mephistodesigns
Hate has made me powerful
The whole time watching him all I could think was this is the Anakin I had always pictured. I'd done drawings of what I always thought he should look like and Hayden is perfect. But its not just the look, I think the way he carries himself and the way he always looks contemplative. I think he would appear much better if friggin' Natalie Portman could remember how to act. I read an interview with her in Rolling Stone right b4 II came out and she's totally not even gonna stay in show biz. She wants to be a psychologist or something. She'd never seen a Star Wars movie. EVER! That alone should disqualify one from being in the prequels. But I think Hayden shows the conflicted side of Anakin perfectly. Jeez, the scene in the Lars place, the room where Luke cleans the droids is ANH, that scene makes my arm hairs stand on end. The crazed look in his eyes when he says "and not just the men, but the women, and the children. They're animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM!" I was like, 'that's Vader'. Its not so much him in the love or action scenes that make him good. Its the look when he's not doing anything. Thats when he looks like hes deep in thought, like he's contemplating his own inner turmoil. Anakin has a need as a character to always appear perfect due to his insecurities from years of slavery, he's making up for being in a weakened state growing up. That's why his acting appears stiff if you don't understand the character. Anakin should be stiff. He's trying to appear rigid and alert, strong and imobile, like he's cold as ice and no one can get to him. If no one can get to him, no one can hurt him. I really like the look on his face just as his mother has died and he looks up from her body with pure hellfire in his eyes. Same with the look when he brings her body back to the farm. That's the kind of stuff I expect to see in III. I think he'll focus more on that attitude to show how Anakin's inner rage has only grown as a result of the war and his defeat at Dooku's hand. He doesn't take defeat well. Anakin is a complex character to play and I don't think its easy to come into a movie with established characters, not only in the OT but in EpI as well, have limited acting direction from Lucas (I've heard he tends to focus more on how you should wield your lightsaber than how to say a line), and take into account all of his personality traits. I think he did a very good job, especially when these factors are examined.