Ron Weasley = Han Solo?

Everyone knows how Star Wars treated its Stars… it’s become textbook, the vicious cycle of epic movies. The lead character (Skywalker) sacrifices their career for the cause. One supporting character (Leia) goes on to do other small parts, but never again rises to fame. And one supporting character (Han) breaks out into super-stardom, and gets his/her own fedora.

Daniel Radcliffe is Luke Skywalker for sure, that’s a gimme. He’s destined to do a cartoon voiceover or two after Harry Potter, but not much more. Truthfully, at this point I’m not even sure if he’s a bad actor or not… my expectations for his performance were so lowered by the third movie that I now congratulate him whenever his voice changes pitch. But no doubt, when people see him on the screen, they’ll think “Potter”. Don’t cry for him though, it’s allright, he’s going to make a trajillion dollars on Movie Seven and live on a pile of gold for the rest of his life, occasionally climbing down to do some experimental theater.

Hermione was amazing as a child actress, maybe the only good thing about the first two movies, but the teens weren’t kind to her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s stunning. But in movies three and four, she fell victim to the worst adolescent habit, the Eyebrow school of acting. Whenever she had a potentially good scene, she’d send it north to her eyebrows, and they’d do an interpretive dance while the rest of her face went on a coffee break. She’s gotten better now, and I think she’ll go on to do other good things. Sort of like Carrie Fisher did. Or Billie Dee Williams. Hmm, let’s hope she does better.

But really, we all know that Ron is the show stealer. If there is a Han in this bunch, it’s him. The dude makes it work. He carries you through the dull February months of the Hogwarts semester. I don’t know what it is, but the dude is truly watchable. He doesn’t have the Ford swagger (who does?), but here’s the litmus test: would he have improved Transformers 2 if he had been the lead? Even without having seen it, I can give an unequivocal “yes”.

Of course none of these kids hold a candle to Alan Rickman. But what can you do.

That’s about all you need to know about Harry Potter Six. Go see it, if you’re a reader. Hogwarts looks pretty.