Quote Originally Posted by thwhtGuardian View Post
Finn and Rey do have fantastic chemistry...but I'd just put that down to the actors just having chemistry rather than Abrams as Poe fell completely flat in the Force Awakens which in turn made the focus on him in the second film a head scratcher. It's another case of telling rather than showing that these new films really struggle with, we're told again and again how big Poe is...but the scenes he has are terribly important or memorable so you're not given any real emotional tie to him that makes you care if he succeeds or not.
Reportedly, Finn and Rey's bond was decent but paled in comparison to Ridley and Boyega's natural interactions... So when Harrison Ford got hurt, Abrams used the oppurtunity to heavily retool and reshoot their scenes to specifically incorporate that natural chemistry. He also at some post brought Poe back into the film after he was originally killed off in the first few minutes because he saw how good Boyega and Isaac were clicking; that explains both why Poe was awkwardly placed as a supporting character in TFA... And why yet again, cast chemistry is a trump card for TFA that TLJ doesn't even come close to touching. Poe may only continue on in TFA because of the actors charisma and his chemistry with Boyega, but that's a lot better than the out-of-left-field obsession Rian Johnson had with promoting him just so he could try to deconstruct an Ace Pilot archetype that I'd argue Poe didn't fit, even as simple as he was in TFA.

...And I got to say, even if they first told us Poe was a great pilot, Abrams sure as hell showed us that, too. TFA may be a cover band version of ANH, but everything about Abrams filmography says that the cast chemistry and strong ensemble work is the result of his skills and awareness as a director and storyteller. And in comparing TFA and TLJ, there's no question: TFA contains far more showing than TLJ does, and far more competently. Rian Johnson usually brings a strong writing game, but in TLJ his craft suffered from an apathy towards the actual leads and a laziness in narrative convenience that was probably the result of being overworked.

Quote Originally Posted by ChrisIII View Post
There's rumors that Matt Smith might be playing a younger Palpatine (Perhaps revealing any possible relationship with Snoke?)

I'm not sure about that. Funny thing is, I think Sylvestor McCoy actually used to look a lot like Mcdiarmid (if you look at 80's photos of both, Ian without the Palpatine makeup of course).
Smith's facial construction could maybe mimic Palpatine Makeup, but doesn't really fit the Palaptine in the Prequels.