One big addition to (and to fix a glaring omission from) my review of TRoS from last Sunday, and that is to commend the actors. They did what they could with the material given to them to do, and often went above and beyond the call. Adam Driver especially – he didn’t even get to speak for the last third of the movie and managed to pull off a lot of communication with only body language and expression. And a glass raised in condolences to John Boyega, for whom I think 50% of his dialogue opportunities was, started, or ended with, shouting “Rey!” in various ways. Their embodiment of the characters throughout the trilogy (whether they were in all three or just some of them) is one of the series’ strong points, and for some of the installments was the reason why the movie worked at all in any capacity.
It’s also gotta be rough as an actor, signing up for something you’re excited in and then being presented a script… and a reshoot, and another reshoot… and then seeing on screen what was finally edited together. And then everyone’s reactions to it. (Doubly so since, especially for some of them, they were hit with insane and disgusting vitriol hurled towards them personally as actors. That’s really shitty.) Like many I both dream of and would jump at a chance to be in a Star Wars movie (or any other movie, really, but Star Wars has extra resonance). I would sign on the dotted line and be ready to dive in. I can also imagine then being handed the script like for TFA or TRoS and feeling my heart sink and continue sinking throughout the process.
Now, I don’t know if any of the actors felt this way, and maybe they didn’t, but I still commend them heartily for giving it their all and bringing what there was to life and for making us like and invest into the characters, even as we may have wanted to see them (with these feelings even heightened because the actors were doing a good job) in better stories or better told stories.
Lynx Thoughts 