The Rise of Skywalker John Boyega as Finn (IX)

[eon001]

They could have made Poe distrust him because he was a former Storm Trooper. They could have had him rally other Storm Troopers to switch sides. Instead he was a prop at best.

Now that would have been a fantastic arc. They start off with tension then they earn each others trust as the trilogy progresses. The way they became fast friends, quipping back and fourth, felt so forced to me.

And all the best comedy duo's work better with one straight man. I wish Fin was played more seriously to contrast against Poe's humour (Drax/Starlord for example). Having them both be equally jokey felt exhausting at times.

 

[eon001]

It's sad how much this guy was wasted, especially considering how strong of a dramatic actor Boyega is, and they really could have explored some interesting aspects about his character's past history as a Storm Trooper that was nicely set up in TFA. Instead they gave Rey and Ben all the shine, and completely sidelined him with weak material that made him either a goofy character who resorts to comedic relief every 5 minutes or even worse a prop piece designed to get characters from point A to point B depending on the convenience of the plot.

Character pretty much died in this moment for me. This was the moment Finn was supposed to show his purpose and value. He could have the led the infiltration of the base, but they threw it away for some cheap laugh.

And to make matters worse the add to this weird stalker like obsession Finn has with Rey.

Basically he doesn't care about saving millions of lives, he just care's about saving a girl that is vastly more capable and skilled than him" WTF?!

There relationship was so un-earned and awkward to watch.

 

[writer0327]

Character pretty much died in this moment for me. This was the moment Finn was supposed to show his purpose and value. He could have the led the infiltration of the base, but they threw it away for some cheap laugh.

And to make matters worse the add to this weird stalker like obsession Finn has with Rey.

Basically he doesn't care about saving millions of lives, he just care's about saving a girl that is vastly more capable and skilled than him" WTF?!

There relationship was so un-earned and awkward to watch.

And this is why Rian Johnson sent him to Canto Bight, because Finn needed to see what he was fighting for and why he needed to become a rebel.

Folks seem to forget this moment and seem to forget Finn was the same character at the end of TFA as he was at the beginning of TLJ. Just because he picked up a lightsaber to defend himself and Rey against Kylo Ren, didn't mean he changed. There was no character change in Finn at all, and I defy anyone to show me where in TFA he became aligned with the Resistance. Nope, he was trying to escape with Rey.

 

[The Guard]

Finn sort of slowly "got involved". He did have a fairly clear character arc over three films. By the last one, he's essentially a leader in the Resistance.

 

[henzINNIT]

Poor Finn was thoroughly wasted. He never really lived up to his character sheet.

Boyega has been a great funny man but I hope the lessons Finn learned in 8 reverberate into 9 and we see a more competent, confident version of him.

Hindsight is a harsh mistress. He was more competent and confident. I wish I had also asked that he got something to do.

 

[blackdragon6]

I am really disappointed with what they did with Boyega. Good actor and they had a really interesting concept behind him.

It's funny how so many praised Disney Star Wars for being diverse but when you look at it
-The 2 non white leads got heavily sidelined by the end of the saga
-3/4 of the movie female leads were the same type of pretty petite white brunettes
-The one non white female lead only appeared significantly in 1 movie
-Lupita Nyongo was regulated to a CGI character whose role continually got reduced
-Gwendolyn Christie, the tall more built woman, was regulated to staying in armor and didn't get anything to do
-We still only have one lead female creative mind behind Star Wars (Deborah Chow who's doing the Obi Wan series)

Finn, Poe, and Phasma deserved A LOT better.

 

[eon001]

And this is why Rian Johnson sent him to Canto Bight, because Finn needed to see what he was fighting for and why he needed to become a rebel.

Folks seem to forget this moment and seem to forget and Finn was the same character at the end of TFA as he was at the beginning go TLJ. Just because he picked up a lightsaber to defend himself and Rey against Kylo Ren, didn't mean nothing changed. There was no character change in Finn at all, and I defy anyone to show me where in TFA he became aligned with the Resistance. No he was trying to escape with Rey.

Funnily enough I think I'm one of the few people that didn't hate Cantobite. I think it would have been cool if they went to Cantobite and Phasma was chasing Finn as the 1st Order basically hunts down and kills deserters.
Could have been a terminator style cat a mouse chase arc and we would have got more use out of Phasma.
Ah well, I'll save it for fan fic.

 

[eon001]

This video really sums up how I think Finn should have been portrayed. Not too fussed about him being force sensitive, but I like the idea of him being a darker military character.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Has anyone counted how many times he screams Rey's name or asked for Rey in TROS? It's gotta be in the high 20's at least.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Even old smoothie Lando got his new girl at the end .

 

[LoganGambit87]

yo anyone peeping Boyega's twitter LOL he got rey/kylo shippers in their feelings

 

[thangaran]

Finn was just a love sick puppy here. Disgusting crap writing. Make use of him for effs sake. This entire trilogy had no idea what to do with him. The idea of playing up mistrust as he joins the rebellion and him being a dark stern yet good character would have been so much better than the 150000 times they say “THEY FLY NOW!!!!???!!!” Dumb dialogue

 

[NotNickFury]

Honestly, yeah, John Boyega is a good actor and the idea of taking a former Stormtrooper and turning him into a fighter for the rebellion is a very interesting idea. What seemed like a key, main character just turned into a running punchline with little to do. Honestly, it's been fun watching Boyega go scorched Earth on the hardcore shippers.

 

[sueb1863]

It's one of the big reasons why it was a mistake to make these movies with no plan for where they were going to go.

Finn had a lot of potential but it seems nobody sat down and said, "OK, what are we going to do with this character?" The only question they asked was, "How many toys do you think he'll sell?"

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I am really disappointed with what they did with Boyega. Good actor and they had a really interesting concept behind him.

It's funny how so many praised Disney Star Wars for being diverse but when you look at it
-The 2 non white leads got heavily sidelined by the end of the saga
-3/4 of the movie female leads were the same type of pretty petite white brunettes
-The one non white female lead only appeared significantly in 1 movie
-Lupita Nyongo was regulated to a CGI character whose role continually got reduced
-Gwendolyn Christie, the tall more built woman, was regulated to staying in armor and didn't get anything to do
-We still only have one lead female creative mind behind Star Wars (Deborah Chow who's doing the Obi Wan series)

TFA left so much potential for what came next it's a real shame they totally dropped the ball. Finn especially was one of those things. Again Rian Johnson didn't help having the former child slave be too enamoured by Casino's to notice other child slavery right under his nose.

 

[eon001]

Finn was just a love sick puppy here. Disgusting crap writing. Make use of him for effs sake. This entire trilogy had no idea what to do with him. The idea of playing up mistrust as he joins the rebellion and him being a dark stern yet good character would have been so much better than the 150000 times they say “THEY FLY NOW!!!!???!!!” Dumb dialogue

You know what bugs me is they didn't even do a good enough job making us believe he was even in love with her. It just seemed like a weird fixation that was not romantic at all.

 

[Iceman]

You know what bugs me is they didn't even do a good enough job making us believe he was even in love with her. It just seemed like a weird fixation that was not romantic at all.

It seemed to just be a lot of shouting.

 

[Schlosser85]

It seemed to just be a lot of shouting.

His "REYYYYY!!!" is right up there with Shia LaBeouf's "OPTIMUS!!!"

 

[Mani-Man]

You know what bugs me is they didn't even do a good enough job making us believe he was even in love with her. It just seemed like a weird fixation that was not romantic at all.

Seems to be the thing this sequel trilogy had.
Finn and Rey, Kylo and Rey...there is a pattern there of weird fixation that is less romantic.

You could have gone so many ways with Finn after TFA...such a god damn shame that they wasted that.
There was so much more you could have done with his past as stormtrooper, with him being so involved in the resistance, the possibility of him being a jedi...and yeah you could have done a proper Finn/Rey romance with him being Reys anchor point or so...there was tons of potential...but hell thats the case for everything and every character in the sequel trilogy.

 

[herolee10]

Honestly, one of the many things that I don't understand is why would they tease the idea that Finn is force sensitive in the freaking final entry of the sequel trilogy? Isn't that something that should have been brought up A LOT earlier?

I mean they really aren't making any attempt to cover up the fact that they pretty much pulled out ideas from their asses with every new installment. A recent rumor states that Abrams wanted to make Finn and Poe into an item, which feels more like a last minute decision to pander the duo's shippers than an organic development (considering that Finn was clearly into Rey in the first film and had no prior romantic tension/chemistry with Poe).

Overall, I feel like Finn is character that producers could have easily made into a memorable character had some actual planning and care went into his development.

 

[Iceman]

Honestly, one of the many things that I don't understand is why would they tease the idea that Finn is force sensitive in the freaking final entry of the sequel trilogy? Isn't that something that should have been brought up A LOT earlier?

I mean they really aren't making any attempt to cover up the fact that they pretty much pulled out ideas from their asses with every new installment. A recent rumor states that Abrams wanted to make Finn and Poe into an item, which feels more like a last minute decision to pander the duo's shippers than an organic development (considering that Finn was clearly into Rey in the first film and had no prior romantic tension/chemistry with Poe).

Overall, I feel like Finn is character that producers could have easily made into a memorable character had some actual planning and care went into his development.

Finn being force-sensitive, an ex-storm trooper, and in moving relationships could all have been handled really well but they all ended up seeming like very underdeveloped afterthoughts.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

Honestly, one of the many things that I don't understand is why would they tease the idea that Finn is force sensitive in the freaking final entry of the sequel trilogy? Isn't that something that should have been brought up A LOT earlier?

Well, they need to leave little plot hooks to convince people to invest on the supplementary material. I imagine that's also why they waited until the last 5 seconds to give Rey her own lightsaber, with a unique color that I'm sure will be on the cover of novels and comic books eventually.

 

[Mani-Man]

Finn being force-sensitive, an ex-storm trooper, and in moving relationships could all have been handled really well but they all ended up seeming like very underdeveloped afterthoughts.

This all rights itself pretty much and is a awesome story.
Thats what hurts the most, look on paper at all the new characters...they all have such incredible potential.
From the lonely girl abandoned on a desert planet, to the ex stormtrooper who was forced into a cold life...they all had the potential but ended underdeveloped sadly.

 

[Iceman]

This all rights itself pretty much and is a awesome story.
Thats what hurts the most, look on paper at all the new characters...they all have such incredible potential.
From the lonely girl abandoned on a desert planet, to the ex stormtrooper who was forced into a cold life...they all had the potential but ended underdeveloped sadly.

Yep. Also Oscar Isaac had real charisma in his small runtime in the first film and I thought they’d turn him into a great character. The 3 had a tonne of potential and much of it went unexplored.

 

[eon001]

Seems to be the thing this sequel trilogy had.
Finn and Rey, Kylo and Rey...there is a pattern there of weird fixation that is less romantic.

You could have gone so many ways with Finn after TFA...such a god damn shame that they wasted that.
There was so much more you could have done with his past as stormtrooper, with him being so involved in the resistance, the possibility of him being a jedi...and yeah you could have done a proper Finn/Rey romance with him being Reys anchor point or so...there was tons of potential...but hell thats the case for everything and every character in the sequel trilogy.

Finn being force-sensitive, an ex-storm trooper, and in moving relationships could all have been handled really well but they all ended up seeming like very underdeveloped afterthoughts.

You know they could have actually explained Finns random fixation with Rey by confirming he was force sensitive and the force drew them together. It would have been cheap, but I would have happliy gone along with it. Better than REEEYYYYYY!!!! every minute.