Star Wars: 20 Worst Franchise Moments (So Far)
19. Forrest Whitaker's Terrible Performance
Film: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One is an excellent movie, but it's safe to say there are major issues with some of the characters. This is something even the film's fans would probably agree with, but luckily, for the most part, they're well played... aside from one major exception. Oddly enough, that exception is the film's most well-known actor.
Forrest Whitaker is a marvelous actor, but every great actor has their off days and sadly this was one of his. His performance as Saw Gerrera, a rebel extremist with echoes of Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, is not great, to put it mildly.
Whitaker's weird, wide-eyed and painfully irritating performance lacks even the slightest bit of depth and ventures dangerously close to unintentional hilarity. Worst of all his accent is utterly appalling. It would be fair enough to assume that the oxygen mask Gerrera is constantly using contains helium instead of oxygen given how irritatingly high-pitched his voice is. His death in the blast from the Death Star actually feels like a relief.
On the whole, a tragic waste of a great talent.