Or maybe he was just tired of the rebels shit and didn’t want to deal and just let his men (who managed to hit all their targets thank you very much) do the work. He showed them how it was done 20 mins earlier, now it was their turn to prove to the boss they deserve to fight at his side. Those corporate team building seminars are really paying off for the empire.
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It feels like a hint of what he might have been, before. Vader is old by the time ANH comes around, but here we get to see how he’s earned the reputation he has- but returning to that level of output, even for a bit, appears to be exhausting.
It’s a good move, I think, in that it both shows us why we should be scared of him but also, in a subtle way, shows us some of the humanity/human-ness that’s still in him.
This is a badass in his twilight years.
So good.
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Old AND twisted by the dark side. You don’t think Palpatine’s crevasse depth wrinkles come from missing daily skin care regime do you?
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(well, 41, close enough).
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Burnt to a crisp, augmented with (now nearly decades old) tech, and still needing periodic Bacta Tank treatments. "Old’ is relative at that point. 
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I think Vader is 45-50 here? If its 17 years after Order 66/the Fall of the Republic – he was in his late 20s, or early 30s then? Married to Padme and making his first Jedi baby, prime of his life. 17 years later isn’t twilight years.
Dooku was fighting a hell of a lot harder than ANH Vader in what looked like his late 50s. Jedi Master Jackson was swinging his purple lightsaber pretty damn well in the same, tho likely 5-10 years older timeframe.
None of the Jedi Masters looked very young, and I’m gathering Vader by the time of ANH is around Qui-Gon’s age give or take. Unless his mechanics are far worse than then stuff Grevious had access to, Vader should be an ass kicking machine for decades to come.
Heck, there was a point in Clone Wars where Palpatine shows up, all old and hobbled, stands up straight and kills Savage Oppress, beats Maul and leaves him for “dead.”
Keep in mind: Obi-Wan cut down Maul like he was a fly. That should have been months to weeks in advance of Rogue One/ANH but not like more than 1 year? I get that Maul was INSANE and UNHINGED and not the focused master of the force that Vader is – but Maul was a dark lord of the sith while Annie was still pod racing and not even close to decrepit now, also with mechanical legs.
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Well, Grevious was far more machine than Vader was. Vader still had upper arms and legs with cyber extensions and then other tech to keep him alive. Grevious chose to go cyborg and went deeper with is upgrades. By the time of the Clone Wars, very little of his original body remained.
It is unclear still exactly where Rebels current time line is with ANH, but s2 was at least 3 to 4 years out (Leia’s appearance there she was 15) so still plenty of time. Obi also countered Maul’s attack properly. He assumed the same stance that cost QuiGon his life and Maul attacked the same way. Obi knew a better counter at that point and responded appropriately.
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Isn’t he meant to be, like, 80 in AoTC?
His age was odd to me if Humans/Humanoid force users don’t get lots of extra life. He was Qui-Gon’s master, right? I do not know if he had been a member of the high council, but Dooku had a long and I think good career as a Jedi before defecting to go be a Count…
I’d always assumed force users just live a long time, I guess and not that Yoda was special for being a Yodanistani.
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Yeah, I too was surprised when I found myself yawning in the theater.
The entertainment value of some other movies and shows are incredibly high right now, they make me think about concepts for days, they are surprising, they weave complicated stories and finish with a climax, they make me consider old problems with fresh insight, they make me want to look away in fear because of what is about to happen behind the next door, etc, etc. That simply wasn’t happening for me in this movie. It looked great, some new insight into the force was cool, the robot’s dialogue was snarky fresh, but i had zero connection to anything happening. I also don’t have children, maybe the father daughter story was lost on me personally, but helped others jump into it?
Then there is a definite looming problem with the franchise as a whole. Disney is going to jam us with star wars until people grow tired of it. Maybe Im simply an unfortunate early burn out?
All that being said, SW is still a great franchise and even their worst episodes have qualities that beat a lot of the other sci-fi drivel thrown at us.
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Well, film as all art is subjective. I had the exact opposite reaction to the film as you did. Sorry you are burnt out early it seems. I for one am looking forward to as much Star Wars as Disney wants to throw at us. For now at least. (I say this as someone who didn’t watch ep 3 until last year after walking away from the franchise after ep 2 although I watched Clone Wars religiously)
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Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
I haven’t seen Rogue One a second time yet, although I’m looking forward to it.
I liked it a lot more than I did TFA, which I enjoyed while I was in the cinema but the more I considered it the less I thought of it.
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I like the fan theory that the missed shots from the original trilogy were intentional. The Empire didn’t know the location of the base on Yavin until the tracking device on the Falcon lead them to it. Here is the theory presented in image form
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Agreed. TFA (which felt like an unfinished first draft rushed into production) I enjoyed in the theater but afterwards (like all JJ films) it fell deeply apart and I was worried the new Lucasfilm had no real idea how to handle things. RO fixed that problem.
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That is no theory. The film backs this up 100% and I have been tired of that “storm troopers always miss” shit for decades.
FACT: ObiWan’s comment about trooper accuracy in ANH
FACT: Luke (EDIT: and Wedge and that other Y-Wing pilot) are the only surviving pilot of the Battle of Yavin
FACT: Battle of Hoth
FACT: Battle of Endor (still lost, but they managed to hit a bunch of rebels and ewoks)
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The core story for TFA worked for me, but plenty of elements of the movie did seem rushed. However the parts of the movie that worked for me were really good. Sadly i did not care much for Finn and also the Starkiller base/planet.
I really hate Finn. He’s supposed to be raised and trained as part of the Empire and despite him not necessarily being a soldier he still had plenty of training… and in the movie his behavior is far from professional or competent. How he acts doesn’t match his background at all and it drives me crazy.
Finn was conscripted as a kid AND put through mental brain wash training to be who he was. Bit different than someone who volunteers for service and goes through what would be considered real world basic training. Also, he was on sanitation detail previously and his mission on Jakku was the first time he was working as a regular grunt trooper. Seeing his buddy die in front of him kinda made him snap.
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Poor Wedge.
Well, if anything, that seems to suggest their training is crap, no? Like the dudes who just walk the other way when Kylo Ren is freaking out. I mean, I would do the same thing, but I’m not a trained trooper.
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Poor thingy in the Y-wing.
*googles*
Keyan Farlander.
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