Why, why, why?

[haldu2]

Please explain to me why the best movies in the world have forever had the worst actors it bugs me no end. Especially anakin, couldn't they get a good guy to play the most important charecter. I know in the beging it was a buget issue but by ep. 1 they should have been fine.

[devestator]

What are you talking about? I liked Depp in Pirates.

[awesomejedi]

I think Hayden Christensen played Anakin perfectly, and your saying that James Earl Jones was horrible as voice of Vader?

I disagree with you there

[superflytnt]

LOL....are you going to crack on the little person who played R2-D2 next? That's the POINT! Who would want to play one of these characters if they were a big name Star? To have their careers abruptly changed due to typecasting? Look at Harrison Ford...he had Indiana Jones (who was initially going to be Tom Selleck) and Han Solo....what else? He'll always be those 2 guys. Now what does he have? K-19 Widowmaker? 6 Days 7 nights? AIR FORCE ONE??? OMG his career was OVER before he knew it, aside from 6 outstanding performances in 6 well written stories.

The point was to get average people to play great parts....sort of the theme of Star Wars, that average people can make a galactic difference. Harrison Ford was NOBODY before Star Wars. American Graffiti? Puhleez! Luke - Mark Hamill? Who was he before Star Wars? Look at most of these folks...ordinary actors doing extraordinary things. Changing the ENTIRE CULTURE of a generation!!! Before all the craziness of marketing and merchandizing, they STILL had C3P0's Cereal for pete's sake!

I mean, James Earl Jones and Sir Alec Guiness were the only real known folks...until Billy "Colt 45 Every Time" Dee Williams and others wanted to jump in! Leia was played by a commercial actress (and she was told to lose 20 pounds or lose the part to Michelle Pfeiffer)..

You be nuts man. Great (but unknown) actors playing outstanding roles. That's the beauty!

[Yaggleberry Finn]

superflytnt said:

OMG his career was OVER before he knew it, aside from 6 outstanding performances in 6 well written stories.

Six well written stories? Have you SEEN The Temple of Doom? Harrison Ford looks completely uncomfortable during the entire movie. It is painful to watch. The only redeeming quality in the entire movie is when Indy cuts the rope bridge. That's it.

Man, let's be honest here, even The Phantom Menace is a far cry from a well written story. And yes, Haldu2, Jake Lloyd is horrendous as Anakin.

superflytnt said:

That's the POINT! Who would want to play one of these characters if they were a big name Star?

I don't think his point was that they should've gotten well known actors, just good ones. Anakin's mom is pretty bad, too.

[superflytnt]

But not the title roles, eh? Anakin (not the little puke) is a pimp. He decapitates someone...and it looks like he REALLY wanted to do it. That was cool. Ewan McGregor is a beast as well, and has the Alec Guiness accent and mannerisms down pretty well also. Liam Neeson was great. Anakin's mom - I have to concede that point. She was atrocious.

Temple of doom was cool...not close to the best, but still cool. I'd have to concede that point as well. The only thing saving it from shame is that they made a third, so it didn't kill the series.

As for the final point, you're right there...but I still say they had a well rounded and quite good cast, aside from a few lone flyers.

[stvatt]

Harrison had Witness, the Fugitive, What Lies Beneath, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games... only until his most recent movies have I been unsatisfied with his performance.

[madlawyer]

Obi-Wan was a bit cheesy, but he was good. The only problem was Jar-Jar Binks , he was bad.

The best performance was Darth Sidious I think

[superflytnt]

stvatt said:

Harrison had Witness, the Fugitive, What Lies Beneath, Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games... only until his most recent movies have I been unsatisfied with his performance.

All were "OK" but not phenomenal like Han and Dr. Jones. The Clancy films were probably his best..or maybe Witness. Still not close to Han or Indy. And admit it...when you saw Witness you WERE expecting him to pull his S&W Model 15 or a blaster pistol on the little Amish kid...no?

[YodaBreaker]

superflytnt said:

But not the title roles, eh? Anakin (not the little puke) is a pimp. He decapitates someone...and it looks like he REALLY wanted to do it. That was cool. Ewan McGregor is a beast as well, and has the Alec Guiness accent and mannerisms down pretty well also. Liam Neeson was great. Anakin's mom - I have to concede that point. She was atrocious.

I think my biggest problem with Anakin is that his character was often that of a whiny brat in EpII and EpIII, rather than a potentially menacing badass. In EpII, he was the whiny Padawan. He was always chafing against the restrictions Obi-Wan and Padme put on him by turns, and his character seemed to be written as a fairly one-dimensional late adolescent. His anger and impulsivity could have been better mixed with subtle poise and intelligence, but George Lucas's infamous direction of "Faster! More intense!" drowned out any subtle dramatic possibilities in that character.

At the beginning of EpIII, he had a relatively good bearing and presence. I thought that he finally had the calm, regal, yet barely contained dark side tendencies that would have made him a compelling character. Unfortunately, after his turn to the dark side, he devolved rather abruptly into a whiny Sith Lord. I wish that more time would have been spent on his Sith training and that his first assignment wouldn't have been to slaughter his fellow Jedi. Rather, this seems like it should have been the culminating act of evil, which sent Obi-Wan to confront Vader while Yoda battled Sidious. However, I may be in the minority that liked his slowly revealed tears after his slaughter of the Separatist leaders - it was one of the few ways in which his Sith character was given depth. Again, I'm not sure how much of this is Hayden's fault as much as it is George's hyperkinetic direction.

[Radar]

As far as young Anakin is concerned, the kid had a rough part to play. Fill the shoes of Darth Vader as a child. Maybe they should have hired that "I see dead people" kid, but that would have ruined it for me. Hayden Christen seemed to do a well enough job for me, but I'm still not sure why I wasn't invited to the EP2 Anakin auditions

[darthjarjar]

So most of the actors in the latest 3 movies (Anikan aside) are all known as good actors outside of STARWARS movies. So was is it their fault or is it George who has lost his way. Because it wasn't the super acting that made the first movies so cool it was the Ideas and Characters. The best in my humble opinion was Empire and Lucas didn't even direct it. I think that Lucas Must have Surrounded Him self with a lot of Yes Men and no Real StarWars Fans. The Ideas were still good but the execution was all wrong throughout the new films. And so many Cool BAD GUYS Who got killed of way to soon. Maul, Jango, Greevey
I know you all saw the Clone Wars Cartoon Didn't You? It Was Amazing! Those guys had a real grip on what I thought the Starwars Universe Was about. Even How Anakin and Obi-wan Interacted seamed like a real friendship like brothers.

And with Yodabreaker on how Anakin went from Winer to Super Evil in a heart beat.
"Well OK I helped you kill Mace, I guess I'm Evil now I'll Go Slaughter a bunch of children... Man being evil Sucks Dude" I mean Come one!
Ok I'm sorry for ranting.

[Joe Manzo]

Han Solo VS Two-Face in the Fugitive is one of my FAVORITE movies!

[superflytnt]

It was the ideas and characters, yes, but if they were done differently (interpretation of the screenplay) by the actors it could've bombed.

[greyelephant]

Posted by YodaBreaker on Aug 2, 2006, 12:00am
I think my biggest problem with Anakin is that his character was often that of a whiny brat in EpII and EpIII, rather than a potentially menacing badass

One thing to keep in mind is Mark Hamil. He was always whining in the movies. Watch EP IV and watch his reation when Uncle Owens asks him to clean the droids. Watch him when Yoda says hes too young to be trained in EP V.

Like father like son.