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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

ST Finn/John Boyega Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by Pro Scoundrel , Jan 3, 2020.

  1. cerealbox

    cerealbox Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 5, 2016
    Tom Holland told a little funny story of when he auditioned for Finn in Force Awakens
     
  2. Darth Buzz

    Darth Buzz Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 25, 2018
    Congrats to John on his Golden Globe win
     
  3. rayjefury

    rayjefury Jedi Master star 2

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    Jun 3, 2017
    It warms the heart to be able to see him flourish as we all knew he could. Congratulations John. Could not be happier for him.
     
  4. Troopa212

    Troopa212 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2016
    Especially since there have been people questioning his acting ability because of the writing in the ST.
     
  5. reyvision

    reyvision Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Dec 12, 2017
    KING! Golden Globe winner John Boyega!!!
     
  6. JarJar_IS_Tarkin

    JarJar_IS_Tarkin Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2003
    Hey guys. How surprised were you when Keith Finn was not a traitor? I was expecting him to betray the Jedi. Perhaps someone interfered. They should have let me to write the script. Lando was a traitor and Mace turned into Dart Maul.
     
  7. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 13, 2020
    Nothing wrong with his acting. I only wish Finn had been written so as to bring more of John's "Attack the Block" Moses attitude with him.
     
  8. starfish

    starfish Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 9, 2003
    there absolutely have been people in this thread who have questioned Boyega’s acting ability though
     
  9. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 13, 2020
    The guy can certainly act.

    I think that John Boyega is possibly a bit too hip for Star Wars. Maybe DFL thought casting him would bring some of that to their franchise, but they squandered it with the character, and he has since proven that he is still too hip for them.
     
  10. starfish

    starfish Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 9, 2003
    I mean, that makes it sound like it’s Boyega’s fault that his character wasn’t given a better more well thought out story and character arc.

    I don’t agree at all, if anything him being hip helped bring people into the new trilogy, especially for the first film, people lost interest when it was clear no real story was planned out/given to the the character in the subsequent films
     
  11. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2010
    Usually that was a red flag before getting themselves banned for more overtly problematic complaints; one thing I would say is that no one in the ST honestly embarrassed themselves as an actor. Weirdly, Ridley seems to get more sincere criticism... but criticism I think is misplaced from people who are in denial about the writing being bad. Driver gets his acting a bit overly praised because as good as he is, the role was limited. Boyega, I think, honestly got to show his range enough even with bad plotting that almost no one honestly disputes his talents - unless they're trying to dump the whole character for nefarious reaosns.
    TFA seemed to understand how skilled he was and used him pretty damn well, all things considered, which makes sense as he basically won himself the male lead role through auditions and you can tell Abrams wanted to exploit his skills, charisma, and chemistry with Ridley.

    He *was* clearly too hip for TLJ or TROS, though; Johnson didn't seem to see any real appeal to him, and LFL was too scared of his hipness to let Abrams execute his plan.
     
  12. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    I think that the character gets better as the trilogy goes on, with The Force Awakens being his weakest outing.
     
  13. LedReader

    LedReader Jedi Master star 4

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    Oct 24, 2019
    You think Finn’s best movie is TROS? That’s an opinion I don’t think I’ve ever heard before, outside of maybe from a costume specific perspective.
     
  14. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    Yes, I thought that as a character he was little more than a comic sidekick in VII, displayed more resolve in VIII and came into his own more as part of the ensemble structure in IX
     
  15. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2010
    I think it comes down to how seriously you take his “escaped slave to highly motivated hero” storyline in TFA, and what role you think fit him between “male lead” and “another ensemble cog.” And especially that last one.

    I mean... he really *isn’t* that comedic in TFA, and he’s arguably the soul of the film’s drama for 2/3rds of its runtime, with far more strenuous demands on Boyega in terms of displaying range and holding the spotlight with both screen legends (Ford) and up-and-comers (Driver and Ridley)... and he *does* steal scenes even in the setup.

    But that also means being happy with him as a male lead behind Ridley... and I think there’s a lot of fan who prefer having her share importance with Driver instead.
     
  16. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    I found him to be a bit of an innocent and slightly bumbling figure of fun in Episode 7. He is a likeable enough character, but for a soldier "trained to do one thing" (presumably fight) he isn't much good at it. He's clumsy and having to be told what to do by Rey all the time, then plays second fiddle to Han Solo when he turns up.
    He seems to adopt a much more assertive and steely resolve in The Last Jedi. A more courageous decision might have been to let Finn actually fly into that cannon and sacrifice himself for the good of the Resistance. By the time Rise of Skywalker came around, I was really digging the rapport and fast dynamic he had with Poe and Chewie on the Millennium Falcon at the start. Look at his face when he seats up in the gun turret. He has gone from somebody who hasn't a clue what he is doing when he is in there on Jakku, to somebody saying "Just leave it to me". I could have watched a whole movie of them as the crew on the Falcon, it was great. Plus, as somebody suggested above, they had got his aesthetic down by Episode 9, and he looked great in his unique wardrobe with the retro pants and grown out hair.

    I never saw the character as being "demoted", any more than I thought the same for Han Solo in Return of the Jedi, even though I believe it is the weakest movie for the character. He is a less interesting character and role than in both his A New Hope and (particularly) The Empire Strikes Back appearances. The character focusses just shift a little.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2021
  17. dagenspear

    dagenspear Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 9, 2015
    I think that's there going into the end of TFA.
     
  18. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Dec 14, 2010
    Yeah, fundamentally, the third act of TFA sees him act more like a straight forward hero even though he knows he's out of his depth.
     
  19. Knights Of The Ren Table

    Knights Of The Ren Table Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2020
    Normal brain: Finn leads a stormtrooper rebellion.

    Advanced brain: Finn is a jedi alongside Rey.

    GALAXY-WIDE UNIVERSAL BRAIN: Finn is a VILLAIN, him and Kylo are VILLAIN BROS and Kylo sends him to infiltrate the resistance ranks to gather intel in order to destroy them from the inside. Basically he's the Anti-Snape for a different generation of fans in a different franchise.
     
  20. Tatooine Twilight Twins

    Tatooine Twilight Twins Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    I understand its late but I wanted to swing by and give props to Mr. Boyega not only for two recent, high-profile nominations, but two wins as well (Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice).

    I don’t mind beating a dead horse by pointing out that during the nadir of Boyega’s run in Star Wars (in between the releases of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker), he and his character Finn were taking a lot of abuse from fans and audiences that had nothing to do with the racist abuse he had been getting from some other corners. No, during this particular time I was referring to Finn, after being dismissed by many as clownish following TFA, was now being viewed as unimportant by the masses after his screentime took a drop in TLJ.

    Boyega suddenly went from male lead or main co-star to Ridley to more of a supporting player of little significance. The defenders of Boyega and Finn decried this development and came up with numerous reasons for not only why this was wrong, but why it was probably happening in the first place.

    Of course there came pushback from folks who were all too happy that Finn got this onscreen demotion, with many of them proclaiming that they knew all along that Finn was nothing more than a decoy who was never meant to shine in their precious Star Wars Universe. And so often they took a step further to claim it was justified because Boyega was a weak actor who could not match up with true talents like Driver, Isaac and Ridley (this was just before people stared tearing down Daisy). To them any disappointment with Finn was solely the result of Boyega being a bad actor. I recall some people (including Reylos) who suggested that Boyega would have a Mark Hamill career once his Star Wars run was over while Driver would be the Harrison Ford of the sequel trilogy. In other words Driver would prosper post-Star wars and Boyega would flounder.

    First of all that was a tad insulting of Hamill. SW may not have propelled him to a superstar-like film career, but the man has had a successful time in Hollywood. Its not an insult to be compared to him. Nonetheless Boyega had delivered two great performances as a lead in films before he ever stepped foot on a SW set (Attack the Block and Imperial Dreams). So he was no slouch coming in which meant there was no reason to suspect him to drift away once he was no longer Finn.

    But some people, in particular individuals who never consumed any media other than that of mainstream Hollywood, couldn’t see that Boyega had much of a future at all. They dismissed him as a hack and they were giddy about the prospects of his career dimming once his spotlight time in Star Wars concluded.

    Boyega getting these recently, highly-regarded acknowledgements should put a nail in the coffin of that nonsense. The acclaim is not just coming from people in the industry, fellow actors and critics. On twitter I just now see a lot of people praising Boyega’s talents while being critical of Star Wars for wasting them. Granted he has support from many all along but there is just more gushing over his acting now by those who never caught his pre-SW work. Perhaps even more crucial is that Boyega has made himself a fave just through his personality as more people have come to know him outside of Finn. Whether you agree with his tactics or not, his clash with Reylos and his public BLM stance has turned him into a sort of social media favorite. Even something so seemingly silly as that Celebrity Hot Sauce Challenge thing he participated in really opened up people’s eyes because of the easy, natural charm he displayed, making them wonder why that was not allowed to go on full display in the Sequel Trilogy. Reading the comments on that YouTube page surprised me because a lot of individuals apparently didn’t even know he was British and sounded anything like that. They thought he was American. Which reminds me of how one thing that goes so underappreciated in regards to Boyega is that he was the only one of the main Sequel Trilogy leads who had to speak in an unnatural accent.

    Anyway as I have posted on this thread before he has a lot of projects in the pipeline going forward DESPITE what detractors had predicted. But its his Small Axe work may take his career onto another level trajectory. It is not shocking at all that such an opportunity came from a filmmaker who is a fellow black Brit. Steve McQueen is guy who is part of that small group of elite filmmaking talent in the world. Of that small group the number of black filmmakers is low. And I would argue that’s a key advantage that someone like Driver has over Boyega. The majority of the best filmmakers are white and they will lean towards working with white talent like Driver than black ones like Boyega because of the type of stories they are telling. Which means it comes down to as much as who has more opportunities as who has more talent. That being said, it probably shocks many of the haters that Boyega got such big industry awards before Driver.

    Let me end this by pointing out that Ridley has now become the new punching bag by SW and casual fans alike on social media. I can’t stand that nonsense either, including those suggesting Finn should have been the lead character. No. I think it was overdue for a true female lead, something I have consistently claimed. I just wanted Finn to be B to her A and have great character arc of his own.

    Anyway, congrats, John! You deserve it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2021
  21. FromDromundKaasWithLove

    FromDromundKaasWithLove Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 20, 2020
    It is; it's the culmination of his character arc in the first film.

    When Kylo Ren calls him a traitor, Finn takes Luke's lightsaber, stands up and turns it on. When Kylo Ren demands it from him, Finn defiantly says: "Come get it."
    [​IMG]
    As godisawesome points out, Finn knows he's out of his depth - he knows he's not going to win, but instead of giving up or running away, he decides how to meet his fate head-on and go down fighting.

    He is assertive and steel resolve.
     
  22. Daxon101

    Daxon101 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2016
    I have never seen Finns role as diminished. mostly because i always knew who the main character was. i always knew the direction Disney would go with this new trilogy. it was always gonna be replicating the OT with trying to create a female Luke Skywalker. i was never expecting Disney to be bold enough to create a different type of dynamic.

    With Finn, to me, he has always fit the same bill that Leia or Han had in the OT. and to insist Finn isn't important would be to insist Leia or Han ain't important in the OT. and i ain't sure you can or would want to do that. sure you could create arguments about how Leia and Han didn't have ALOT to do in say ROTJ. but no one is ever gonna say their roles were reduced because its the iconic OT.

    When i was watching TFA i could tell they wanted to create that bantery dynamic from episode 4. you know the Han and Luke in the gun seats, WOO! and "Great kid, don't get cocky!" and like Rey flying the falcon and Finn on drivers seat yelling at each other. its just all very similar to me.
     
    Last edited: Mar 10, 2021
  23. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    Rey did not redeem her father, therefore she is not a female Luke Skywalker.
     
  24. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

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    Dec 13, 2020
    I think it is pretty obvious what the poster is getting at when he calls Rey “a female Luke Skywalker” She occupies that same general role in the soft reboot trilogy.
     
  25. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I know what he was getting at, and I’m pointing out that it does not work to refer to her that way while taking out what made Luke Skywalker as iconic as he was.