While Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) have made starkly different contributions to Star Wars, some similarities can be drawn concerning the characters’ epic transformations.
While Rey discovers herself as a Jedi who undergoes training by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the sequels, a young Anakin is dragged into becoming a skilled Jedi – who after succumbing to Palpatin’s manipulations – transforms into the vicious Sith Lord, Darth Vader.
Despite the similarities, there is a huge difference in the way they’ve been received by the fans. Anakin’s transition into Darth Vader as shown in Revenge of the Sith is deemed one of the most iconic moments in cinema, around which loads of discussions and theories revolve even today.
While some perceive Vader as a bona fide villain and find it almost impossible to pardon Anakin for embracing the Dark Side, others justified the event as an act of love on the young Jedi’s part.
Unfortunately, a similar level of attention has not been meted out to Ridley’s character. The bitter criticisms hurled at the last three movies directly impacted the audience’s perception about the protagonist, whose status makes her a significant part of the lousy script.
Some are of the opinion that, unlike Anakin, Rey’s transition lacks the required depth, making the revelation of her being a Jedi forgettable and less appealing. There are others who rushed to Ridley’s defending her as a talented actor who was unlucky to become a part of a bad script, as stated by Redditor u/BowTie1989.
“She got a lot of hate while her trilogy was in progress, and then people start to realize that she was actually really good in terms of acting, just saddled with incompetent writers and directors that slaughtered her character. It’s great to see Hayden embraced by the fan base these days. Looks like that’s already happening with Daisy as well. Guess it’s like Lucas said “it’s like poetry, it rhymes.”
The post is of course met with customary agreements and disagreements. Another user, ookiespookie who views Ridley as a fine actor.
“Daisy did not get any hate for her acting. It was the character and the writing.
Hayden , it really does not matter if you love him or do not love him was not great in his delivery of many lines.
Hindsight is an amazing thing, people tend to want to be “nice” these days but back in the day, when we were watching the movies in the theater it was what it was and it was a solid fact for many many years until the nostalgia goggles kicked in. Even Jar Jar, his delivery and his acting was fantastic, but the writing was….what it was.”
Whether you agree or not, both Ridley and Christensen had and will continue to retain their significant position in the saga.