10 Great Sci-Fi Villains Trapped In Terrible Movies

Filling the boots of cinema’s most iconic villain of all time for the third Star Wars trilogy was always going to be a monolithic task. But in a stroke of genius, they made this impossibility the crux of Kylo Ren’s character. Insecure and consumed by the frustration of living up to his grandfather, his fragility was refreshing. It’s a shame that was about the only original idea present upon the introduction of the latest Star Wars trilogy.

What then followed was a narrative tug of war between directors J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson, which swung the saga back and forth in a dizzyingly incoherent way. Between Abrams’ nostalgia pandering through rehashed narratives and Johnson making wild decisions bafflingly uncharacteristic of the Star Wars franchise for edginess’ sake, the saga crumbled. Hence, it is pretty much agreed that the latest Star Wars trilogy was a bit of train-wreck - and the jumbled, inconsistent story lead to a plethora of half-baked main characters.

It can be painful at times watching the unquestionably talented cast try to inject a good performance into each film, but no amount of acting talent could have bandaged the wound that the mish-mashed story left. Kylo Ren is the only character who, despite a ham-fisted kiss at the end, was able to leave the final episode with a satisfying end to his arc, and his struggle to find a place between the light and dark side of the force was the most compelling part of the trilogy.