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Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
So after reading this thread I decided to watch The Force Awakens again to see how it compares to Rogue One. It's not even close. It's more engaging in the first 10 minutes than Rogue One was through the first hour. A masterful job by Oscar Isaac and John Boyega to play instantly likable characters. Plus, Kylo Ren's first scene is just as strong as any appearance by Darth Vader in R1 (last scene in the hallway notwithstanding). 25 minutes into the film and I'm already cheering and rooting for the characters. THAT is how you engage an audience.
It just has such a different tone. The film is meant to entertain first and foremost, and that's where I felt R1 fell short. I wasn't really that entertained. Intrigued? Sure, but that quickly moved into the realm of boredom when they failed to deliver anything to continue being intrigued by.
However, with all the commentary in this thread, I'm willing to watch it again from a different perspective. That of telling the story of forgotten soldiers in a larger war, with all it's brutish reality. Perhaps I'll come to appreciate it for it's own merits, and try and forget the fact that it feels so radically different than the other Star Wars films.
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Yeah I'd also say TFA is the better film, and contrary to what some have claimed, I'd say it stands on it's own much better than Rogue One. TFA is a good high adventure film, even for people who have no nostalgia for the originals. (At least based on comments of people like that that I've met.) The interwoven stories of Rey and Kylo are interesting on their own.
Rogue One felt like a fan service film. It's intriguing because it shows things we don't normally see about the Star Wars universe, but on it's own what we see isn't really that engaging, and it's quite mediocre as a war/action film. The plans for the Death Star are never that interesting, and without the context that ANH gives the story, the whole "I designed a flaw into the Death Star, but I won't tell you what it is" isn't very interesting. Many have mentioned that the characters are much more interesting if you've read some backstory book which most people haven't read. (Catalyst. I haven't read it either.)
If you need a whole other movie to give meaning to the plans that were stolen, and a book to flesh out the characters, it's a pretty big sign that the film doesn't stand on it's own. Oh, and the best scene in the film is given to Darth Vader, a character that has zero relevance to this film.