14% Of Star Wars Fans Think This Was The Best Sequel Trilogy Character - Do We Agree?
Yet another Death Star. Luke tossing away his lightsaber. Palpatine returning from the dead. Say what you want about the quality of the "Star Wars" sequels trilogy, it had plenty of controversial moments to get the geeks gnashing their teeth. Here in our galaxy, it was a time of white-hot takes and Twitter flame wars that made the action in the three movies look pretty friendly by comparison.
Even for more neutral viewers, it was a bit of a rollercoaster. "The Force Awakens" restored many people's faith in the "Star Wars" universe by basically remaking "A New Hope," the movie seemingly everyone loved. Then Rian Johnson really upset some hardcore fans with his flippant, bridge-burning "The Last Jedi," before J.J. Abrams returned to course-correct in Episode Nine, a messy conclusion that just about wheezed over the finishing line.
The trilogy was a patchy way to end the much-loved and overly-debated saga, but it didn't lack memorable characters as the old crew passed the torch to a new generation. Who was your favorite? We gave it a few years before posing that question to our readers because if the internet has taught us anything, it's that you should never cross a "Star Wars" aficionado when their blood is up. Here's what we found out...
The Poll Results Are In...
The results are as follows!
Poe is bottom with 7.37%, followed by Finn on 8.17%, then Snoke with 9.13%. A big jump to Han on 12.98%, Rey with 13.30% and Leia taking 13.78% of the vote. The top two are BB-8 with 14.10% and Kylo Ren running away with it on 21.15%.
Poe and Finn's poor show is surprising because their bromance had so much breezy energy in "The Force Awakens." Perhaps it's because they had increasingly little to do as the trilogy went on, without much character development. Oscar Isaac cuts a dashing figure as Poe, but there isn't much to him other than being a charming S.O.B. Meanwhile, Finn should have been more interesting, as a Stormtrooper who switches to the good guys. Since he was basically raised as a child soldier, he's remarkably well-adjusted. Shouldn't he have some serious demons?
There are two bad guys in the poll and Snoke came off worst, an underwhelming villain with some off-putting CGI. He looks grim, but he's the Diet Coke of evil next to Palpatine. He just looks like a dirty old man you might find sitting in the corner of a grotty pub — imagine him in a flat cap smoking a ciggie and tell me I'm wrong.
Then we get the first of the original characters. People just love Han Solo and Harrison Ford showed some of his old twinkle, but mostly he was phoning it in. At least he got into costume, unlike "Blade Runner 2049" when he just threw on slacks and an old t-shirt. It's little surprise that he finished in the bottom half, especially since his swan song was an anticlimactic swan dive off that bridge. I guess we wanted something more heroic from the old rogue.
The Top Four Sequel Trilogy Characters
Rey narrowly misses out on a medal position, but still picks up a good chunk of the vote. Virtual unknown Daisy Ridley brought something fresh and vital to the part and carried the dramatic stuff with conviction, equally engaging while chatting to a bleeping droid or throwing herself into some of the best lightsaber duels in the saga. What's not to like?
Some of Rey's most touching scenes are with Leia, so it's appropriate they poll so closely together. Carrie Fisher is the heart of the sequel trilogy, and her performance would have been poignant even if she hadn't died after filming her scenes for "The Last Jedi." Perhaps Johnson should have give her a better death in his film — getting blasted into space would have been a powerful and tragic way of bowing out, instead of surviving and flying around like a witch from "Hocus Pocus".
Fisher is terrific and it's a travesty that she's beaten by... a beachball with a droid head balanced on top. Yes, BB-8 is just there to replace R2-D2 and sell some merch, but he's pretty damn cute and gets about 70 per cent of the laughs in "The Force Awakens." No wonder R2-D2 looks so jealous.
Is it any surprise that Kylo Ren wins with a whopping 21 percent of the vote? Probably not – he's the tortured Darth Vader figure of the trilogy, who would probably win a similar vote for the original films. Adam Driver is fantastic whenever he's onscreen (let's forget that creepy shirtless Force-zoom call) and shares great chemistry with Ridley. He's a petulant emo wannabe-Vader, but Driver grows into the role even as the trilogy crackles and sputters like his crazy crossguard lightsaber. A worthy winner!