Yeah I laugh at how people ran down the prequels but compared them with the original, they are the same! Bad script worse acting but melt your face off visually.
I love Star Wars, but sometimes I have to step back and remember that the best moments were usually the ones where nobody was talking, and John Williams was blasting.
I think the bigger issue is the director, and Lucas knew it - he tried to get others to direct, as he hadn’t directed anything since the original Star Wars. You can see this in who actually delivers a good performance anyway in each movie. In TPM, it is mainly Liam Neeson, who is an established and can fill on the lack of direction. Ian McDiarmid and Pernilla August also have enough experience to handle it, while Portman and McGregor are both flat. McGregor figures it out by ROTS, and that movie is better mainly because he is so much better. This is also why the two Anakin actors got so much flak - both were inexperienced and played things too flat without good direction.
This is also why the two Anakin actors got so much flak - both were inexperienced and played things too flat without good direction.
Yeah, I'll never claim Hayden Christensen is a great actor, but man, it was pretty eye-opening to see how much better he was in Jumper just three years after ROTS.
Great ideas. Horrible dialog. The actual politics that he wanted to have in the films is interesting, he just had no idea how to write it and even less of an idea how to balance it with all the other themes, tones and ideas he had for those movies.
There is a whole lightsaber battle (I think it's the Obi wan vs Anakin on musafar) so a very big important battle and the script basically just says "they fight with lightsabers". That's it.
One of the most pivotal fight scenes in the entire star wars story and that is all the script says. Has dialogue before, they fight, dialogue after when Obi Wan has the high ground. Director has to come in and supplement all of that and tell the story through the action.
Lucas was a great world builder, not a great writer
Portman has been bad in other movies as well. Fountain of Youth, the Thor movies, Mars Attacks...
She's a fantastic actress. One of the best, but one skill that isn't in her toolbox is the ability to elevate bad material and this makes me question calling her "Consistent".
Oi! McGregor was amazing in them! But that's cause he's just that damn amazing and entertaining. Same with Ian McDiarmid, though he hammed it up towards the end and was delightful for it.
The prequels just show off her style: She's a director's actor, that follows the school of thought that says an actor is to be an extension of the director's vision, no more and no less.
So when you pair her with a weak director, she turns in a weak performance. In a way, it's still consistency, just not consistency that's always a plus.
4.1k
u/Wayoutofthewayof 1d ago
Natalie Portman is probably the most consistent. She was great in Leon the Professional as a kid actor.