Neeson is, after all, our greatest living actor. How do I know this? Consider: every single actor directed by George Lucas in the second Star Wars trilogy gave a performance that could only charitably be called embarrassing. The lone exception was Liam Neeson, who, against all odds, managed to overcome Lucas's leaden dialog and clunky direction and turn in an appealing, understated performance anyway. If that's not evidence that he's our greatest living actor, I don't know what is.
Oh, come now. I know that most folks think that Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman turn in sub-par performances in the Prequel Trilogy. I don't share that view, but I know that's the general consensus. But every single actor other than Neeson as Qui Gon? Ewan McGregor was embarrassing? Ian McDiarmid? Pernilla August? Christopher Lee? Every single actor not named Liam Neeson? I know, we're all supposed to hate everything about the PT, but come on, now. Sheesh.
2 comments:
I agree, for the most part, it was Hayden Christensen's bad acting that blew the series.
Comments about the awful acting in the PT always make me grind my teeth.
Yes, you can single out a few instances where Hayden's line readings were a little flat, but his overall portrayal was just fine, in my opinion. The older actors in the prequels were all, as Jaquandor says, just fine as well, and I thought Ewan MacGregor was spot-on perfect. He was Obi Wan for me, as much as Alec Guinness ever was, and that's saying a lot.
Statements like Kevin Drum's strike me as anti-Lucas backlash more than a legitimate criticism. It's like people saying Leo sucked in Titanic. No, he didn't, and you didn't hear people saying that until they got tired of hearing that damn Celine Dion song every five minutes.
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