“Really, he acts nothing like an ex-stormtrooper.”
But ok.
Don’t worry, I’m going to quote only what we said about Finn and his character development, so you can read and understand our discussion:
[…] I know this is very unpopular, but I think Finn’s role in the movie feels, unfortunately, expandable. If you look at what he does in TFA, the only two things which move the plot forward are saving Poe (another hit-and-miss character, especially since he wasn’t originally supposed to come back in the third part of the movie) and helping Han find the panel to lower Starkiller’s shields. That’s it. The writers even struggled to make him relevant in the final duel, making Ben use the force to make Rey unconscious (he doesn’t do it anymore later) so Finn could fight him alone.
They could’ve switched him with another character and it still wouldn’t have really affected the plot, which I think is unfortunate: being a former stormtrooper, he could’ve been the best character in the movie, especially if they fleshed out more his internal conflicts. As he is now in TFA, he could’ve died and it would’ve still been alright, bacause he feels expendable (to me, at least).The problem with Finn is that he’s really just a former stormtrooper-ino (in name only). Really, he acts nothing like an ex-stormtrooper. He’s just some dude (just a likeable goof who bumbles his way through the film). Which is indeed unfortunate because a former stormtrooper as a character has a lot of potential for exploration and development. But Finn’s lack of depth really is just a symptom of the bigger problem. […]
So true. I know other people are ok with all of this, but I definitely think TFA could’ve used more character development. […]