PT Anakin's dialogue: The James Earl Jones Effect

As it comes to the surprise of no one, Hayden Christensen gets a lot of dung thrown his way when it comes to his line deliveries in the prequels. While I think he's more hit and miss than outright bad, I will readily concede that his delivery of dialogue is imperfect. However, imagine how some of his trashed upon lines might sound had they come from James Earl Jones, particularly in the second half of ROTS:

"I have brought peace, justice, and security to my new Empire."
"Don't make me kill you."
"This is the end for you my master."
"You underestimate my power."

Those lines feel completely at home coming from suited Vader. In Hayden's defense, there is almost no actor on Earth who can match James Earl Jones for sheer vocal presence and authority. Unless it's coming from his mouth, it just simply won't be as powerful, and that might be the disconnect some people feel when hearing Hayden say those lines.

 

JEJ has a very specific voice. I personally don't know many actors, let alone teenagers that have similar voice.

As for the lines itself, well people often say that that is just bad writing and the fact is that the last one is almost identical with the one that Luke says in ROTJ (he just said don't, and not you).

So I think that the biggest problem here is not Hayden or his delivery, it is the fact that some people just didn't get what they expected. Personally I had no expectations so I never had any issues with Hayden or his lines.

 

Yes, if James Earl Jones said these lines, fans would call him brilliant, but since Hayden said them, they're somehow bad dialogue.

 

I also suspect that it might just be because it was Hayden, not JEJ saying those lines. Granted, they would've sounded awkward coming out of the mouth of anyone not JEJ, but c'mon, no one would dare criticize JEJ if he said those lines instead. You could give him the most phoned-in line ever written and no one would dare badmouth him for it.

 

i like how Hayden says I have brought peace, justice, and security to my new Empire. I think he does a good job.

 

I think Hayden did a great job.

 

I think he was fine, especially when he said, "This is the end for you, my master." I never really thought anything of it.

 

people rave about Vader's dialogue but it's actually JEJ's voice. he has pretty basic lines that people love. Hayden tried to speak in that flat style at certain points in ROTS and ATOC, and i think a lot people missed what he was doing and labeled his acting flat.

 

Well for one, JEJ's voice is a LOT deeper, and the odd thing is it seems to me when he's voicing Vader, he speaks with sort of an English accent, whereas Hayden speaks with an accent I believe is sort of like northern US. The accent alone can change a lot in terms of intonation and how a line is received

 

It's funny you say he uses an English accent, he's from Mississippi!

 

Oh I know where he's from. Plenty of actors use a fake accent in roles

Or maybe I'm just REALLY bad at identifying them

 

funny, i've heard people before say Vader was the only Imperial who didn't have an english accent but it was because he had been converted.

 

Sorry. Accidental post.

 

The storm troopers didn't have English accents either. The only time we see Imperial officers with non English accents is in ANH. The other 2 OT movies have only Imperial officers with English accents. Except for the short scene in ROTJ in the bunker when Ben Burtt is dressed as an Imperial officer and says "freeze" and then Han throws something at him and he goes over the railing.

 

yeah that's true, although we hardly ever here the stormtroopers speak

 

Just dropping this in here:

 

"Vader is a man who never learned the beauties and subtleties of human expression. So we figured out the key to my work was to keep it on a very narrow band of expression - that was the secret."

James Earl Jones - The Making of Star Wars, J. W. Rinzler, page 264

I think this fits Hayden´s dialoque and acting quite well.

 

I am not a lover of the prequels, but I thought Hayden did fine with what he was given.

 

It's a brilliant quote from JEJ -- and yet, ironically, it more aptly describes Hayden's Anakin than JEJ's Vader, in my opinion (at least, in ANH, where he talks more normally, for want of a better term).

It becomes all the more illuminating, in my estimation, if you place it against Anakin's dialogue to Padme in the fireplace scene. There, Anakin tries to speak with deep colour and conviction, but comes off somewhat wanting. Elsewhere, his speech is often marked by a cold or sour tone (very notable when he speaks to Watto and demands to learn the whereabouts of his mother).

Above all else, there is something strangely aloof and odd about the way Hayden portrays Anakin in speech and in certain mannerisms; which has to be intentional. He can be, well, more human, like when he reunites with Padme after rescuing Palpatine, but he can also be jaundiced and morose, as when he speaks to Obi-Wan for the last time on Coruscant, before their apocalyptic confrontation on Mustafar.

And then there are the little catches in the face and the voice, especially the eyes, at transcendent moments. Like when Anakin reacts to Padme telling him that she loves him. It's subtle, sweet, sincere. There isn't much stereotypical movie-screen largess to the way Hayden emotes as Anakin; but then, really, I don't think there needs to be. He's doing something different.

I know it's not to everyone's tastes, but it's a bit of an underrated performance, in my opinion.

 

Cool thread. Reading those lines I can really hear them in JEJ's voice in my head, and it indeed makes them seem more like OT Vader's exact speech style.

I like Hayden's ROTS Anakin/Vader from the most part but admittedly some of his deliveries during his initial confrontation with Obi-Wan on Mustafar leave something to be desired. When he is talking to Padme, that is Vader right there to me, the contrast yet eery similarity to the Anakin of the earlier half of the movie is done perfectly. It's just that when Obi-Wan appears and he loses his temper I feel they could have done a different take audibly. I think visually Hayden had it down. And I believe him as Vader for the most part, the moment he is reporting the Separatist leaders' demise to Sidious is one of my favourite moments in the whole saga...

ANAKIN: The Separatists have been take care of, My Master.
SIDIOUS: It is finished then. You have restored peace and justice to the galaxy. Send a message to the ships of the Trade Federation. All droid units must shut down... immediately.
ANAKIN: Very good, My Lord.
*Padme's ship appears on the scanner*

This just summed up the turn for me beautifully. The rationalisation for much of what has transpired in the film, Hayden's cold delivery, and a reminder of Anakin's true motivation for turning appearing as they trail off like an echoed reminder that transitions into the next scene.

I'll also add that the line "You underestimate my power" is a nod to both a Luke line and a Vader line from ROTJ;
LUKE: "It's your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my power." (Spoken quite calmly and passively, and making the decision essentially Jabba's, yet still an entirely relevant threat).
VADER: "You underestimate the power of the dark side. If you will not be turned, you will be destroyed!" (Like Vader's ROTS line, he is demanding this of the Jedi he is facing, and notice both combatants are looking down at Vader from the high-ground).

 

You´re right about the difference between the way JEJ talks in ANH and the way he does in TESB and ROTJ. Hayden´s delivery of his lines is definitely much more closer to Jones´s delivery in V and VI than in IV, making Jones´s delivery in ANH to stick out a little bit. Which is why I wouldn´t mind if Jones had redub his lines in ANH for the Special Edition version to better match TESB, ROTJ and ROTS.