I haven't seen Attack of the Clones in six or seven years...yes, the script is awful but Anakin is so unbelievably bad it makes it 10x worse. This is like 7th grade one-act play bad.

agreed.

but i wonder if it was just a genius job of casting... (hear me out)

perhaps in the Star Wars universe, Mark Hamill inherited his terrible acting skills from his father, Hayden Christensen?

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Mark Hamill inherited his terrible acting skills from his father, Hayden Christensen?

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All I can say is:

Terrible. Writing. Natalie portman is not a bad actress. But she's horrible in star wars. U can thank Lucas for destroying our childhoods

Check out Vanishing on 7th Street for more of his horrible acting.

Not sure how he gets jobs.

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Terrible. Writing. Natalie portman is not a bad actress. But she's horrible in star wars. U can thank Lucas for destroying our childhoods

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Nobody really comes off well in that second trilogy. He completely missed with Liam Neeson, Portman was bad and they're probaby MacGregor's worst efforts even though he's arguably the best actor in them.

I caught a little of it tonight, and almost forgot how terrible and even confusing the story was.

If you haven't watched these reviews, you should, brilliant and funny, also NSFW

http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-1-the-phantom-menace/
http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones/
http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-the-sith/

^
amazing

liam neeson was way too good for his part, he needed to have a more major role if he was going to be in it at all

and i actually though macgregor was the brightest acting spot of the prequels

They had some serious actors in the prequels. Samuel Jackson, Liam Niesen, Natalie Portman, Ewan MacGregor.

I wonder if those actors just couldn't figure out how to serously play a Science Fiction role opposite cartoon characters as dumb as Jar Jar Binks.

In the original, when they were acting opposite yoda, they had a "character" to look at. Weren't they mostly acting in front of green screens in the prequels?

I agree that Hayden whatshisname was bad. Was he real or CGI? I haven't seen him since.

The only thing worse than the young adult Anakin was the child Anakin.

The acting was beyond terrible in the first trilogy as well with some notable exceptions (Ford, Guinness). Problem is the 2nd trilogy added bad story/writing to the mix, which just made the bad acting stand out more. I don't think the spawn of Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep could pull off the "I hate sand" scene.

He was definitely better than the kid Anakin.


I can sort of see why Lucas liked Hayden though. He does put out that arrogant cocky teenager vibe that makes you just want to smack him. Which I can see would be how Vader was growing up leading to his joining of the Dark side.

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I don't think the spawn of Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep could pull off the "I hate sand" scene

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[This message has been edited by MW03 (edited 6/29/2011 11:15a).]

The ESB was the only one that Lucas did not write or direct (or both in some of the films). There is a reason it's considered the best of all the films.

The prequels are the perfect formula to making a LOT of money in film. Inversely, it shows how to not make a quality movie.

One question about the Anakin teenage characer.... Could it have been done by a well known actor?

Would we have bought it if it had been played by Leonardo DiCaprio for example? I think he would have done fine, but I would also get tired of the Titanic jokes after 3 or 4 years.

I was fine with big actors in the other parts, so it probably would have worked.

George Lucas had a great vision. He should have gotten more help on the writing and directing.

I've brought this up several times before and no one ever replies but am I the only one that remembers Liam Neeson making a public announcement after Ep. 1 that he would never act again??

He "retired" after Ep. 1 but then started acting again not long after that and no one ever questioned him on it that I ever saw.

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and they're probaby MacGregor's worst efforts even though he's arguably the best actor in them.

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I actually thought MacGregor pretty much nailed the younger Obi Wan. By far the highlight of the prequals. Dooku and Palpatine were also well done, IMO. MacGregor obviously had to deal with some bad writing but at the culmination of they story, at the end when he had to confront and defeat Anakin, he was convincing, regardless of how down right awful Christianson was.

Portman was even more distressing for me. She actually is a solid actress but was just rotten in all three movies.

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The ESB was the only one that Lucas did not write or direct (or both in some of the films). There is a reason it's considered the best of all the films.

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Yet he did write A New Hope, go figure.

Just purchased a big book called The Making of The Empire Strikes Back by JW Rinzler. There are lots of photos of legal pad paper containing dialogue and entire sequences apparently written by George Lucas for TESB. I am not saying he wrote it, I know about Brackett and Kasdan, but George Lucas did have a very central role in the writing of that movie.

As for the OP, what is the point of your post? You hate Hayden Christiansen? You hate the prequels? What is it? To each his own, but I thought he did pretty well portraying a whiny brat who was hell-bent on getting his way.

There were always issues with the dialogue in all of the Star Wars movies, including TESB. Harrison Ford told Lucas that it was easy to write "this crap" but impossible to say it. The "romantic" dialogue between Anakin and Padme in Revenge of the Sith was like listening to fingernails on a chalk board - it was horrible. I never thought Princess Leia's first words upon hearing from Luke Skywalker that they were siblings was what she should have said, or perhaps it was Carrie Fisher's delivery? Not sure but I never thought that scene carried the emotional impact it should have. I mean, you're infatuated with this girl in the first one, kissing her in the second, and then learn she is your sister! Something is not right about that picture.

Of the original trilogy, Jedi is the weakest, yet it gained considerably for me in terms of emotional depth when Revenge of the Sith was done.

The only problem I have with the prequels is that both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones seem too disconnected from the rest of the saga. Does it diminish my enjoyment of those movies? Not at all. And before you prequel haters go all snobby and point out Jar Jar Binks, the dialogue, the wooden acting, all that, I am well aware of this stuff. I just don't let that ruin my enjoyment of these movies.

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To each his own, but I thought he did pretty well portraying a whiny brat who was hell-bent on getting his way.

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Anakin Skywalker wasnt a whiny brat and by portraying him as such there is no real attraction to the character. He wasnt a pro-ta-go-nist.

Luke knew he was a small time kid unsure of himself (like all young boys before puberty) with an intergalactic war looming over him. He went from farmboy to Champion of the Rebellion.

Maybe Anakin exemplified the millennials with their whining, but it wasnt something people connected to. There was no point in the prequels you actually rooted for Anakin except a 20 sec sequence when he was fighting old white dude alone with Obi-Wan incapacitated.

You don't necessarily need a protagonist that end up triumphant. With Anakin you see how pride can destroy those with power.

The problem with the prequels were/are that they were too '3rd person'. The first movie was so much so that the audience could not connect with anyone. Without sympathetic characters there is no reason to care what happens or why its happening. This is film school 101 stuff.

Unless you are Stanley Kubrick, stick to some conventions...

It's not the actors, it's the script and director. Heck, some of the scenes the actors thought they were going through it and not for the actual take, and Lucas would wrap the scene and move on.

Holy crap, I'm 1/2 way through the 2nd video on dangrimm98's 1st link. I'm dying here. The dog is nervous, Little Jock is waking up, the wife is annoyed. I haven't laughed this hard in a LONG time.

the writing was so bad even samuel jackson sucked in these movies

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Not sure how he gets jobs.

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and the btard "gets" Rachel Bilson too.

He sucked in Jumper too.

Lucas had a lot of help writing the original trilogy. The writing was decent to good.

Lucas insisted on writing the new trilogy by himself. The writing was so so bad.

Lucas hired top notch directors for the original trilogy. The acting was decent to great.

Lucas insisted on directing the new trilogy all by himself. The acting was unbearably bad.

Pattern?

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Just purchased a big book called The Making of The Empire Strikes Back by JW Rinzler. There are lots of photos of legal pad paper containing dialogue and entire sequences apparently written by George Lucas for TESB. I am not saying he wrote it, I know about Brackett and Kasdan, but George Lucas did have a very central role in the writing of that movie.

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Of course Lucas influenced the writing, it's HIS story. But writing the story and writing the screenplay are two different things. Even Harrison Ford says Lucas was terrible. He's been quoted as saying Lucas's directing consisted of "that was good, now do it again, but better this time"....to inexperienced actors like Hammil and Fisher that had to be confusing as hell.

Ford adlibbed quite a bit of his lines in the original trilogy as well.

"I know".

Not to mention the fact that what the actors were dealing with scene after scene of "walk slowly and talk to the other guy, but dont walk to fast or you'll walk out of our blue/green room. Also, theres all kind of **** happening around you, that we'll just superimpose in later" or "here sit on this couch and talk to the other person in this blue/green room, remember theres all kind of cool stuff around you like windows with robots flying around outside them. Its gonna be so neat!"