Point Man Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Ian McDiarmaid did a perfect job of keeping his performance understated, except for the two scenes when he used force lightning. I really hated the way he shouted "Ultimate Power!" while attacking Mace Windu, but that probably was the director's choice, not his. Hayden Christensen must have been the valedictorian at the William Shatner School of Overacting. It's a shame Qui-Gon was killed in The Phantom Menace; Liam Neeson could have helped him tone down his performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimartin Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Best Actor: Ewan McGregor - I was a little apprehensive about him in Episode I, but he was able to make the role his own while still incorporating Alec Guinness representation of the older Obi-Wan. I give Ewan McGregor a slight edge over Harrison Ford, because Ewan made the character his own while remaining true to Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan. Best Costumed Actor: Anthony Daniels as C-3P0 and Kenny Baker as R2-D2 – Everyone knows these two character stole the show. Best Voice Actor: James Earl Jones and Frank Oz – Nothing sounds more evil then James Earl Jones’ voice as Vader or wiser than Frank Oz’s voice as Yoda. As to a worst actor, I think stingerhs summed it up pretty well. Most underused Actor: Samuel L. Jackson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerbieZ Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 The best are Harrison Ford and Peter Cushing but i think the worst out of all films personally had to be Christopher Lee. In Ep 2 especially he was terrible, the only saving grace he had was his intense gaze easily made him sith-like but the way he moved when he was speaking and his close-up non-cgi movements were almost painful to watch (he was so slow and wasn't as limber compared to his cgi and stunt doubles that the transition between them was like a punch in the face). As much as i want to, I can't really blame Hayden Christensen because he had some of the crappiest lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 As much as i want to, I can't really blame Hayden Christensen because he had some of the crappiest lines. I can, he could have grown a pair and said:"Listen George, there is no way in hell that I'm acting out this written garbage on camera you senile old fudge licker!" And we would have all been better off because George would have either: 1. Fired Hayden and hired a better actor cause that ain't hard to do. 2. Listened to Hayden and actually write some good dialog, or have someone do it for him. 3. Died a massive heart attack from gross insubordination because everyone else usually kisses his behind like crazy, in which case the movie would have been finished by someone else... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Obi-Wan Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford definitely top my list. Though, I didn't really have a problem with any of the acting. The mediocre acting didn't really stand out the much to me, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Harrison Ford, followed by Sir Alec Guiness and Ian McDiarmid for my favorites. Natalie Portman, followed by Jake Lloyd and whichever stoner did Jar Jar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Hayden Christensen is by far the worst actor on the planet. The guy says every line with the same monotonous tone of voice.... Well, I guess they could have cast Keanu Reeves instead. [/sarcasm] Woah, dude! I have to come to Christensen's defense. While I admit that he didn't fill out what I had in my mind as Anakin Skywalker, he did bring much to the character. In AotC, he was a typical rebellious teenager who wanted everything his way now, and very much teetering on the edge of the Darkside because of this. Not Vader yet, but headed in that direction. In RotS, he became more headstrong. Not being a fully matured personality made him more susceptible to temptation. His inexperience with love and marriage (a byproduct of being away at war) made for tense love scenes. And if you don't think he looked absolutely evil on Mustafar, you've got a screw loose. The only thing that I thought needed work was the moment of the fall to the Darkside. I didn't see enough inner turmoil for it to be thoroughly believable. But, that was more a product of script than of acting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herosinger Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 All this stuff about Christensen and Portman is misguided, in my opinion. People say that, "Hey, the script was bad." Have you watched Episodes 4-6 lately? The dialog has always been atrocious. The difference is that Ford, Fischer, McDiarmid, and MacGregor know how to play the dialog. I honestly felt that, rather than not acting, Christensen and Portman are trying too hard. They simply don't understand how to play a Star Wars character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-W4 Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Christensen and Portman are trying too hard.Yeah. Still, compared to their heavyweight-acting colleagues, they're n00bs. Every n00b will eventually become a lot better, so they really shouldn't be slapped for that. At least, not too hard. Not everyone can be as brilliant as Sir Alec or Ewan McGregor from day go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnus Q'ol Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee and Sir Alec Guinness are probably the most accomplished actors in the whole series and best fit for their roles. BEST: Ford as Solo Lee as Count Dooku Guinness as Obi-wan Neeson as Qui-gon Ginn Prowse as Vader (although the voice by J.E. Jones forever sealed his demeanor) WORST: Christensen as young Annakin Skywalker Muppet Yoda in Episode I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 There were a lot of good ones and some bad ones for me. For the prequels I like Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson. Unlike many of you I also liked Hayden Christensen as Anakin. I mean yeah some parts were really lame ("The thought of not being with you, I can't breathe") but you gotta look at the script for things like that. A lot of people didn't like him because he acts whiny and selfish but look at Luke. So I think he did as good a job as anyone could have for his role. Didn't like Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd, and I have to mention Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at but the way she delivers some of her dialog is soooo lame. I've always wished her and Keira Knightley's roles as the queen and the queen's decoy would have been flopped. For the original trilogy I think there is a lot less to complain about. Harrison Ford was great as Han. Alec Guiness is a legend. Those two probably top my prequel list. I can't really think who the "worst" is from the original trilogy... But overall I'll say my favorite is between Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford. Too difficult to choose between them because they're both such great characters and such different roles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-W4 Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 ... Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at ...New title for the next SW game: The Desperation of DM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeiamyourdad Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Didn't like Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd, and I have to mention Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at but the way she delivers some of her dialog is soooo lame. I've always wished her and Keira Knightley's roles as the queen and the queen's decoy would have been flopped. Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediMasterJambi Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee and Sir Alec Guinness are probably the most accomplished actors in the whole series and best fit for their roles. BEST: Ford as Solo Lee as Count Dooku Guinness as Obi-wan Neeson as Qui-gon Ginn Prowse as Vader (although the voice by J.E. Jones forever sealed his demeanor) WORST: Christensen as young Annakin Skywalker Muppet Yoda in Episode I Damn! 4 posts before! I WANTED TO SAY IT!!!! Ted Gagliano, Reg Harding, Melissa Kurtz, and Bill Weston were all superb. R. Christopher White, Axel Dench, and Julian Khazzouh did respectable jobs. Daniel Rodgers did a horrible job, IMO. I also though Sam Jackson was one badA Mutherfacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Best: McDiarmid McGregor Lee Neeson Ford Cushing Guiness Worst: Portman Although, sometimes its hard to know whether to blame the actor or the dialog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame...Thats the thing, I know she's better in other movies so its surprising how bad she can be at parts in Star Wars. But overall I do think Keira Knightley is a better actressl. New title for the next SW game: The Desperation of DM You know you thought the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ-W4 Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 You know you thought the same. Yep. You must be desperate. On topic: A generally important aspect of all the SW films is definitely character development. (Never mind dialogue scripts.) Where most series of films have a standstill in regard to character development, SW does the opposite. Also, at least in the original trilogy, the commonplace 'Girlie Dies at End of Film' was avoided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taak Farst Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I think the two best were Ian who plays Palpatine and the guy who plays Anakin skywalker, I forgot his name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herosinger Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame... I still think that it was because she put too much effort. She's trying so hard to make what she's saying meaningful that she's completely missing the point of her character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Don* Posted January 3, 2008 Author Share Posted January 3, 2008 Truth be told, Hayden Christensen redeemed himself in my eyes when he gave a better performance in RotS. It was better than his lame act in AotC at any rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I think mostly people complain about Christensen more due to the kind of character he was (whiny) in AOTC, and not so much about his acting per se. He had some pretty wonky romance lines to work with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediMasterJambi Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I think Prime has a good point. A lot of people hate the character that Christensen was, more so than Christensen himself. And I think that was big GLs plan. He had to turn "Little Annie" into Darth Vader. I think Christensen did a respectable job at performing. He also had to work with Natalie. Shes smexy, and I'm not saying shes a bad actress. Just compared to all the other actors performances, hers stood out to me as the least amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamqd Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 I think a lot of people would of enjoyed the acting in the PT more if they had filmed it with an old 70 millimeter camera at elstree studios, with English bad guys with 70's style hair and sideburns, a death star, and copious amounts of stormtroopers.... There stuck in an OT rut! I agree that the script was a bit ropey but, I enjoyed all three prequels, script and all. My mental image of, Jedi, the center of goverment, politics, the force, is defined by the prequels, So the actors must of done something right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True_Avery Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 I liked them all. Really. I smiled at Jar-Jar, Portman was a perfect Padme, Anakin was spot on, and the rest were equally fantastic. Actors are actors people. I've seen all those actors in other movies and they did fantastic. Portman in V for Vendetta for instance. No. I think the real person to blame here is George Lucas and his absolutely ridiculous idea to direct the movies, and write most of the script. Actors act, but they are brought to life by the direction the director takes them. The director gives them their momentary inspiration. The director gives them the atmosphere. The director guides them into the scene and helps them pull emotion from it. Fantastic actors have some ability to move around this, but many mainstream rely on their guides to help them stick to their character. After they have the scene and character down through a director, they have the dialogue to work with. "The thought of not being with you, I can't breathe" "Ultimate Power!" "...Now THIS is Podracing!" Yeah... not to burst most of you people's bubbles, but let me show you something: Easy Steps To Acting: 1) Get into character 2) Read above lines 3) Breath deep 4) Say lines 5) Listen to recording What do you notice? I'm betting it sounds pretty bad. No matter how hard you try, you cannot seem to get the lines to sound right. Wanna know why? Its not because of how you sound. Its because of how terrible the lines are. And it just so happens the same man decided to write -and- direct the 3 prequels and new hope. If the actors failed to get what they wanted across, that is the blame of the lines that were handed to them and the direction the director took them. Actors don't write what they say, it is just handed to them in the morning while they are getting their makeup done with limited time to memorize, all the while newly written lines being handed to them by the hour. I loved all the actors in the movies and thought they were casted fantastically. I just believe the director failed to bring out the spirit in any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeiamyourdad Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 In my defense for hating Christensen, I didn't like him from the moment I learned he was going to be Anakin Skywalker. So... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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