced. The most forced being Kyle Ren saying Rey fells han solo is the father she never had... She had like, only some minutes with him, they barely talked... wtf? And Leia Hugging her? Ignoring chewbaca? A girl she dont even know? What? Rogue one has problems, but ep 7 is crazy dumb... Rey is like an RPG character of a bad player... Just skills, powers and some superficial background, but no deeper personality, relations, dreams, flaws... Finn is the same... He is "the good storm trooper"... because of reasons.. and nothing more. This movie sucked. Rogue one is the best by far, from the new ones.

Even though the outcome of Rogue One was already established through the lore, the second half of the film managed to have me on the edge of my seat. Something that I can't say about TFA. Sure, the characters of RO might have been weaker, but at least they managed to make them true war heroes who reached their goals through sacrifice and hard work. Rey, I mean, she just does the force thing, abracadabra, problem solved. Because of that, she is one of the least engaging characters in the SW universe.

This videos shows the dangers of applying principles in isolation. Maybe there was more "showing" and lead character "agency" in TFA, but Rogue One still felt superior. But those differences may have been marginal and some other guiding principle may have been at work: Such as respect for the Star Wars universe.

Can you do a video on Arrival?

The thing about Rogue One is that because Jyn doesn't make the big decisions, (to me at least,) it makes the movie feel less about a hero doing hero actions, but a regular person with regular person abilities. Rey is clearly the hero. Meanwhile, Jyn isn't making her choices to get involved in the Rebel Alliance, she's getting caught up in something out of her control, which is also why I find the Darth Vader scene at the end of Rogue One to be amazing. It demonstrates are more real (and slightly darker) side to the Star Wars Universe which shows how life is for the people that aren't the heroes, but are still doing important things. People who can't change the fate of the galaxy by themselves, but who can contribute to the change, piece by piece.

Just found your channel and i love your take on different movied and give me more insight in their structure and intentions. What i also love is the comments challenging my thoughts by challenhing yours! Keep up the good work!

Not disagreeing, but ... .still Rouge One was the only decent SW movie recently.

id like to bring out jin's passivity in another way: by being passive most of the time, the few times she takes action (saving a child during combat, her ultimate decision to fulfill her fathers plans, etc.) stand out way more and are shown as very important

Would love a look at Memento

"i love what kathleen kennedy and disney are doing with star wars". oh my sweet summer child

Okay that last part with the lightsaber and the force was awesome

I actually don't think Rey is a flawless character - there were a few moments in the film where I saw that the she was overconfident in her abilities and that that overconfidence actually backfires on her. When Han hands her the blaster and asks if she knows how to use it she responds with a really cocky attitude, like she's trying to show off how tough she is, and says "yeah, you pull the trigger". Han's response felt humbling to her, he pushed her hand down gently and said "There's more to it than that. You still have a lot to learn." The look on Rey's face in that moment was (to me) one of realization, that she isn't as strong as she thinks she is. There was also the moment on Han's larger ship where she resets the fuses in attempt to lock the rival gangs in their corridors - away from Han and Chewie (as well as BB8) - but she messes up and hits the wrong fuses, releasing the Rathtars. The way I saw this moment was that Rey was trying to show off how good she was to Finn and Han and didn't pay enough attention to the fuses she was supposed to be resetting, and that's how she made the mistake. She felt she knew the technology perfectly because of her life as a scavenger and wanted to show off - not realizing that working with obsolete and dead technology isn't quite the same as working with properly functioning hardware. Her mistake almost got everyone killed. Aboard the Falcon she and Finn are trying to identify who Han Solo was, Finn remarks about Han's role as a War Hero and General while Rey identifies with Han's smuggling career. The recognition is a fun moment for the audience since we already know that both stories are true - but they don't (yet). But there was a really short exchange between Rey and Fin in that moment that also showed off Rey's arrogance - she doesn't calmly or curiously remark that she simply heard he was a only a famous smuggler and didn't know what he was referring to by "War Hero". No, instead she turns her head and snaps Finn with a bit of irritation and a condescending attitude saying "No, the smuggler!" - she was clearly annoyed that Finn didn't recognize Han for the same reason that she did and it wasn't until Han mentioned Luke that Finn got to affirm his suspicion that Han was "the Han Solo who fought in the Rebellion", to Rey's obvious surprise and silence. Overall I saw Rey as very talented and experienced, through her rough upbringing, but overconfident in her abilities due to the fact that she had never truly met other talented or skilled individuals before. So, there ya go - a character flaw!

I agree with many of your points, but Jyn wasn't supposed to be an active character. She's one person. Not one of the Rogue One team members is anything more than a human (or droid). She seems powerless because she is. Because she's meant to be.

F*cking hated Force Awakens.Loved Rogue One

In regards to Jyn ‘s decision to help the rebels in the 3rd act, I understood the scene with her father to be the catalyst for that decision. It was clear that she was angry about being abandoned by her father and both the holo and the face to face make it clear for her that he did not leave her by choice or on a whim. The Empire destroyed her family and will continue to destroy other families until they are stopped. As adults, we understand what happened but Jyn was a child when her father was taken. The movie did show us what was her tragic backstory and we are meant to understand how difficult it would be for a child to process what has happened. Thoughts?

TFA was nothing more than a rehash of Episode 4 but not executed as well. R1, while having some flaws in the first act with pacing and gathering interest in the characters, at least told a more original, darker, grittier and a bit more realistic story and developed a group of characters enough with a common goal that you could get behind and cheer for. R1 is about hope even in the darkest of times, it's about not giving in nor standing by, but sacrificing yourself for something greater, for a better future for all. TFA had so many poorly explained characters and copy paste plot I don't really understand why people would like it more.

Great video! :) Personally, I think it is perfectly fine to have a passive protagonist and I believe that Rogue One is much better than The Force Awakens and ESPECIALLY The Last Jedi. We all knew the Squad of Rogue One had to die and I would have been mad if they hadn't, honestly. That's why the setup of these characters is perfectly fine, I think. In this movie, the rebels feel like soldiers and they know they are on a suicide mission. And to be honest, no moment in the new trilogy feels as tense as the last battle in Rogue One, because you know that the characters can actually die and the stakes are as high as never before. I can't remember one intense moment in the new trilogy. It's all chaotic MARVEL-esque filmmaking and while I enjoyed The Force Awakens in the cinema - exactly for reasons such as the great introduction of Rey and scenes like Poe and FInn's escape - I honestly hated The Last Jedi. I watched all of those movies with my brother who is very picky about movies and - like me - doesn't consider the majority of Hollywood productions particularly good and the reactions during the movie were like this: Rogue One - Smiling, getting excited | TFA - Mostly bored, a few laughs | TLJ - Facepalming and looking at each other with disbelief. Rogue One did an amazing job at being a standalone movie, perfectly capturing the aesthetics of Star Wars and engaging the viewer 100% in what is happening and the fact that you know how things must end only made everything better IMO. :)

Sometimes, a passive character IS the storyline. The character innocently and unexpectedly gets caught up in circumstances that are beyond their control. That is the story arc of Rogue One and it’s not a bad thing. Erso is dragged into the rebellion, the same way Luke is dragged into the rebellion.

For the show and don't tell part about the introduction of the main protagonist, I have to disagree… I think that the sequel (with 3 movies) was essentially the main protagonist's jedi journey, hence they had the luxury of spending much of TFA to introduce the main protagonist via "showing" to portray a concrete, compelling idea of her as a person, which is perfectly ideal to me. On the other hand, the introduction of the main protagonist (or more fitting, the main character) in Rogue One was grossly skimmed over by just "telling" because it wasn't really her story in the first place. She was just a part of something much bigger, so logically her own introduction didn't have or even need the luxury of "showing" which typically requires more screen time. They already "showed" and laid ground of how the death star came about and the relationship of the pivotal characters at the start. I believe they had to dive right into the true motive of the movie (the death star) and they did that by "showing" how the true motive of the movie came about, instead of just displaying a bunch of yellow words floating in space and then cutting into the actions of the rebel army planning to infiltrate the imperial database to obtain the blueprint (the part which is rightfully praised in the video). The backstory of the main protagonist in Rogue One merely was a just cherry on top, which in its core only to serve as the relatable tool to push the story forward at a personal level (her story) instead of a whole (the rebel army). Notice how they spend much of the time in the first half of Rogue One introducing the main characters and their relationships, instead of just one? That's the "showing" part of the introduction to the true core of the story, which was about how a whole cast of people came to sacrificing themselves for a greater good. If not, it can be just the main character sacrificing herself with the help of a bunch of other side characters who didn't really need to sacrifice themselves, for sake of the grandiose in portraying the main character's story. So for me, Rogue One did "show" its main protagonist (i.e. the people and their identities which motivates them). And likewise, TFA also did "show" the main protagonist and his motivation (i.e. the girl jedi and her identity which motivates her). Maybe I didn't word this right. I'm not a film major person. I just think it's a bit unwise to compare the introduction of the main characters like this, considering the cores of the two movies were fundamentally different. Oh and btw, Rogue One is the superior disney SW movie because it showed different facets of the rebel army and the imperial army in a tasteful, short, efficient way without needing some unnecessary story arc for the side characters to "cross over" from the evil side. That the "good guys" can be selfish and self serving at times and the "bad guys" have reasonable or relatable motives of their own.

My review as you go. I found this video gave me much to think about, which is always a good thing. 2m22s I completely understood who Jyn Erso was. She is a prisoner of the Empire, and I know the Empire is bad. You can hear screaming the cells nearby. The connection from child who saw her parents murdered to a person who hates the Empire enough to get arrested is clearly established without the need for added scene. The comment that she gives no reaction in the briefing on Yavin 4 seems wrong to me. If you are not reacting to what the others around you are doing, THAT is your reaction. She is not oblivious - you can see her looking from speaker to speaker. Surrounded by people who are obviously heavily armed and are sitting in judgement of her she shows neither anxiety not fear. That tells me something about her as well. Dialogue to indicate she is not bowed by authority would be superfluous as this point. I don't need her to TELL me she as rebel. It is shown to me very clearly. In contrast, while the sequence with Ray clearly establishes who she is now, it doesn't give me anything about how she got here. So I would say I connected with Jynn more than Ray in those opening sequences. Had they used the dream sequence trick from R1, the part we see later in the movie with the Jedi vision, I would have had some better grounding for her character. It's now how much you show but what you show that is important. 5:34 Again, I question the reasoning here that Jynn is not an active protagonist. First, she is not entirely without action. The second she is freed on the prison transport her first ACTION is to smash the guy helping her in the face and try to escape. Again, his is a powerful statement that she is not some wilting lily but a dangerous person. Second, you cannot have a non-choice choice. You always have a choice. See the Buffy 2nd season episode "Lie to me." I question the reasoning about the capture on Jedda as well. They are captured because Jynn makes a choice to intervene in the battle, and act to save civilian lives. Saying she doesn't take action here is like saying Superman is not active when he saves Lois Lane from the helicopter crash in the Richard Donner Superman movie. He didn't cause the crash, so he is not active but reactive? No, I don't agree at all. Especially since a fundamental principle of acting is that is also about reacting. You cannot act in isolation - you nee something to act against or react to. 9:22 Another assessment I disagree with is regarding the trip to Edu. This IS necessary and important for Jynn's character arc, and therefore helps move the plot. Through her fathers death [which we have to see, not be told about] she is motivated to abandon her position as loner and actually do something for the rebellion. Another point of the Edu mission - It establishes in the briefing immediately after on Yavin that this is an drastic escalation of hostilities between Rebel Alliance and Empire. Darth Vader even comments on this on Mustafa. It is also a part of the ongoing side story of the power struggle between Tarkin and Krennic. Had Jynns father lived he could have delivered the information in person to the Alliance. As it is the lack of concrete proof is what causes them do delay, allowing Jynn to become proactive. Saying that her comments to Kassian are without real purpose also ignores the power of his own story arc which is happening in parallel to hers. Jynn is a conflicted hero who needs to make a choice about who she supports, or does she simply remain idle. Meanwhile he is growing to question his own choices and who he is? Finally, I certainly felt an emotional connection to the characters in the final act as they drop one by one. Even the mostly nameless troopers on the beach getting gunned down felt like real people to me, in a way that, for example, the rebel soldiers who fell in the battle of Hoth did not. The deaths of the various characters in R1 was, for me, every bit as powerful as the death of Han Solo, a character with much more history invested in him.

Force Awakens Flaw #1. When Death Star 1 is destroyed ... the empire builds another death star. Isn't that just stupid. I mean won't you use your brains to design something else? perhaps learn from your failures?

A great analysis of what worked and what didn’t in these two Star Wars movies. You’re an informed critic, one of the best I’ve seen in a while!

"The Fault in Our Star......Wars" *badum tsss*

This is one of my favorite channels on KZfaq I watch rn...You make me want to change my major to Film...

I loved the bit at the end! I laughed when you used "the force" to slide your KZfaq plaque back up the wall.

Very interesting points Michael. I admire the way you portray the constructive criticism. I do think there is a difference between comparing a character in a stand-alone film, and a trilogy; I think it was elemental for the audience to have empathy for Rey when the audience is going to follow her for three movies, in comparison to Jyn who was going to be only in one and she was going to die in the end. Also, I think Rogue One is more about the rebellion than Jyn's story; although it centers around her, all the characters have an equal motif to rebel, making the plot of the movie about the rebellion, not Jyn's arc. If Jyn would have had more emphasis and backstory, the other characters would have fallen in the background, and the rebellion would not have been as important. I believe they made it this way to portray how the rebellion is more important than any individual's story, including Jyn's. In contrast to Rey, who is in fact, the center of the new face of the star wars story, the connection to Skywalker, and her journey emphasizes about discovering the force; she has more to deliver to the audience hence it requires more depth; she's the one who carries the story forward with the audience experiencing her journey. Although I enjoyed the video and the analysis, I do not think it's fair to compare two characters from different kinds of plots. I do not see them as faults but as very different approaches to protagonists. Nevertheless, this is very informative about writing; very well done.

alvin and the chipmunks road chip analysis when

Wow this video is amazing, i really love that you are not just shunning the “Dysney era” Star Wars movies instead passively putting forth certain aspects that can be improved about them. Awesome!

Great video! Amazing points made and very respectful

Did you see Moonlight? I thought that film had a lot of great things you could breakdown

The Rogue One trip to Eadu had a lot of consequences. Galen Erso was killed, that was the main reason for the rebels going there. It shows that good/bad isn't black and white, even the rebels have a dark side. They stole shuttle SW0608, a ship which would become crucial to the story.

Your videos are very informative man. Much love for this channel.

Regardless of the over analysis, Rogue One is still a far better film.

e a r l y b o i s

I don't know if I should agree with your analysis or not. For me, Rogue one was a more satisfying film to watch. I felt that Force Awakens was a very phony movie which just relied on Nostalgia. It was riddled with defects (like that poison gas in Millennium falcon) and countless and pointless characters and dialogs. Rogue one felt like a more genuine star wars movie.

too bad they didnt show or tell why rey is an expert pilot, marksman, mechanic, or why although she thinks the force is a myth, she has jedi master levels of prowess.

Very interesting video. I also enjoyed the post-video acting - great sequence (especially loved the force move to restore the framed plaque). Keep up the great work!

Jyn's passivity in the 1st half of the film isn't a flaw in the storytelling. It's an important part of Jyn's arc. Jyn is NOT part of the rebellion. She has no overarching plan. She's not a hero. Her goal is to keep her head down, not get noticed, and kill a few stormtroopers on the way. Just because she hates the empire, does not mean she's on the rebellion's side. When she sees the hologram, her motivation changes. At that point, it's about redemption for her father. This is when she becomes an active part of the story, even though her motivation is still secondhand. She still has not chosen sides. The goal is redemption for her father, the Death Star is still secondary. After her father is killed, she still hasn't chosen a side. It's not until the third act that she chooses sides. Now she is no longer passive. Again the motivation has changed. It's still about redeeming her father, but now it is also about actively helping the rebellion, and killing a bunch of imperials along the way.

Another fantastic video! It's rare to find a nuanced reflection on films like these that tend to be either hated or loved. You did a great job at pointing out the weak spots, I wonder though how much of Jyn's backstory was deleted; there was so much footage in the trailer that didn't end up in the final film.

I rarher watch Rogue One 1000 times than having to see TLJ one more time.

Totally agree with the passive nature of Jyn's character. That said, I don't agree that Rey is an active character in her story - she just gets caught up in it all in the same way. She doesn't have the agency that Luke had in A New Hope. She certainly isn't as likable or relatable as either Jyn or Luke as well, which for me made The Force Awakens really miss the mark.

I disagree with you where the trip to Eadu in Rogue One is concerned. While the movie did not 100% need it, in my view, it certainly helped strengthen Jyn's resolve in destroying the Death Star. Seeing her father die is one of the movie's few "show, don't tell" actions. As the death of Jyn's father encourages her further to take on the task of obtaining the plans to the DS. Other than that, the journey to Eadu had a purpose, as they understood bringing Galen to the Rebellion would convince them better about the Death Star's danger. Of course, the mission is a failure; Galen dies, and the squad is then left with no support from the majority of the Rebellion save for Admiral Raddus, which brings us to Act III. All in all, brilliant video. It really makes you think deeper about what these movies do right and what they do wrong beyond the basic criticism many people say about TFA.

Now this is good, legitimate criticism against these movies. Could you do these with the prequels & original trilogy as well?

Your writing -- I mean the words you write and then read during these videos -- is always good, but here it was especially excellent. I even teared up once or twice as you expressed your love -- that we all share -- for the franchise. Thanks.

Agreed right up until the end - I never cared for the characters of the ST. Rey has no real flaws, and never really earns anything. Finn is inconsistent - one minute he can't deal with the fact that he has to kill people, the next he is slaughtering his former comrades and cracking wise. Poe was great in the opening, but the fact that he was supposed to die in the crash is sorely apparent. TFA being poorly directed (too much camera movement, TV-like direction) and a soft remake of A New Hope also prevented me from caring for it. I was, however, at least somewhat interested in what would happen next, in VIII... until the opening act of VIII killed all my investment in the franchise. Rogue One, on the other hand, I found much more engaging, and much more true to the franchise, despite TFA's remake status. All your criticism of the movie are valid, however - it is not perfect, but a mark above TFA, in my opinion. You could treat Jyn's passivity as a theme of the movie, about how awful and uncontrollable war tends to be for the little people, and you could see Saw's continued reluctance to trust the pilot as exemplary of his character trait of deep-rooted paranoia. But I guess that is me being defensive.

While I agree entirely with your eloquently expressed assessment, I actually had many more problems with Episode 7 than I had with Rogue One, personally. At least, Rogue is an entirely original story when Ep7 is merely 2 of the original films mashed together and repackaged with some clunky nostalgic appearances to push forward the storyline.

Please do one about Get Out, I think its a really great movie and if you can explain why that would be amazing. Love your vids x

Who cares that they showed us 6 minutes of her (reys) life... in the end we still knew almost nothing about her .... and two films in, we still know nothing much. Jynn was a more complete and interesting character IMO.

Ahhh, I remember when Star Wars brought me such excitement and joy, when I used to collect everything Star Wars, and when I used to say that it was my favorite franchise of all time. I miss those days 😭.

*I honestly think the soullessness and tackiness of the prequels and the unwanted tinkering of the Special Editions have made Star Wars fans a vicious pack of cynics* . We're always tearing each other apart now. We have lost all ability to view new Star Wars films with nuance. All flaws are blown out of proportion and all successes are held up as perfection. I'm afraid we've become so jaded that now we can't watch any new Star Wars film with fairness and insight. I am generalizing; I realize there are still level-headed fans. But the KZfaq comments section...._you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy._