John Boyega

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2020 8:32:02 GMT -4 angelaudie said:

The odd thing is I do like new trilogy films individually but as trilogy of films. As in each these films are good movies but they just don’t work together as a unit. For all the issues I have prequels the movies do work well as a unit. The character development, for example, does feel organic. I can’t believe I just paid the prequels a compliment.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. They're decent as stand-alones, but horrible as a trilogy. I still just find it so mind-boggling that they didn't even bother to come up with an outline for a cohesive story for all three movies. George Lucas may suck at plotting and dialogue but even he did that, he had a plan for how each movie in the prequel trilogy would fit together into the story he wanted to tell.

And this is especially egregious when you have Marvel sitting right there, with Kevin Feige overseeing every single MCU movie and making sure they all make sense as a whole. And that's over more than a decade with dozens of movies. Disney only had to keep it together for four years and three movies and they couldn't even manage that. I just...don't get it.

[kostgard]

Sept 3, 2020 8:32:02 GMT -4 angelaudie said:

The odd thing is I do like new trilogy films individually but as trilogy of films. As in each these films are good movies but they just don’t work together as a unit. For all the issues I have prequels the movies do work well as a unit. The character development, for example, does feel organic. I can’t believe I just paid the prequels a compliment.

I need Hollywood to make romantic comedy action movie starring John Boyega and Oscar Isaac. Think something like Romancing The Stone except two dudes get together in the end.

I also think each movie individually is fine, but they don’t hang together as a trilogy. The weakest to me is TROS because it was so clearly a rushed patch job, and they always chose the most boring, safe choice because they were terrified of upsetting the neckbeards and ended up pleasing almost no one. Like, they undid something I really liked about about TLJ, which was that greatness could come from anywhere and you didn’t need a famous last name. That’s why Rey, possibly the strongest Jedi we’ve seen, had parents who were “nobodies.” And why we saw the stableboy at the end use the force. But nope! Rey MUST come from a dynasty! I guess they tried to make up for that by suddenly making Finn force sensitive, but again, they did nothing with it and after having him chase Rey around saying, “I have to tell you something” he never actually tells her. And not like it was a big choice, like we have a scene where he decides Rey just isn’t his closest friend any more, things have changed too much, and he needs to go on this journey without her. He just doesn’t do it. Also, they should have had the balls to kill Chewie. That would have given the movie stakes.

But regardless of what Rian Johnson did or didn’t do, it happened because no one took the time to plan out this billion dollar franchise. No one told him, “No, it has to be Finn and Poe on the casino planet because this is the arc of their friendship.” And no one told him, “You can’t kill off Phasma like that! This is her storyline.” And at the end they were so disorganized and scrambling that they just let some characters fall by the wayside and wouldn’t you know it, it’s the characters of color who got the short shrift (even though one of them was part of the main trio and absolutely should have had more to do).

Honestly, I’m glad they are stepping away from the Skywalker saga because that was super-disappointing. And I think they did far more interesting things with Rogue One (which had stakes, everyone died!), and are currently doing more interesting things with The Mandalorian. I hope the new Obi-Wan series only mentions “Skywalker” in passing. There could be place for Finn in this universe, but Boyega is clearly torching this bridge and isn’t looking back and I can’t blame him.

But I would watch the shit out of that take on Romancing the Stone. Someone make that happen. I’d bet Isaac and Boyega would be game.

[technicolor]

Boyega issued such multi-layered criticism, it's heartbreaking. And it's also heartbreaking that predictably not much will come from it. I like how he framed the treatment of POC characters as "they didn't know what to do with them". Because exactly. It's on making sure that these characters actually get their own arcs and retain agency. Rey and Kylo have agency and plots centered around them and that's fine. But other characters also need plots and coherent character arcs. Not just being bystanders.

How he described the PR and stylistic treatment by Disney is also damning. A mix of ignorance, patronizing and demeaning. And yeah, using diversity for PR purposes but then not actually wanting to follow through in the storytelling. And for me all this comes down to Disney, Disney, Disney. And good for him for ripping on them so prominently. They had to make sure that the trilogy made sense. They had to make sure that character arcs were developed for everyone. They needed to control the directors. They needed to protect the actors from harassment. They did none of these things.

I'm not ready to go so easy on Abrams, though. TROS was a dumpster fire in many respects. Erasing Rose, while lying about it beforehand. Sticking Finn even more firmly into sidekick status. The Palpatine mess. Abrams produced a massive screw-up in many respects IMO. Ultimately Disney is mainly responsible for all that as well. But both Johnson and Abrams made some questionable decisions. IMO TFA and TLJ are very good, if flawed, individual movies, TROS is a hack job for whatever reasons, probably involving more than just Abrams. But the ego involved to make it all become incoherent, yeah...

[kostgard]

This is a clip of Daisy and not John, but it shows what a disorganized mess the trilogy was and she said even while filming TROS Rey’s parentage kept changing. They just didn’t plan this shit out at all.

And so they certainly didn’t think about the care needed for the first prominent black and Asian characters in the franchise.

[lea1977]

I am actually quite baffled how Disney couldn't get this right. It started off well with The Force Awakens but then went to shit. Whatever, what is done is done, I am off to watch the new Dune trailer.

[kostgard]

Boyega must be ready to pull his hair out.

He is the first male global ambassador for Jo Malone (The fragrance company). He conceptualized and directed an ad for them. It won an award.

And Jo Malone liked the ad so much they completely cut Boyega out of it for the Chinese market, replaced him with a Chinese celeb, and didn’t tell him about it. He found out about it on Twitter.

He even gets sidelined on projects he directed. Way to prove his point on everything, Jo Malone. Like, I get that China has...issues...on race, and that a black man won’t sell as well there than a Chinese man, but give the guy a heads-up before you steal his commercial from him.

[Auroranorth]

Wow. He actually created and directed the commercial and they totally stripped it out for the other guy. Yeesh.

[Deleted]

I love his Jo Malone ad and, particularly given the positive response to it and the recognition it received, am incensed at how Jo Malone handled it.

Add me to the chorus disappointed with the trilogy. I really liked TFA and LOVED him in it - I was really looking forward to seeing his character develop. Boy, was I disappointed in the other two films. I hated seeing Finn essentially sidelined. What a waste.

[cabbagekid]

Sept 13, 2020 5:02:48 GMT -4 kostgard said:

He even gets sidelined on projects he directed. Way to prove his point on everything, Jo Malone. Like, I get that China has...issues...on race, and that a black man won’t sell as well there than a Chinese man, but give the guy a heads-up before you steal his commercial from him.

I'm always amazed at companies who forget to tell the people involved when something changes. It makes me laugh but it's also really sad and frustrating.

One of my friends is a model and when she does international ads, it usually lists what countries her ads will run or if it's everywhere, it will list where they won't run. They might have assumed he knew it wouldn't run in China if China wasn't one of the listed countries, but at the same time, tell him that they're still using his idea and concept for the commercial! Gah!!!!

[Deleted]

I am so glad that he is speaking out. He's a gifted actor and they really made a mess of the last trilogy.

I don't think you realize what a mess they made of it until you watch The Mandalorian and see what was possible - or even Clone Wars and Rebels. You CAN tell a unique story in this universe without making the Skywalkers front and center (and I say that as someone who loves them).