A-List: Star Wars Prequels:
They really can act, honest
By Jason Dean
May 19, 2005
As we approach the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, I can generally remember back to 1997 or 1998 as the cast annoucements were made public. Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson were our lead pair of Jedi. Natalie Portman was cast as the future mother to the twins of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Samuel Jackson was eventually announced as what everybody guessed the galaxy’s baddest Jedi Master. Oh, and there was also some kid named Jake Lloyd, who is definitely not the point of this A-List. The point is that Lucas was able to afford and sign proven actors this time around, and though they were not necessarily A-List stars, they weren’t quite so completely unknows as the cast of the original trilogy. More the point, they had proven that they could really act. Perhaps this would be just a little bit more to push this highly anticipated project that much more over the top.
While it’s quite possible that nothing was ever going to live up to the hype of the first new Star Wars film in around 20 years, I think that the general consensus is that the performances of these proven actors seemed to leave a little to be desired within the context of the prequel trilogy. For my part, I have had to remind myself that these people are perfectly capable of giving above average to superb performances more often than not, contrary to an opinion one would form if one only had the Ep I-III performances to pass judgment on.
Liam Neeson
Since he was mentioned, let’s start with Liam Neeson, which means that I'm beginning in a cheating fashion since I think that he was pretty lucky and Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the few roles that actually plays fairly well. Liam Neeson actually seems like a passable character as he is spared most of the clunky dialogue that dooms some of the other roles, though he did get that whole midichlorian thing if memory serves. Anyway, he doesn’t need much defending in my book and instead I’ll plug one of his lesser known roles but of my faves…Darkman.
Samuel L Jackson
Moving on, Samuel Jackson as Mace Windu tends to come off a bit one dimensional, but he’s very much a secondary character, so this might be expected. However, contrast the impact that the respective movies allow a single dimensional, secondary character between Mace Windu and Jackson’s entrepreneur in Deep Blue Sea. Look, when one series of films’ character comes off worse than a similarly-sized role in Deep Blue Sea, perhaps the script(s) could’ve used some outside help. The Deep Blue Sea performance along with our expectations for Mace Windu were firmly colored by the expectations that even without the ‘fro, Samuel L. Jackson may possibly be forever Jules from Pulp Fiction in the audience’s eyes. I’m still waiting for Mace to ignite his light saber, followed by a close up where the audience gets to see the inscription: “Bad Mother Fucker”. Switching back to the topic, for a more well rounded role, one my favorite Jackson roles has always been The Negotiator, where much of the movie is an interplay with Jackson and Kevin Spacey at a point in Spacey’s career where he was still actually acting as opposed to relying on some bizarre caricature of playing Kevin Spacey. Fans will be pleased to know that Lucas does have the heart to grant Mace Windu a fight scene worthy of Samuel Jackson in Episode III.
Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor was given the task to lay the groundwork for the character played by the only critically acclaimed actor of the original Star Wars, Alec Guiness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi. Perhaps it’s the fact that Ewan would make my “if the I were to switch team” list, or maybe it's because Lucas actually did fairly well with the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, but I’ve found Ewan McGregor’s performance to not be annoying. However, having been a fan since his days with Danny Boyle in Shallow Grave (I'll always remember McGregor grinning on the floor as the reveal occurs at the end) and then Trainspotting, I’d say that he’s definitely been better. There was also his role as Christian in Moulin Rouge, which is pretty much the role that made me consider a trading teams list. One’s gotta admit to having been affected by charismatic performance when one suddenly believes that leading lady is unworthy and that he should quit wasting his attentions on that dying tramp, er…umm, did I mention he sings really, really well? I also adored him for being able to just whole heartedly go with the comedy and exaggeration of Down With Love. I think part of my reason to generally accept Ewan as Obi-Wan is that I can see glimmers of that complete immersion. I can see the actor who was a Star Wars fan as a kid being Obi-Wan, getting the proper kick out of having his own honest to god, working (with the help of ILM) working light saber. Clunky scripts notwithstanding, perhaps it is possible that sheer fandom can overcome.
Hayden Christensen
I’ve skipped Jake Lloyd because he was what he was and he’s taken enough bashing and praise depending on the reviewer. After Episode I, there was the announcement that Hayden Christensen was going to take over the role since Anakin was going to have to age. That announcement that was pretty much met with the response of: Who? In doing some research for this column, I’ve found that he was in one of my favorite movies - The Virgin Suicides. Well, good for him as an actor but for the purpose of this column, if I can’t remember him in it, it’s fair to say that he probably didn’t have much of role. However, before Episode II is released and after his announcement to star as Anakin, Life as a House hit theaters. I have to believe that based on the performance in that film, the Star Wars fans who took the time to see the movie had to have improved hopes in comparison to Jake Lloyd’s young Anakin portrait of Episode I. Unfortunately, Hayden Christensen doesn’t come off all that much better and perhaps worse as he’s given some of the worst romantic dialogue in movie history as well as coming off a bit stiff and really whiny. But this column’s point is that it’s not his fault, as between Episodes II and III, we’ve had Shattered Glass, where Hayden Christensen simply shines as the lying, do anything to be printed journalist, Stephen Glass.
Ian McDiarmid
Before I go too far down the Lucas bashing path, there is indeed one role/actor combination that simply and completely works through Ep I-III. While many of the actors' performances in the Star Wars prequels make me yearn for the greener pastures of their other work, with McDiarmid, his portrayal of Palpatine makes me instead want to know what other films he has done. To me he has even come off well spouting the nearly impenetrable political double speak of Episode I, and is believeable as the truly manipulative type that he is in Ep II. In Episode III we are treated to a truly forceful and chilling performance. So now that I’ve finally got an actor who does well within the prequels and want to see more of his work, I find that he’s a classic British actor. IMDb seems to reveal quite a bit of TV work. Further research shows that he’s pretty active on stage. Things that I’ve seen and now want to see since I don’t remember him are: Dragonslayer, Restoration, Great Expectations, and Sleepy Hollow. The sad thing is that I’ve got fairly vivid recollections of all four of those movies, but zero memories of the Emperor being in them.
Natalie Portman
Finally, while this column has done little to disprove the notion that I’m a stereotypical Box Office Prophet and live to bash the prequels, I actually kind of like the movies - probably more than I want to admit and definitely enough that it gets me mocked around here. For example, I had midnight tickets to Episode I and then saw it approximately a half dozen more times. My excuses were that different people asked me to go with them, then the local multiplex was upgraded to Dolby EX. I saw Episode II Iat least a couple of time if not perhaps three. Keep in mind that those viewings are on top of the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to get into early screenings of each of the movies before their official opening days.
However with Episode III, I’m not sure that I will see it again. On the positive side, the early screening this year was on the latest generation DLP screen and oh. My. God. Granted, the movie’s mostly digital, so perhaps the effect is even greater but it’s just soooo shiny. So sharp, so detailed, no flicker. I can’t imagine that a traditional print would be able to compare and it’s going to be a haul to get over to such a DLP screen again.
On the downside and back to the topic; the person who was both the inspiration for this column and my reason for not seeing the Episode III again is Natalie Portman. I’ve accepted her rather bizarre speech pattern and accent in Episode I. (Look, I saw the movie a half dozen times and the last one was cause the movie was going to end on the local big screen and she was a primary character in the movie). I rolled my eyes right along with the rest of you as the young lovers supposedly fall in love but hey, I really got a kick out of seeing Leia’s mom acting like what one would envision Leia’s mom doing - taking charge in a mix-it-up kind of way. Warning: this next section may contain spoilers for Episode III and certainly is a rant.
SPOILER SPACE
In Episode III, since it’s all about her clandestine hubby’s descent into putting on the black mask, Padme ends up at best a second tier if not third tier character. I can understand that. However, what I could not accept is that it seemed as if in addition to getting pregnant, the character was lobotomized. Where there was once fierce independence, there was now whining. This is Luke and Leia’s mother?!? This is the same actress who was just nominated for an Academy Award? For me it was so bad that I went from being disappointed that she had a diminshed role to wishing that could we please just not see any more of her.
Anyway, I have to think good thoughts, and rather than Episode III, there’s, well, everything from her filmography and I very definitely include films such as Where the Heart Is and Anywhere But Here. In towering above the overall prequel trilogy (cause when all is said and done, I kind of liked the prim and proper, speech impaired queen as well as the take charge Senator of Episodes I-II), there’s her debut role in The Professional (Leon, which is really the version that must be seen), and then the double feature of Beautiful Girls and Garden State (cause Sam is pretty much Marty grown up).
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