The Star Wars movies seem to be curse that some of the main casts become typecast or never are able to achieve the same success. Granted Harrison Ford got a nice boost by being cast in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But Mark Hamill had a boosting career in the late 1970s and early 1980s before Return of the Jedi would lead to a six-year break in movies before having to appear in low-budget movies through the late 1980s and 1990s. He did have bigger success on TV famously voicing The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series.
And a lot of Carrie Fisher’s issues during the 1980s were the result of her substance abuse. I mean it’s reported that during the production of The Blues Brothers, John Belushi of all people told her she needed to calm down. That’s like Leonardo DiCaprio criticizing Bill Belicheck for dating a woman who is 24.
As for the prequel movies, Ahmed Best, Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd suffered criticism for no other reason than the poor writing of their characters and the direction of George Lucas. I mean Jar Jar Binks was a badly written and developed character. Best got so depressed he considered suicide and Lloyd was bullied and harassed at school he gave up acting. He’s suffered from mental health issues and legal issues for years.
Christensen was criticized but managed to appear in some big name movies and like Best (who appeared as a Jedi in The Mandalorian) got some redemption by appearing in the shows Obi-Won Kenobi and Ahsoka as Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. Daisy Ridley was just 22 when she was cast as Rey in The Force Awakens. And while she is very beautiful and shows talent, a lot of his roles have been less than stellar. Yes, she was in the star-studded modern adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express but that’s just because she had become popular following The Force Awakens.
There was the horrible Chaos Walking which is more known for the production issues and reshoots over years before it was thrown into theaters March 2021 where it bombed. Then, there was The Marsh King’s Daughter which was a bad idea but an attempt by Ridley to break free in more adult serious roles.
That leads us to Magpie where Ridley in her early 30s plays Annette, who has two young children and a horrible husband, Ben (Shazad Latif), who is a writer but a deadbeat father. He becomes tabloid fodder when he’s spotted with a popular actress, Alicia (Matilda Lutz), when their daughter, Matilda (Hiba Ahmed), is cast in a series with her. So, happy with this in his life, Ben starts sexting with Alicia.
Both Ridley and her husband, Tom Bateman, are listed as writers. It’s an interesting premise but it’s just based on the twist at the end which most people can see coming. There’s nothing to keep our interest. At 90 minutes with credits, it could very easily be slashed in half and still be effective without feeling too drawn out. Ridley does show promise as she takes on more serious roles as she leaves the Star Wars saga behind her.
I do feel she is capable of getting better roles. Magpie did receive good reviews but I didn’t find it all that great.
But while Ridley has become the subject of fanboy fantasy, Kelly Marie Tran endured so much criticism as Rose Tico for no other reason than she is of Vietnamese ancestry. You’d think all these SW fans would’ve figured by now that the good guys are the inclusive kind. But hey, conservative right-wingers have been listening to Rage Against the Machine without a clue for decades.
What sucks is how Rose seemed to be a major character in The Last Jedi and she was reduced to a minor character who basically stood in the background. I’m not sure why Abrams likes Keri Russell so much, but he ought to just fucking marry her and go full Rob Zombie. It sucks that Tran endured so much misogyny, sexism and racism it pales in comparison to what John Boyega endured.
Her current movie, The Wedding Banquet, is getting rave reviews. However, her previous movie, Control Freak, was distributed on Hulu which is becoming the hub for horrible horror movies Jason Blum won’t even produce. Written and directed by Shal Ngo, Tran plays a motivational speaker who is having marital problems with her husband, Robbie (Miles Robbins). She’s been taking birth control pills while he wants to have a kid.
There’s something about a parasitic ghost that feeds on people. It feels long and drawn out at about an hour and 45 minutes. Like Magpie, it could’ve been sliced in half and still told the same story. Much of the movie is filmed in dark lighting and dark rooms, you never know what’s happening. But you realize it really has something to do with interracial married couples and the traditional expectations of Eastern cultures in a modern society. Or something like that.
Like Night Bitch, it sets up what people think will be a groovy body horror movie and ends up being a drag. I actually had to stop watching this because I was so bored and returned to it later after a few days because I had no interest. And that was the same I did with Magpie.
Yet, I do feel both Ridley and Tran will bounce back. It’s just a shame most male actors can make crap over and over again and still stay popular, while a woman actress has one hiccup and they have to claw their way back to the top.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 