Bad acting in TPM

People say that one of the many things wrong with this movie is that there is bad acting. I've never heard anybody say anything specific, so who do you think is bad in this movie? I personally thing this movie is bad, but not as bad as people say it is.

Strilo edit: Indeed there already is a thread for bad acting and for what went wrong with TPM.

 

There is already a thread for what went wrong in The Phantom Menace.

Just to stay on topic and all.......
I think the dude who played Ric Olie was a tad off the mark with his line readings. I liked all the other performances though. I love Jake Lloyd. I think he acts just like an actual kid in TPM, rather than a morose, overly melodramatic kid like other child actors who are considered "good." Haley Joel Osment...but I'm not mentioning any names.

Oh, and in before the lock. I'm going to look like an ass if it doesn't get locked though.

 

I love Hayden...but the way he says "To find my mother" when Lars asks him where he's going....I have made fun of it since midnight of opening night of AOTC... It's hillarious!

 

I know there have been other threads about bad thing in TPM but this one is just to discuss the acting.

jango, i agree with you about jake something. Alot of child actors sound muck wittier than an actual child.

Anymore bad actors in this movie, anybody?

 

"I think the dude who played Ric Olie was a tad off the mark with his line readings."

I'm pretty sure all of his lines were dubbed over because of his accent. Like with Aunt Beru in ANH. I forget his name.. but he's the crazy washed up manager guy in Wayne's World 2. "I had to beat them to death with their own shoes..."

 

There is no way that the great Christopher Walken dubbed over anybody's lines in Star Wars.



Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

No, Christopher Walken was the bad guy in Wayne's World 2. And I'm talking about the actual actor, not the guy who dubbed him over. The guy they go all the way to England to see. That's Ric Olie.

Edit: Here we go. Looked it up on imdb and his name is Ralph Brown. And the character in Wayne's World 2 was Del Preston.

 

Oh, okay. Its been a while since I've seen that movie. I thought you were talking about Chris. My mistake.



Mace Windy,
too windy for spoilers!

 

Bad acting?

Jake Lloyd. Some of his line readings were really bad. "Will I ever see you again?" is the only one that comes off sounding *just* right. It's bad when the kid who played Kitster -- a glorified extra and not so good himself -- winds up nailing it better than Lloyd did. (I don't blame Lloyd. He's only a kid in the pic and Ani was a tough role. It's all Lucas' fault! He was holding him BACK!)

Ewan McGregor. Not bad so much as not having enough to do with his excellent Alec Guiness impression. I like him better in AOTC.

Natalie Portman. She's a much better actress than these films make her look.

Ahmed Best. Actually, he played Jar Jar to a tee, but the part was so bad that he really kinda lives down to the role.

Liam Neeson, Watto's voice actor, and Ian McDiarmid are golden, though.

 

Yeah, that kid who played Kitster really impressed me. I have nothing but praise for the young actor, good show old sport.

The concept and character of Anakin are all well presented. It's execution by the young actor that can sometimes miss the mark.

The guy who played Panaka really didn't blow me away with his performance either.

That's really all I've got as far as bad acting goes.

Bad directing is another story. How many times are the actors merely standing around twiddling their thumbs while CGI or puppet things are bouncing around all over the place.

The animated beings really stole the show away from the real flesh and blood actors, which should never have happened, but unfortunately did IMO.

 

You don't have to direct CGI characters.

So maybe that is why there are so many in the PT.

I just don't get all this anti-Lloyd rhetoric. He pretty much nailed every scene he was in; even the yipees were good for what they were. The dinner table scene is one of my favorites in the movie 'cause you just have a table full of good actors who are actually acting, and Jar Jar Binks.

 

Yeah, you kind of do. The animators need direction and so do the voice actors. They don't direct themselves. Just look at the CG documentary on the AotC extras disc. It shows Lucas sending back Yoda's performance of the line, "Begun the Clone War has," over and over until the animators got the facial expression exactly the way he wanted it.

 

I've never understood all the vitriol for Jake Lloyd's performance. While I wouldn't rank it up there with such performances as Gaspard Manesse's in Au Revoir Les Enfants or even the recent work of Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland, it's very clear that no Star Wars role calls for this kind of complexity. Jake Lloyd needed only to act like a sweet, innocent kid, occasionally displaying some depths of emotional complexity, and I thought he did it very well. His scenes with Pernilla August were wonderful and I thought Llyod did a good job getting just the right amount of pathos. There are some nuances to his performance I didn't really like, but I loved his interraction with Liam Neeson, and his work in the Coruscant scenes was excellent. With child actors, things have to come naturally. Lloyd had what Lucas wanted, and he delivered a fine performance.

Portman's acting, in Episodes I and II, is criticized by many, and often with good reason. However, I've always thought her performance in this film was much better than that in Episode II. I don't like comparing performances, but with the similarities between Fisher's character in A New Hope and Portman's in The Phantom Menace it's hard not to. Indeed, Portman never seems to lend the role the believable seriousness that Fisher did (which was evident from her audition readings). However, Portman was quite good in her scenes as the handmaiden Padme, and in her defense, her written character never had the dry wit and maturity of a Princess Leia.

The supporting acting in the Star Wars saga has never been first rate, so I won't complain about Hugh Quarshie's performance as Captain Panaka or Ralph Brown's performance as Ric Olie (and I think Samuel Jackson belongs in this category as well). As it is, their readings aren't mind-numbingly bad to the point of distraction, which is all that I ask for. Indeed, most of these performances become endearing over time. Who doesn't love "Good, our first catch of the day" or other such gems?

The rest of the acting is first rate in my opinion, at least as far as Star Wars goes. Liam Neeson, as many have mentioned, delivers a touching and affecting performance. Qui-Gon is still one of the most endearing characters in the Prequel Trilogy, and much of this is the result of Neeson's performance. McGregor was also good, giving Obi Wan some wit and depth in an otherwise under-written role. McDiarmind was a delight to watch, as was the well-cast Pernilla August. Andrew Secombe also deserves mention for his wonderful voicing of Watto, perhaps one of the best full-CGI characters in cinema thus far. Best also played up Jar Jar's slapstick letter perfect.

 

I know what you're saying and agree that you do have to direct in a way; however, GL is directing visual artists, not actors. This may be a process he understands more since he is such a visual director. GL is notorious for his lack of understanding when it comes to the process of traditional acting.

BTW, I think that whole "widow maker" bit in From Puppets to Pixels is hilarious.

I just don't think the acting is bad in the PT. Call me crazy if you want. I've tried to watch through an "I'm seeing bad acting" filter, but I always get sucked in by the performances despite myself. I know this is not art house cinema or anything, but they are all professional actors with notable resumes (minus JL-but I thought he was good anyway) and it shows IMO. No one ever complains about bad acting in other big-budget FX heavy films. Why is SW held to a different standard?