2. Obi-Wan Kenobi
Someone needs to give Ewan McGregor a medal. Despite the haphazard direction and problematic dialogue, McGregor seemed to be the only one who was able to give a consistently good performance in each of the prequel movies. He has moments of utter shock, serious grief, and witty levity, and he delivers every time (with the exceptions of a few dialogue lines that nobody could have saved). Another testament to McGregor’s talent is that Obi-Wan is the character that has the most visible growth throughout the three films. He starts off young, eager, and brash in “The Phantom Menace,” then he tries desperately to be stern and authoritative toward Anakin in “Attack of the Clones,” and lastly we see him in “Revenge of the Sith,” where he is wisened and weary from war.
And Obi-Wan is an absolute badass. The man is central to pretty much all of the greatest action sequences throughout the prequel trilogy. He goes from the brink of death to chop up Darth Maul, the Sith who just slayed Obi-Wan’s master. Obi-Wan takes on Jango Fett in torrential downpour while the bounty hunter has access to his ship and all of his weaponry. He takes on General Grievous, the infamous Jedi-killer, and makes it look easy. Finally, he clashes with his friend, and the strongest Force user in the entire “Star Wars” universe, Anakin. And it’s not like he’s enormously powerful like Anakin the Chosen One or the master of Jedi like Yoda, so the stakes are higher in all of his battles, thus they are way more exciting. He pulls through based on skill and determination alone.
In many ways, Obi-Wan is the protagonist in a series of movies that for whatever reason don’t want to treat him like it. He has the most exciting moments, he has the most growth, and it’s his actions that set up the events of the original trilogy. And for all that, he should be remembered with nothing but fondness.
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