8 Problems Nobody Wants To Admit About Star Wars: The Force Awakens

5. Daisy Ridley Isn't A Great Actress

A lot of what I've been hearing either online, in the office or in various other circles is that Daisy Ridley was good, solid or otherwise great in the movie. There are some critics who might agree with me when I say that there has to be, somewhere on this planet, dozens of better actresses for a role this monumental. I found myself extremely aware of Ridley's cardboard-like line delivery, especially in the beginning of the movie on Jakku. There, she is consistently the only human voice in several conversations, like with BB-8; it sounds like she's got her script right there in her hands, or like she inherently doesn't believe she's talking to a real-life rolling, beeping droid. Later in the script, when she meets Han and Chewie aboard the Falcon, there's almost too much childish excitement in her voice and she begins over-acting. Don't get me wrong, her action beats are all fantastic and she pulls off the physical stuff really well; but I find simple dialogue and emotional scenes to be out of her reach. It might be a symptom of Ridley's accent being the only English one in a sea of American twangs; in those scenarios British accents tend to stick out like a sore thumb. You could argue that Alec Guiness' accent never felt out of place in A New Hope, but hey - he was a world-class thespian. For Rey, I think they should have gone with someone with a bit more experience, or someone who felt more comfortable with the material. But then again, there are a ton of people out there who legitimately think she did a good job - so in the end it all comes down to a matter of taste.