ST Finn/John Boyega Discussion Thread

I think its not hard. The Finn and Rose scene, in spite of me thinking it's not well done, I think can be done.

In the rebel base, Finn can go to jump in a speeder, with Rose protesting.

ROSE: You told me you can't drive.

FINN: I know, but I can't just do nothing. I can't let them get away with this.

ROSE: You can't think like that. This war won't be won by fighting what we hate, but by saving what we love. And that includes not getting ourselves killed senselessly, when we can spend more time trying to save lives.

The dice... yeah, I got nothing there... The dice doesn't work to me, on any level.

 

Re: Finn's ability to fly/pilot/drive

It's been said, but I think it needs repeating: Flying a starship and driving a speeder are not the same thing in Star Wars.

As has been said, the Earth equivalent is this... just because one can drive a car, it does not mean they know how to fly a plane.

Correct me if I am wrong, Finn doesn't pilot/drive anything other than speeders. No?

 

Yup, I was absolutely livid. I do not understand how someone can watch the "infiltration team" get caught because they put a trash can on a giant droid (I can't emphasize enough how a moving, beeping trash can slammed into the leg of an officer, but it took being immediately spotted by an evil BB-8 to thwart their brilliant plan) and still proclaim it a deep film with a great arc for Finn.

I still to this day seethe with anger at Rian's asinine cartoon writing for Finn in TLJ. And I'll always resent being called names and being told to shut up by the fanbase at large because I didn't like it.

 

Yeah but how does Han fly the Falcon in episode 4 if its never said he received pilot license?

Not everything is so explicit. I think that's why many don't see Finns arc or kylos character or reys character.

 

That’s honestly the wort analogy I have ever read. We don’t need to see Han’d pilot license because we know he is a pilot FFS. We can safely assume they Finn has some melee combat training since he is in the military. Whether it was specialized or not is completely debateable and I will agree with PJ on that account. Finn has average skills at best in TFA which i always found disappointing considering he was running around the the saber . Then again the ST has the worst melee combat scenes in the trilogies so i guess it makes sense.

People don’t see arcs for Rey, Kylo and Finn because in terms of an actually arc for each character it changes film to film.

JJ said TFA that the ST would be telling a new story while also inverting Luke’s with Kylo. Instead we got. Redemption story.

The films literally don’t know how to fit Rey into the story so much so that she has no agency in the second film and she may as well be Bella from Twilight.

Finn goes through the same story twice in one trilogy and then gets shoved into the backseat so much so that if you cut him and Poe and replace them with generic characters you may not even notice in TROS.

These characters have no arc they change from scene to scene film to film. It all depends on what the writer wants at any specific moment. All of the ST characters serve the plot and that’s it any type of character integrity and consistency is non existant.

 

LOL - Han Solo is referenced as the captain of a star ship numerous times. He recounts how he’s the owner of the fastest starship in the galaxy, and that he can outrun imperial cruisers. You’re literally highlighting the fact that ANH (a film infinitely better than the sequels) establishes basic plot points/information by dialogue... something that the sequels don’t really do (certainly not well IMO).

 

Plus they hire Han to, you know, fly them to Alderaan.
"I've made the Kessel Run is less than 12 parsecs. And I have my license as well kid."

 

Besides maybe BB-8, Finn was the most likable new character of the Sequel trilogy for me. Of course, John Boyega having an astonishing amount of charisma really helped me root for the character even in films like TLJ. Like most I wish his character had more importance and overall just had more things to do in the proceeding films after TFA. As a fan of the old Dark Forces video games, the idea of stormtrooper turning into a Jedi or a full on rebel badass still holds great appeal for me. I can even picture Finn sporting a killer beard like Kyle Katarn.

 

"The dark side? I've been there. Do your worst"
"I'm no Jedi. I'm just a guy with a lightsaber and a few questions."

Those are all lines from the games that I can picture Finn saying as a sarcastic Jedi solider. I'm now picturing a Dark Forces-style game with modern graphics staring Finn as a rebel Jedi taking out First/Final order holdouts in an attempt to save lost storm trooper children. With Jason Court and a jug of wine from his vineyards as a Rebel commander side kick of course.

 

Its the same thing with Leia. In A New Hope Vader gets to the ship and this young woman shows up in a white bathrobe and all I'm thinking is "thats the princess!? Cmon now, how?!" Theres no evidence in the film showing us that she is capable of being the princess. Theres no context for her training, yet she is princess!

 

'We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers' > we're not soldiers, but keepers of the peace.

Maybe Finn will be like Obi-Wan (a general>jedi instead of a jedi>general) The PT arc was one of downfall, so Finn's arc would be one of restoration.

And the word revolution has to do with restoration; that was its original sense: going back to the beginning. The 'guardians of peace and justice' Obi-Wan once talked about.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/revolution

DoTF had an uprising plot, with Finn (and Rose) having to do with it. Revolution again.
(As for the jedi, there's also a thin line beetween a prophecy being fulfilled and apocalypse, as shown in that Thor film)

 

Exactly, finn represents the future of the Resistance going forward. He believes in the force and there are moments where you see a trust between finn and rey in tros, for example she trusts him with the lightsabre in the serpent scene. Why people see finn as getting put in the shadow is something Ive never understood. I also think he gets slighted by fans, or fans just ignore what happens in the films.

 

LOL - are you seriously arguing that in ANH you couldn’t believe Leia was a ‘Princess’??? Your analogies are getting stranger....

 

Criminally wasted as goofy support character. Seemed like a racist Hollywood stereotype to me.
Now that we know that Finn is force-sensitive, he really should have become a jedi-knight.

Not surprising that John Boyega gets cut out of everything that is marketed to chinese audiences. Chinese are largely racist and judge people by their outside appearance, TLJ was completely pulled because of actors like him not meeting "public aesthetic standards".

 

He directed and came up with the concept of the advertisement as well. They took his concept and basically remade it with another actor without telling him.

the ad Boyega directed is great. Wonder if he plans on directing more in the future.

 

That, I can see more. Them basically using his pitch and then, maybe without him knowing, taking that and replacing him.

 

Deadline did an interview with Steve McQueen about his upcoming work "Small Axe". Here's a short exchange between him and a journalist regarding John Boyega, one of the leads of this anthology (his story is titled "Red, White and Blue") :

DEADLINE: You talk about the limited opportunities for people who’ve come up in the British film industry, but John Boyega is certainly an exception. Watching him in Red, White and Blue, it’s so different from where he started in Attack the Block or those Star Wars movies.

MCQUEEN: I think people haven’t really seen John. This is a new actor on the scene, as far as I’m concerned. You’ve not seen him as a mature man as you do in this role. Audiences will be able to see a whole new light, a whole new person and a great actor.

https://deadline.com/2020/09/steve-...-indie-culture-in-nyff-opening-ni-1234577782/


Personally I think Boyega's best work have come in "Attack the Block" and Kathryn Bigelow's criminally underappreciated "Detroit". I think he's a fantastic performer and it's possible he is now ready to take it to another level. McQueen only works with great onscreen talent in his films and he has been talking up Boyega the most it seems in interviews regarding this project.

 

Well as you know a "contributor" to this thread who recently got banned made a point in stressing that all of this with China could be avoided if movie makers (and I guess you can throw in advertisers) pick Will Smith instead for these high profile gigs given to black men. Apparently Will Smith is China Approved.

 

would this mean he wasn't meant to play a mature man in SW?


also, I think that putting the whole chinese nation in a bulk with these 'they are racist' accusations is quite racist in itself.