ST Finn/John Boyega Discussion Thread

It's definitely not from the script. All I can find is this:
"TIGHT ON KYLO REN as he watches the Starkiller firing."

Judging by how the script handles other moments, it should have been mentioned if his body language was meant to convey something character-related.

For example, here's how it describes the significant moment between him and Finn (which is, like his Starkiller reaction, also without dialogue):
" Kylo Ren heads back toward his ship. But then he STOPS.
Feels something. TURNS AND LOOKS AT OUR STORMTROOPER for a
LONG MOMENT."

 

Well really TLJ had Finn confront the first order. defeating Phasma was pretty much a big moment for him. so i wouldn't say TLJ undid anything. if anything the lack of backstory was the problem from the start. its just JJ and Rian both had no interest in that idea beyond Finn was once with the bad guys. all that other stuff blurred things when it came to whether we should care about storm troopers or whether we should enjoy their defeat.

 

So, everything he did in the Force Awakens, then? He confronts the First Order, confronts Phasma and fights one of its big bads.

His battle with his former captain in the second film was unnecessary (and a downgrade) because he had already had his confrontation with her in the first film: for the first time in his life, Finn wasn't helpless before Phasma. He got to talk back to her. He got to defy her dehumanization, reject the number she called him and tell her his name. He was in a position of power over her. Her life was in his hands. He threw her down a trash chute. That insult marked that she didn't matter to him. She wasn't something fierce. She wasn't someone he had to be afraid of. She was trash to him.



Again, it shows the second film's misunderstanding of Finn's arc in the Force Awakens and its

 

If you think ofthe OT3 as a triad -nothing to do with the force, just a sociology term applied to the characters and how they relate to each other- then Poe/Finn/Rey in TROS is one.

Now,
-Rey becoming a jedi and
-Ben being 'gone' (but not dead) and
-FS Finn
looks like another kind of triad, a FS one. Finn senses Rey's 'death' just like Leia senses Han's in TFA.

This triad would be related to post-TROS stories. The Poe/Finn/Rey triad had to be locked by victory in TROS, and then the Rey/Ben/Finn triad was unlocked a possibility.

By the end of TFA Finn was
a)not FS,or aware of it anyway (no force path=Rey) and
b)he had not joined the cause (no rebel cause=Poe)
Rey was gone: the force part of the story (Luke, Kylo, Rey, Snoke) was her story. Finn had to join the cause, instead of going after Rey and/or not joining the cause, as he had done in TFA.

RJ would have addressed both triads separatedly and partially, through dyads (Finn/Poe and Kylo/Rey) In fact, the triadic relations are a thing in TLJ (Rey/Kylo/Luke, Finn/Rose/DJ) Those triads interact by opposition, and not by cooperation, but both interactions are triadic. So both JJ and RJ would have been aware of it, as was Lucas during the OT. The OT3 and Luke/Vader/Emperor in the throne room, for example.

There are certain FN2187/Finn-Kylo/Ben elements in TFA and TROS, and retrospectively they could be seen as foreshadowing. The ST is story and post-ST backstory at the same time, after all.

Ben in Exegol, a 'traitor!' looks like TFA Finn -Finn without the armor- and holds Lando's blaster, just like Finn and Han's blaster in TFA. There's also FN-2187 and Kylo crossing paths in Jakku, with Kylo staring at him,

Spoiler

and the SKB duel - and, originally, Rey&Finn saw the same force vision in TFA. A vision about Rey and Kylo, but not about Finn...and yet, Finn was supposed to see it. Maz thought so, anyway (and in the TROS VD, Maz wonders about Rey and Finn being a 'dyad', if I remember correctly)

FN-2187, masked guy, got there a year before Kylo Ren, masked guy; and FS Finn and Ben were born roughly at the same time (same film, same act).

 

His big confronting Phasma moment in TFA was bragging about he is the boss now excitedly, to which Han had to tell him to take it down abit. and then they put her in the trash compactor...

I dunno. perhaps TLJ was abit more cooler and a little more heroic for Finn.

 

But, Stormtroopers were the only family that he had for some years.(He might have at very least made some friends similar to his friend that died in the opening.)

Finn should have at very least not felt any joy in killing them.

Luke and Han never developed any feelings toward the stormtroopers on the Death star whom tried very hard to hunt them down.

 

Really Finn should look a litle sad every time he had to kill one. his WOO!! is basically for the audience so they don't feel bored. But Finn doesn't care about storm troopers either way.

 

his fellow stormtroopers were the only people he knew for many years, that doesn’t make them family, the person he cared for died as we see in the film.

his fellow stormtroopers also didn’t think twice about attacking him, so they obviously don’t consider Finn family, and they hunted him down across the galaxy and initiated the attack, Finn is just defending himself.

again, the joy is not in his taking their lives, it’s in his own survival

 

The person he cared about died? who was that trooper in that case? we don't know. we didn't see his relationship with that fallen trooper.

It was never the point thought. Finn's holding that trooper as he bled was a one off for that scene. it was meant to set him up to walk away but then he forgotten about.

Its like looking at TROS and realising that Rey could mind trick troopers but most of the others had to die for that cool action piece. although most of them didn't even get a shot in.

 

yes you can. Very easily. Although it’s more accurate to say Rian didn’t respect John.

 

Poor Kelly Marie Tran too. totally wasted in TROS.

 

Though I think her character didn't have the potential, to me, Finn had.

 

But still. Both Asian AND female, and had suffered racism over her role... JJ really should have had more respect for her.

 

This. TLJ did Rose/Kelly no major favors. Yes we feel bad for her losing her sister, but at the same time, Johnson put her as the scapegoat to all of this nonsense of taking Finn away from Rey to subvert expectations. Then she's responsible for freeing the animals, while ok to do I guess, takes on this political agenda approach that has nothing to do with anything. I personally came around to her on Snoke's destroyer and on Crait the more time she spent with Finn.

I personally would have liked to see what they did with Finn and Rose going forward, but I think so much backlash in that regard caused JJ to reset that part of TLJ just like he did with a lot of things in TLJ for TROS.

Ugh what a mess.

 

I felt bad for Tran but she was doomed the moment Johnson decided to skip whatever time jump he had planned for TLJ and had Finn Waldo up from the coma instead of being her gunner. The moment that happened her character was toast. I felt bad for her getting cut out of TROS but i can’t say I wanted anymore of Rose since all she did was talk down at Finn etc and just felt out of place in this whole Saga. Then again after TLJ the whole trilogy felt out of place so not sure what i expected.

 

But what about Jannah? Was she a good character in her own right? I ain't even sure why she was in the movie at all tbh.

 

Someone closer to her own age for sparring practice
Tell Luke about the First Order's workings
Kill and eat porgs
Slapstick with the nuns

 

I still find it amusing that TLJ's aesop "That's how we're gonna win. Not by fighting what we hate. But saving what we love." is something that the Force Awakens already executed with Finn - in a much subtler and better way, no less.

Finn goes to Starkiller Base to save Rey; he helps the Resistance by devising a plan to lower the shields and later, he and Rey plants thermal detonators inside the base.

When Rey is knocked unconcious by Kylo Ren, Finn picks up a lightsaber to protect her which allows Rey time to regain consciousness. As a result, she is able to battle Kylo Ren and defeat him, letting her and Finn escape alive and uncaptured.

It's almost like the film portrayed Finn's love for Rey as a very positive thing that had a benevolent impact on him and the people around him and was not something that Finn needed to look past.