One of the worst movies I saw in 2016

Rating: Null/10 (13 May 2017)

I'm shocked that people thought of Rogue One so positively, in general. I almost never want to leave the theater when watching a film, but I wanted to leave for this one. It was such a boring, annoying mess. It was painful to watch.
Like so many other sci-fi/fantasy films lately, Rogue One gets bogged down in boring, ugly scenes that are hard to focus on. IT LACKS HEART AND SOUL. Whoever the filmmakers are - their tastes definitely don't match mine.
Felicity Jones was one of the worst things about the film. Stars of films are important, obviously, because you see them in most scenes, and they carry the film. She was fine in Theory of Everything - I felt for her, and her relationship with Stephen Hawkings. She was far better- looking than the actual Hawkings wife, though. But in Rogue One, Jones had none of the heart and acting chops she showed in Theory of Everything. Maybe being a rogue action heroine isn't her forte. Like others have mentioned, she had the same expression throughout Rogue One, and she totally lacked charisma.
Also, 2016 was the year of dumb filmmakers trying to appeal to women/girls by having a female lead that supposedly kicked ass. Very patronizing and unnecessary. Title IX happened long ago, and girls have been kicking ass forever. Filmmakers don't need to pretend to know what women like/want to see in a film. Felicity Jones was a failure as an action heroine in Rogue One. She took it all too seriously. If she relaxed more, she would've been more appealing, and would've carried the film better.
The love interest buildup between her and the Diego Luna character seemed superficial and forced. They didn't have a lot of chemistry in the film. In an ending beach scene, you just didn't feel for them. Throughout the film, it seemed like Luna liked her - I could see that in his eyes and facial expression. She didn't care much for him, though. It makes sense, though, because she is extremely attractive, while Luna looks merely scrappy-cute in his beard and vegan-like shriveled build. Usually charisma is linked with attractiveness, so I don't know how Felicity Jones screwed it up by being extremely attractive, but totally uncharismatic and unlikeable.
All these articles online talked in a very condescending way about how two Chinese actors were randomly thrown in the film to appeal to viewers in China. It's as if Chinese people and China were some inferior mass that you just look down on and talk down to. The most interesting thing about the film, to me, was the inclusion of the two Chinese actors, one from the North (Jiang Wen), and one from HK (Donny Yen). It's opened my eyes to two actors previously unknown to me, and it's piqued my interest in Chinese actors and Chinese cinema in general.
Online, there's been speculation about a homo-erotic undertone between the two Chinese characters. I don't think there's such thing, but people can dream. It seemed they were just close and loving friends in the film. I thought it was a bit silly that they threw the two Chinese actors in most scenes together. It's how people all think that all Asians like to band together, disgusting things that they are. In fact, Jiang Wen (Baze Malbus) was married to a French lady and has a hapa daughter. All Asians don't necessarily love and jive with each other, so there's no need to make the two Chinese actors best buddies in the movie and to throw them together in every scene. It's a stereotype that Asians enjoy clustering among themselves, and you can see stereotypes played out in so many American films.
Overall, this film sucked. But like all films, it says a lot about American/Western culture, stereotypes, preferences, and zeitgeist. It reflects the trends and preferences of the time.