Official Finn Episode VIII thread

I won't mind at all if Finn shows greater skill. More than the knowledge and skill he already showed which gets dismissed because of a single scene. But judging Finn as a terrible character because he hasn't been action hero overlooks the importance he had throughout the film.

 

I think it had to do with the fact Rey didn't hug or show any type of emotion toward Finn until after Chewie told her it his idea to come to the rescue. Rey lost them after she attacked Finn and called him thief. I could her one of them mumble: "Who's she calling a thief...B!&@#!" It was all downhill after that!

 

Why do people continue to try to argue that people who have any critiques on how Finn was handled hate Finn? Wanting, or in this case hoping for better for a character does not equal hating said character. No one in this thread should be accused of that because we're all here discussing the character. It would be completely out of pocket for me to accuse anyone of hating Finn who like Finn just the way he is and don't think he needs any victories to be relevant and cool.
Now to address some if the points made.
I've seen someone say: "War does not make one great." I beg to differ on that. This series is called Star WARS for a reason. Pretty sure people doing great things in wars is the basic premise of this entire film series. Unless you want to argue that Luke , Han and Chewie got honored at the end of ANH simply for being brave. Or that the party at the end of RotJ meant nothing.
I've also seen someone say that bb8 not Finn provided most of the humor in TFA. That's patently false as most of the humor came from Finn and at his expense.

 

Wars not make one great. Just quoting Yoda man.

The reason people are responding to the criticisms of Finn as hate because they seem to hate him.

 

Who wants to be Frodo or Sam in the LOTR...I was old enough for Halloween to still be relevant at that time and I don't remember a single frodo or sam.

 

I remember plenty of Hobbits but you are simply highlighting the point that the reason people seem to object (apparently not hate)Finn is that he didn't have a higher body count.

I am a dad trust me I want my kids to have the courage of Sam or Finn more than I want them to have real Kung Fu.

 

He shouldn't be goofy but Obi Wan was funny in his own way and I think that could work for Finn.

 

So then you hate Rey or think she is bad character?

Because I don't see how courage and skill are mutually exclusive.

 

They aren't mutually exclusive I'm saying just one aspect is not the only measure if he is a great character or not.

 

Obi-Wan was a bit of a wise-ass.

Boyega is putting his spin on it.

 

Meh Star Wars still has Action Movie DNA so yeah Skill in fights is important.

if it wasnt important or LF and KK didnt think it was important Rey wouldnt be overloaded with every skill in the goddamn book.

 

Finn shows neither knowledge nor skill. Oh wait, I tell a lie, he knows that stormtrooper helmets don't filter out airborne poisons for some reason that never actually matters. He also knows that SKB has a weakness that the Resistance could've easily figured out since they already had the plans.

 

Yeah he has insider knowledge that anyone could have.

Which isn't the same as being engineer or something.

 

This. I would have no qualms with Finn being so raw in skill if BTA didn't exist which told us he was in the top 1 percent and at least on par with the stormtrooper that fought him with the riot baton. But even if we ignore that he was still shown to be at least good enough to be out in the field as he was a part of the mission on Jakku. Besides Finn himself said he was raised, not trained, but raised to do one thing. Which means he was trained pretty much his whole life. Now I don't agree with all the people that think he was some random janitor that was handed a blaster and sent out into the field, but I can't say I don't see where they're coming from. To me he kind of looked a guy that had some basic combat training that was sent out into the field. Hardly did he look like a soldier that had been trained his whole life.
How does this relate to TLJ?
I worry that they won't have a big enough time gap to where he can significantly and realistically improve his skills. Especially considering the fact that he was left in a coma. If they do have him improve it might look a little too drastic and unrealistic for the general audience. This is one of the many reasons that people including myself wanted force-sensitive Finn. So he could rapidly improve to where people don't think it's unrealistic. It could just be chalked up to force use. Remember there are only two more movies left for Finn to kick butt in and I'm not interested in waiting another two years until the last movie in the trilogy to see it.

 

I'll agree that the lack of combat efficiency does tend to overshadow how Finn's actions drive the movie. But I think it happens because the former did not have to be sacrificed for the latter. But yes, those of us who were initially critical of Finn's arc have focused much our attention on the combat efficiency. For the record I have actually talked about his character attributes beyond being soldier as a net positive, but it was many posts ago (and probably in the TFA room buried in the Finn thread)

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 26, 2017, Original Post Date: Apr 26, 2017 ---

I agree. Actually many of the Jedi exhibited levity at times, Qui Gon, Yoda, Obi Wan, Anakin... I don't think any character needs to be stoic and completely devoid of humor.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 26, 2017 ---

Wholeheartedly agree with all of this

 

Saying he showed no skill is just plain wrong, we see in the movie that he is an expert marksman. On Takodana before getting the saber he is shown shooting Trooper with precision, in the deleted speeder chase scene is is again shown shooting accurately, as well as with the Tie Fighter cannons (perhaps due to force abilities but even still). Regardless to if he is a force user he was able to fight with a saber with some proficiency. The thing about the trooper helmets was relevant because they were planning on releasing poison into the Falcon's air supply which would have incapacitated the trooper despite their helmets. In addition to all of this we can assume he has some level of survival skills since he was able to survive in the deserts of Jakku.

 

Good point, being raised to do one thing doesn't sound like very "everyman" to me!

The only time I saw anything that could be interpreted as "panic" by Finn on a battlefield was when he seemed like he was suffering an anxiety attack early on. I wrote this off as him wrestling to reconcile his orders with his conscience as he seems very calm and handles himself like a born and raised soldier in every other battlefield situation (bar maybe him turning his backon the enemy to tend to Rey on SKB).

I too would liked to have seen "TR-8R" replaced with Phasma but don't get the big deal with Finn being whipped by a stormtrooper. They all have different strengths and skill sets and the so-called "Stormtrooper Effect" doesn't really stack up with the evidence.

Rey does say she's flown plenty of ships but never off world before. FWIW I think the Falcon's speed relates more to it's navigational computer/modifications than in-flight handling anyways.

 

I think the skill lack of skill has been covered those disappointed Finn was not uber are unmoved by, his learning 2 separate targeting systems on the fly. He rarely missed. He came up with a plan to escape from the 1st Order which worked, thought of the plan to use the gas against the troopers.

 

He is shooting was good but again a character can be good but the skill has to be emphasized and his shooting really wasn't.

No one was gushing about his skills like they were about Rey or Poe. In Movie or in the audience.

Emphasis would be trick shots or accurate shots from insane distances or rapid fire close range shooting.
Basically pick any action movie gun or bow badass.

He did none of that.

The one scene where he was exceptional and clearly emphasized as better was cut.