Ok... Out of the entire 6 movies, who do you think gave the most powerful performance?
That is to say, whose acting really brought the character to life?

I think that Ian McDiarmid (for Palpatine) was the best performer and
Jake Lloyd (the little Anakin) was the worst.

I too think Ian M. as Palpatine was the best.

Daniel Logan was crap as young Boba.

a special shout out to Ewan as Obi-Wan who got progressively better throughout the saga.

I'd say Ian McDiarmid and Ewan MacGregor tie for best.

Worst is whoever played Jar Jar Binks. Or, maybe, the actor wasn't the problem....it was the character.

Agreed, I think a lot of work went into Jar Jar, Design and acting wise, it just turned out to be an almost legacy destroying Idea.

^^^
IDK.
I mean, alot of little kids liked Jar Jar.
Just ask Pizza Hut, who probably made a fortune when they sold Jar Jar Binks toys with their large pizzas.

I think that Ian McDiarmid (for Palpatine) was the best performer and
Jake Lloyd (the little Anakin) was the worst.
Seconded.

Ewan McGregor wins it for me...While the biggest loser is Hayden Christensen.

Sir Alec Guinness will always be the best one in my opinion. Even though he hated sci-fi and wasn't that fond of the Star Wars movies he was professional and executed his role perfectly.

The worst one is definitely Jake Lloyd. There's no depth in him, no way could you tell that this was the future Anakin. I saw no darkness in his eyes. Also, his dialogue was awful, I guess that didn't help the situation either. He also says the most irritating line in the entire PT.

"...Now THIS is Podracing!" *shrugs*

"...Now THIS is Podracing!" *shrugs*
Cheap B-Action Movie anyone?

While the biggest loser is Hayden Christensen.

While I agree I am not sure how much is the fault of the director was giving direction to the actor/scripts written/ the fault of the actor.. I wasn't thrilled with Natalie Portman. However most of that I attribute to GL.

Frank Oz for bringing Yoda to life.

It has to be between Ian McDiarmid and Alec Guinness for best of the Star Wars cast; but I think an honourable mention is needed for Harrison Ford.

Worst; Anankin, that little thing and then Hayden Christianson were both awfull! Jar Jar, is the most horrible thing in the SW universe; Vader should of killed him in RotS.

I have to say that Ewan Mcgregor and Ian McDiarmid were the best actors in the Star Wars Saga.

The worst would probably go to Jar Jar Binks, Jabba the Hutt, and little Boba Fett.

Honorable mentions only for Harrison Ford? Come on! He gave the best performance in the OT. His lines weren't great (well, no one's was...) and he made everyone love him through sheer charisma. Who hates the scoundrel? No one sane I say! If it weren't for him, the romance between Han and Leпa would be as bad as the one between Anakin and Padmй.

Sir Alec Guiness is already a legend and frankly, he can do no bad.


Worst? I feel bad giving that to Jake Lloyd. I mean...he's just a kid...

I'm going to say Hayden Christensen for worst. He wasn't helped by the awful lines he was given to work with, but you never feel him being Vader or being really evil. In AotC, one could call him simple a teenager in a crisis and he just doesn't feel Vader-ish in RotS. The problem was that had he not turned into David Prowse/James Earl Jones, he probably wouldn't scare me at all...When he goes to the dark side, you know that's not Vader, doesn't feel like him. When you hear James Earl Jones' voice...then you know he's back and ready to choke people again.

Personally, I found Ian McDiarmid to be the best by far. No other actor has come close to his work.

As for worst? I was severely dissapointed by Natalie Portman, considering she had had much better performances in the past, although it's not always the actor's fault, of course.

Best: James Earl Jones as the voice of Vader. :carms:

Worst: Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.

well, if you had to look at the most difficult roles in the movie, then you have to look at the key characters: Anakin from the first three movies and Luke from the last three. Mark Hamill did an excellent job of really showing how Luke matured and progressed across the three films with his acting. yes, he had some annoying lines, but they seemed to fit the character especially with the delivery of the lines. so, i'd have to say that ol' Mark Hamill should definitely rank up there as one of the best actors from the movies.

as for Hayden Christenson, i think he gets a lot of bad rap that is for the most part unwarrented. the problem was with the script, and the prequels had some of the worst script writing i've seen in a very long time. a bad script makes it very difficult for the actor to really come across convinicingly, and Christenson didn't have a whole lot to work with. i can't say that its all related to ol' Lucas, though. he could've done a bit better with his delivery especially in the romantic scenes, and there were a number of lines that were delivered with a bit of melodrama. overall, he does rank rather poorly, but we shouldn't attribute everything as being his fault.

overall, however, i was very impressed with Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford. both of them really made their characters come to life, especially Harrison Ford with Han Solo. i really can't choose between the two as they both made their characters extremely interesting to watch and listen to.

^ I agree with stinger. I just watched all six episodes from 1 to 6 recently, and Hayden Christensen integrated some element in his playing that you can 'later' find in his 'son', Luke. :thumbsup:

The funniest thing (just to make a difference) still is Leia's bagel hairdo. :D

Best performance: McDiarmid, with McGregor and Ford as close second and third.
Worst performance: Christensen, although I agree that not everything is his fault. I certainly won't keep away from movies because he plays in it.

Worst: Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.
I dunno...at the least, he's got to tie with "Cardboard" Portman, who puts less life into her lines than Microsoft Sam....

Best: I agree with many of the ones stated above including James Earl Jones, Ewan Mcgregor, and Ian McDiarmid.

Worst: Natalie Portman gets a vote for sure and whoever decided to write Anakin's lines to make him sound like a whiny little punk. I haven't read the books so I don't know if he comes across the same way there, but to me I thought the scripting was terrible and as is mentioned above didn't really give Hayden Christensen a whole lot to work with.

"Cardboard" Portman... xD

I liked Ewan Macgregor, Ian Mcdarmid, Harrison Ford and Alec Guiness for pretty much the reasons already stated, and though i didn't like Christensen in Ep II i thought he was much better in RotS.

Don't like Jake Lloyd or Little Boba though... Damn kids.

I agree with the most posts above about the main big characters .

Of the little roles I hate Mace Windu the most , I can't believe how flat and lame the character comes across . Samuel Jackson did so many other great roles in movies , I can't believe he couldn't bring this character better .

Though the Jedi Counsel doesn't say much , Mace destroys that "image" of all knowing and wise Jedi with dumb lines .

Though that's I guess the script again .

And I believe the bad cutting / editing is pain to .

Anyway its SW so I still like it , who ever delivers the lines :lol:

I dunno...at the least, he's got to tie with "Cardboard" Portman, who puts less life into her lines than Microsoft Sam....
Oh wait, she acted in the film?!

*goes back to rewatch the prequel trilogy*

Oh wait, she acted in the film?!

*goes back to rewatch the prequel trilogy*
:rofl:
LMAO.

Frank Oz is definitely the best. Without his voice, Yoda just wouldn't be Yoda.

Hayden Christensen is by far the worst actor on the planet. The guy says every line with the same monotonous tone of voice, like he's bored with his role of Anakin. On the other hand, I think Jake Lloyd was not as bad as people here think. I mean, what were you expecting?? He was supposed to act like a kid and he did. You can't expect from kid-Anakin to be serious, or whatever you were expecting from him. He was just a kid back then and acted as such, which Lloyd portrayed efficiently.

Ian McDiarmaid did a perfect job of keeping his performance understated, except for the two scenes when he used force lightning. I really hated the way he shouted "Ultimate Power!" while attacking Mace Windu, but that probably was the director's choice, not his.

Hayden Christensen must have been the valedictorian at the William Shatner School of Overacting. It's a shame Qui-Gon was killed in The Phantom Menace; Liam Neeson could have helped him tone down his performance.

Best Actor: Ewan McGregor - I was a little apprehensive about him in Episode I, but he was able to make the role his own while still incorporating Alec Guinness representation of the older Obi-Wan. I give Ewan McGregor a slight edge over Harrison Ford, because Ewan made the character his own while remaining true to Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan.

Best Costumed Actor: Anthony Daniels as C-3P0 and Kenny Baker as R2-D2 – Everyone knows these two character stole the show.

Best Voice Actor: James Earl Jones and Frank Oz – Nothing sounds more evil then James Earl Jones’ voice as Vader or wiser than Frank Oz’s voice as Yoda.

As to a worst actor, I think stingerhs summed it up pretty well.

Most underused Actor: Samuel L. Jackson

The best are Harrison Ford and Peter Cushing but i think the worst out of all films personally had to be Christopher Lee. In Ep 2 especially he was terrible, the only saving grace he had was his intense gaze easily made him sith-like but the way he moved when he was speaking and his close-up non-cgi movements were almost painful to watch (he was so slow and wasn't as limber compared to his cgi and stunt doubles that the transition between them was like a punch in the face).

As much as i want to, I can't really blame Hayden Christensen because he had some of the crappiest lines.

As much as i want to, I can't really blame Hayden Christensen because he had some of the crappiest lines.
I can, he could have grown a pair and said:"Listen George, there is no way in hell that I'm acting out this written garbage on camera you senile old fudge licker!"

And we would have all been better off because George would have either:
1. Fired Hayden and hired a better actor cause that ain't hard to do.
2. Listened to Hayden and actually write some good dialog, or have someone do it for him.
3. Died a massive heart attack from gross insubordination because everyone else usually kisses his behind like crazy, in which case the movie would have been finished by someone else...

Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford definitely top my list. Though, I didn't really have a problem with any of the acting. The mediocre acting didn't really stand out the much to me, anyway.

Harrison Ford, followed by Sir Alec Guiness and Ian McDiarmid for my favorites.

Natalie Portman, followed by Jake Lloyd and whichever stoner did Jar Jar.

Hayden Christensen is by far the worst actor on the planet. The guy says every line with the same monotonous tone of voice....

Well, I guess they could have cast Keanu Reeves instead. [/sarcasm] Woah, dude! http://intruderalert.com/cafe/images/emoticons/hysterical.gif)

I have to come to Christensen's defense. While I admit that he didn't fill out what I had in my mind as Anakin Skywalker, he did bring much to the character.

In AotC, he was a typical rebellious teenager who wanted everything his way now, and very much teetering on the edge of the Darkside because of this. Not Vader yet, but headed in that direction.

In RotS, he became more headstrong. Not being a fully matured personality made him more susceptible to temptation. His inexperience with love and marriage (a byproduct of being away at war) made for tense love scenes. And if you don't think he looked absolutely evil on Mustafar, you've got a screw loose. The only thing that I thought needed work was the moment of the fall to the Darkside. I didn't see enough inner turmoil for it to be thoroughly believable. But, that was more a product of script than of acting.

All this stuff about Christensen and Portman is misguided, in my opinion. People say that, "Hey, the script was bad." Have you watched Episodes 4-6 lately? The dialog has always been atrocious. The difference is that Ford, Fischer, McDiarmid, and MacGregor know how to play the dialog. I honestly felt that, rather than not acting, Christensen and Portman are trying too hard. They simply don't understand how to play a Star Wars character.

Christensen and Portman are trying too hard.Yeah. Still, compared to their heavyweight-acting colleagues, they're n00bs. Every n00b will eventually become a lot better, so they really shouldn't be slapped for that. At least, not too hard. Not everyone can be as brilliant as Sir Alec or Ewan McGregor from day go.

Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee and Sir Alec Guinness are probably the most accomplished actors in the whole series and best fit for their roles.

BEST:
Ford as Solo
Lee as Count Dooku
Guinness as Obi-wan
Neeson as Qui-gon Ginn
Prowse as Vader (although the voice by J.E. Jones forever sealed his demeanor)

WORST:
Christensen as young Annakin Skywalker
Muppet Yoda in Episode I

There were a lot of good ones and some bad ones for me.

For the prequels I like Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson. Unlike many of you I also liked Hayden Christensen as Anakin. I mean yeah some parts were really lame ("The thought of not being with you, I can't breathe") but you gotta look at the script for things like that. A lot of people didn't like him because he acts whiny and selfish but look at Luke. So I think he did as good a job as anyone could have for his role.

Didn't like Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd, and I have to mention Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at but the way she delivers some of her dialog is soooo lame. I've always wished her and Keira Knightley's roles as the queen and the queen's decoy would have been flopped.

For the original trilogy I think there is a lot less to complain about. Harrison Ford was great as Han. Alec Guiness is a legend. Those two probably top my prequel list. I can't really think who the "worst" is from the original trilogy...

But overall I'll say my favorite is between Ewan McGregor and Harrison Ford. Too difficult to choose between them because they're both such great characters and such different roles.

... Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at ...New title for the next SW game: The Desperation of DM :D

Didn't like Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd, and I have to mention Natalie Portman. She's nice to look at but the way she delivers some of her dialog is soooo lame. I've always wished her and Keira Knightley's roles as the queen and the queen's decoy would have been flopped.

Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much :D Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame...

Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee and Sir Alec Guinness are probably the most accomplished actors in the whole series and best fit for their roles.

BEST:
Ford as Solo
Lee as Count Dooku
Guinness as Obi-wan
Neeson as Qui-gon Ginn
Prowse as Vader (although the voice by J.E. Jones forever sealed his demeanor)

WORST:
Christensen as young Annakin Skywalker
Muppet Yoda in Episode I
Damn! 4 posts before! :D I WANTED TO SAY IT!!!!

Ted Gagliano, Reg Harding, Melissa Kurtz, and Bill Weston were all superb.
R. Christopher White, Axel Dench, and Julian Khazzouh did respectable jobs.
Daniel Rodgers did a horrible job, IMO.
I also though Sam Jackson was one badA Mutherfacker.

Best:
McDiarmid
McGregor
Lee
Neeson
Ford
Cushing
Guiness

Worst:
Portman

Although, sometimes its hard to know whether to blame the actor or the dialog.

Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much :D Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame...Thats the thing, I know she's better in other movies so its surprising how bad she can be at parts in Star Wars. But overall I do think Keira Knightley is a better actressl.
New title for the next SW game: The Desperation of DM :DYou know you thought the same. :p

You know you thought the same. :pYep. You must be desperate. :lol:

On topic: A generally important aspect of all the SW films is definitely character development. (Never mind dialogue scripts.) Where most series of films have a standstill in regard to character development, SW does the opposite. Also, at least in the original trilogy, the commonplace 'Girlie Dies at End of Film' was avoided.

I think the two best were Ian who plays Palpatine and the guy who plays Anakin skywalker, I forgot his name

Well, that's just because you like Keira Knightley a wee too much :D Seriously though, Portman isn't a bad actress at all. It's like she didn't want to put more effort into the role. Which is a shame...
I still think that it was because she put too much effort. She's trying so hard to make what she's saying meaningful that she's completely missing the point of her character.

Truth be told, Hayden Christensen redeemed himself in my eyes when he gave a better performance in RotS.
It was better than his lame act in AotC at any rate.

I think mostly people complain about Christensen more due to the kind of character he was (whiny) in AOTC, and not so much about his acting per se. He had some pretty wonky romance lines to work with...

I think Prime has a good point.
A lot of people hate the character that Christensen was, more so than Christensen himself.
And I think that was big GLs plan. He had to turn "Little Annie" into Darth Vader. I think Christensen did a respectable job at performing. He also had to work with Natalie. :P
Shes smexy, and I'm not saying shes a bad actress. Just compared to all the other actors performances, hers stood out to me as the least amazing.

I think a lot of people would of enjoyed the acting in the PT more if they had filmed it with an old 70 millimeter camera at elstree studios, with English bad guys with 70's style hair and sideburns, a death star, and copious amounts of stormtroopers.... There stuck in an OT rut!

I agree that the script was a bit ropey but, I enjoyed all three prequels, script and all.

My mental image of, Jedi, the center of goverment, politics, the force, is defined by the prequels, So the actors must of done something right

I liked them all. Really. I smiled at Jar-Jar, Portman was a perfect Padme, Anakin was spot on, and the rest were equally fantastic.

Actors are actors people. I've seen all those actors in other movies and they did fantastic. Portman in V for Vendetta for instance.

No. I think the real person to blame here is George Lucas and his absolutely ridiculous idea to direct the movies, and write most of the script.

Actors act, but they are brought to life by the direction the director takes them. The director gives them their momentary inspiration. The director gives them the atmosphere. The director guides them into the scene and helps them pull emotion from it. Fantastic actors have some ability to move around this, but many mainstream rely on their guides to help them stick to their character.

After they have the scene and character down through a director, they have the dialogue to work with.

"The thought of not being with you, I can't breathe"
"Ultimate Power!"
"...Now THIS is Podracing!"

Yeah... not to burst most of you people's bubbles, but let me show you something:

Easy Steps To Acting:
1) Get into character
2) Read above lines
3) Breath deep
4) Say lines
5) Listen to recording

What do you notice? I'm betting it sounds pretty bad. No matter how hard you try, you cannot seem to get the lines to sound right. Wanna know why? Its not because of how you sound.

Its because of how terrible the lines are.

And it just so happens the same man decided to write -and- direct the 3 prequels and new hope. If the actors failed to get what they wanted across, that is the blame of the lines that were handed to them and the direction the director took them. Actors don't write what they say, it is just handed to them in the morning while they are getting their makeup done with limited time to memorize, all the while newly written lines being handed to them by the hour.

I loved all the actors in the movies and thought they were casted fantastically. I just believe the director failed to bring out the spirit in any of them.

In my defense for hating Christensen, I didn't like him from the moment I learned he was going to be Anakin Skywalker. So...