The Force Awakens Fight Is Bad But...Brilliant? Here’s Why. (Star Wars Fight Analysis)
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- The main lightsaber fight between Finn, Rey and Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is...kinda weird? But also...pretty brilliant in terms of demonstrating character and backstory. Let's talk about why.
#starwars #stagecombat #theforceawakens #lightsaberfighting
I'd argue that showing a novice realistically behave like a novice - even better, realistically looking like they're fighting with a different weapon that they'd have far more experience using - is actually more realistic than if Rey and Fin were fighting like expert swordsmen
People's problem is with Kylo's apparent ineptitude, not with Rey and Fin's.
@@rodrikforrester6989 He had just been shot with a bowcaster, which we had seen launch people 30 or so feet a few times in the movie previously. Hell, it's actually kind of unrealistic that Kylo is even still standing at all after that.
@@itsaUSBline He has pretty good plot armour, he took a lightsaber to the face, and instead of it cutting open his skull, he got a dainty cut that he was able to heal from using a metallic bandaid.
@@itsaUSBline Its consistent with what's been established in the magic system. This is the same cannon where Maul willed himself to not die after getting cut in half by focusing on his pain and anger, things dark sider users draw power from.
I always found it ridiculous how well Finn and Rey were handling the light saber without any training. Learning now that their fighting styles, and mistakes, are consistent with their character's backstory is - brilliant!
The "hero stance" does resemble kendo's hassō. I wonder if it's partly derived from the "Jedi are space wizard samurai" aesthetic.
My first impression from watching the movie was that Finn fought like he was trying to have a lightsaber fight - swinging it around, blocking and parrying. Rey picks it up and fights like she's trying to kill Kylo Ren by stabbing him vigorously in his face. The analysis where they're falling back on their habitual fighting styles with different, incompatible weapons makes a lot of sense - but emotionally I still feel like there's an element of Finn trying to play the role of the hero, while Rey's just trying to get the job done.
Finn: I'mma Be The Hero. I got this. Beat the bad guy. Escape. Do the thing. Got this.
Rey: I'mma STAB YOU IN THE FACE.
Well, Lucas WAS inspired by Akira Kurosawa...
IIRC, there's actually quite a lot of Kendo in lightsaber fighting styles and that the weapons are very much intended to be more reminiscent of katanas than european longswords.
@@JillBearup actually there are 7 form for lightsaber fighting in the Lore...
There's also a good number of medieval and renaissance manuscripts showing more or less that exact guard used with the longsword, often enough as the first guard position taught in a number of the fechtbuchs (one way of doing Vom Tag). That particular variation might not have the blade drawn back as far as, say, Fiore's Posta di Donna, but it puts you in a good place to launch quick parries or snap cuts to the upper openings (say, the opponent's hands or head). Given that quickness is often more important than power in a swordfight (and that the cuts powered not only by the arms but also the hips), it's hardly 'not a useful stance'.
Ben learned his lightsaber skills from Luke "literally holds and swings his sword like a baseball bat" Skywalker, so who knows how much actual sword technique he's ever learned...
Point 😆
Never thought of that before, but yeah. XD
Well we’ve only seen young Luke using a lightsaber so who knows how good he actually got. I’m sure it’s shown in the comics but I’ve not read them at all.
@@dubbingsync He may have gotten really good at lightsaber combat, but that doesn't mean ever actually learned the proper lightsaber forms. Not really sure there was really anyone around to fully teach him so he likely would have had to lean on developing his own over time while attempting to mix in when he could learn from ancient scavenged texts.
Traitor!
I assumed he didn’t guard at all mostly because he considers them small fry and not worth seriously guarding against; Rey and FN2187 are nothing near a threat in their sparing match in Ben’s opinion.
An excellent point.
As someone who has fenced for like 9 years, I can confirm beginners freak out when you relax and lower your weapon. It's a horrible stance for fighting, but it's pretty effective for mind games (at least until they realise it's horrible for fighting), which is a significant part of the sport.
@@caboose202ful I always figure it was on purpose for this exact reason, kind of like Goku's fight stance in the orignal dragon ball: Arms open about 30 degrees, going directly down. Who the hell would fight like that? Someone who can beat your A, that's who
I think @Jill Bearup is totally right from the perspective of what the filmmakers are trying to tell you about Kylo Ren in this scene, though. Movies with Mikey has a bit where he explains that Kylo is a full on sadomasochist and the film uses the language of film to teach us this. He needs the pain to be effective, to derive his strength. The first time we see a normal someone get shot by Chewie's bowcaster, they are flung back like 30 feet. The force of being hit by Chewie's weapon is insane, it is a one-hit-kill weapon. Chewie is firing a shoulder-mounted ballista in a lot of ways, which, given his size and strength, makes some sense. And Chewie as a siege weapon is a wonderful notion.
So when Kylo gets hit by this weapon *near his center of gravity*, what do we see? Intense and agonizing pain that would disable a normal person and in fact has done an awful lot to ruin Kylo's day physically, but it provides him with a constant reminder of the pain he has had to cause an go through to get here. He murdered his father for this sword. He's killed millions for this sword. He's burned whole star systems *for this sword*, and now these two are gonna stand between him and his destiny? It's such a wonderful reminder that pain is what fuels this dude. In other words, "Hurt people hurt people."
His lightsaber being down also shrouds him in darkness creating excellent juxtaposition to the protagonists whose faces are lit up by their lightsabers.
This is a Star Wars take I hadn’t heard. And was quite entertaining and enlightening.
@Victor Kurske Interestingly enough, that does describe the original trilogy where the heroes tend to make mistakes as well.
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Hey look it's Pam! I've found some great games through your channel!
And just noticed that this comment is a year old. . .
Leaving a comment to increase engagement rates from RUclips's perspective.
I like your style 😁
@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm ILU guys
I bought and installed a Ryzen 5 3600 in my PC, and now it really goes!
I am intrigued by your wide stance.
Well hey, what a good idea!
Hi! Ola the fight coordinator here! So glad someone is talking about the use of story-telling in these scenes! I've just about had it up to my eyeballs with hot-takes about how unrealistic sword-fights in movies are.
("Realistic" is not a very helpful term for choreographers)
Here's a detail in The Last Jedi that I really appreciate that often goes overlooked, and this seems like the forum to talk about it:
There's a scene where Rey practices with Luke's lightsaber, and she's swinging it at that rock. Luke looks on from afar, and it's a kind of... "Hero explores her power" kinda moment.
The strikes Rey throws at the rock, are move for move the same as Kylo Ren throws at Luke during their showdown. Exact same choreography.
Because there's a connection between them!! *Waves hands all spooky-like
“Realistic is not a very helpful term for choreographers” is definitely my quote of the day 😁
OK that TLJ choreography bit is definitely going in the next video, which is about The Last Jedi and already six pages long and oops, I have a lot of opinions. Ahem.
Also, welcome!
Shoot I just remembered that did not go in there. Huh. NEXT TIME!
Hehehe! Just got an excuse to talk about star wars some more ;)
Have you checked out Adorea's videos, and their blend of realism and action?
Also, have you seen the sword fight in Rashomon, as told from the perspective of the dead samurai?
@@melskroon are you asking me or Jill? 😅
Nobody's mentioned the fact that there is one other character in the entire _Star Wars_ franchise who does exactly the same weird shoulder-charge move with his lightsabre that Rey does:
her grandfather.
I feel like that brain expandy GIF would be appropriate at this point.
Just from the comments section of this video I already have three more video ideas...
But that raises the humorous implication that there was anything resembling an overarching plan.
omg you're right
This feels like it fits Abrams' storytelling style. He's great at moments and clues, but sucks at overview and continuity or wrapping it up. Does he even know what he's hinting at half the time?
That's true, but doesn't make sense (god, TROS is badly written lol)
Yes! This is the most unpretentious swordplay analysis video on RUclips. Perfectly nerdy without being condescending :D Love it
Honestly, I think the character driven fighting IS realistic. The characters fight the way they do because of who they are and what they’ve experienced up to this point.
If things aren’t in character, they’re not realistic
There’s a huge disconnect between stage fighting that looks great on film, and actual sword techniques that work in real life. A brilliant stage fighter looks terrific in action, but in a fight against a trained combatant, their techniques would typically lead to being swiftly disarmed and/or incapacitated - especially if they employed flashy choreography staples like twirling in a circle, switching hands with their weapon, or heaving their sword back like a lumberjack about to attack a log.
Lightsabre fights are especially rooted in fantasy, but those duels in ‘The Force Awakens’ actually employ a handful of techniques that hold up in reality: The “hero pose” is a good example. It resembles a very common, and effective, longsword ward. In German longsword especially, there’s no such thing as “an attack” and “a parry” most of the time. Attacking and parrying are the same motion, achieved by transitioning from one ward to another. Your own sword becomes a threat to your opponent, while blocking off a particular line of attack, and ending in another ward. The “hero pose” is well-poised to counter a wide variety of incoming strikes, while launching effective attacks of its own.
An attacker’s sword should begin moving *before* they’re within range of their target, so there’s no need to stand with your sword held out at arm’s length, pointing directly at your opponent the whole time. That just allows your opponent to attack and bind your blade, gaining control of your weapon, without putting themselves in harm’s way. The ‘Tower Manuscript’, a 14th century sword-and-buckler manual, includes lengthy explanations on how to easily overpower an “ordinary fencer” - a common fighter with no real training - who instinctively holds their weapon in front of them like that. Some of this starts to change as you move forward in time and the rapier, then the sabre, become more prevalent, but a lot of the core principles remain the same, and the various stances are designed not to allow your opponent to gain an advantage that can’t be countered.
As a bit of background, I spent several years training in range of single-handed sword and longsword systems from 14th to 17th century Europe. You almost never see realistic western sword techniques in film - but then again, most unarmed martial arts have the same issue when comparing their on-screen and real-life use. But weapons or no, a well-choreographed fight scene can look can look rad as all heck regardless of how “realistic” it might be :-) It's just another part of the visual language of cinema, and as you note here, it can even be used to help build character and show motivation.
Fascinating. I haven't studied longsword in any great detail, so none of the stances I was taught look anything like the hero stance. I'm glad there is one though :)
Also, you get a heart for the phrase "heaving their sword back like a lumberjack about to attack a log." which genuinely made me laugh out loud XD
You must be pretty long lived to consider training from 14th to 17th century to only be "several years. " ;) What are you, a vampire?
The hero stance that Finn and Rey are taking is kind of similar to an interpretation of a longsword guard, namely the "roof guard", but most of the time (with longswords) I have seen it even closer to the face and also a bit higher (the hilt is on face level). Another interpretations of this guard (sometimes called "high guard") is to hold the sword more or less directly over your head. In both ways the blade is more or less vertical or slightly tillted back, so you don't telegraph as much, when you make a move (at least from what I've seen while longsword training).
But all of this is still based on interpretation (and my vague knowlage of longsword fighting).
Sorry if my english isn't great, but I hope it's still understandable.
Shakespeare in Love, one of my favorite bad movies, has a wonderful scene that elaborates on just this point in the most meta of ways. Thugs come and attack the stage actors who defend themselves with prop swords and are humiliated. But the thugs IRL are actually actors acting like real fighters fighting stage fighters. Is it good? I don't remember. But it plays well in my mind.
I love this fight. It's dangerous! This are 2 people (Rey and Finn) using an unfamiliar weapon.
I love how the sabers reflect on the snow, it's beautiful
Reminds me of Shad (of Shadiversity) having fits over how poorly these characters are stanced and fighting- Jill Bearup comes in saying 'that's the point'
Yeah, I was also thinking of Shad. I always felt he was being a bit too hard with the sequel trilogy fights
Shad....ever since his Disney Prince ranking video was like 50% misogyny, I haven't been able to watch his videos. And it double sucks because I agreed with most of his points in between all the needless butthurtery. Doesn't really surprise me to learn that he was having fits over accuracy without considering storytelling. I don't know why those two things are linked in my mind, but hey...it is what it is
@@charlieparker5346 Yes how dares he talk about the princes and not gush about the perfect beings that all women are, what a complete misogynistic pig, cancel Shadiversity now.
@@persath Praising the princes and talking about what good boys they are is one of the points I agreed with, actually. He really didn't need to talk about the Princesses at all except where it was relevant to the discussion of the men. But some people can't seem to praise men without putting women down. I don't need him to sing their praises, just raise his issue with the men not being praised too and then...do that. They're all very good boys and deserve it.
Did Shad ever make a video on the Force Awakens fight? Because I don't think he did and I think this is all bullshit.
I always felt Ren wasn't given enough respect as a character, especially in this fight. He's almost pure aggression and arrogance in this fight. His focus is completely forced. He just murdered his father, was shot in the gut by his uncle, his base is imploding, he's bleeding heavily after tanking a shot from a weapon that is canonically shown throwing people being thrown around by direct hits, and he finds out he's not actually alone as a Force user besides his new master.
I’ve been arguing these exact points for years with people whenever they want to argue about how poor this fight scene is or whine about how a trained combatant shouldn’t lose to an untrained novice. 1. Kylo destroys Finn handily with little effort. 2. Kylo is clearly in extreme pain, both physically from the shot he took from Chewbacca and mentally from killing his father, and not fighting at his full potential. 3. Neither Finn or Rey are “untrained” combatants. Unfamiliar with the weapon they’re using, yes, but both know how to fight physically (Finn from his storm trooper training and Rey from surviving on the streets).
Anyway... I’m loving your analysis (analysis’? Plural of analysis is... uh...) of movie fights and choreography. I’m so glad Cinemawins mentioned your channel, I’m really enjoying your content.
I believe the plural is 'analyses'. Welcome!
@@JillBearup Anyway, he could move saber and use the Forse. Injured basketbolist can defeat healthy noob. Even if he couln't fight (he could), he can shock, palalyse, unconscious, throw people, read their mind. And pain actually make dark side users stronger, he even hit himself to wound to get more pain...That two had no chances.
And no, training with stuff (she actually use it horribly) won't help.
Staff: ======= can hold, can hit in every place. Has weight. Stops after done punch.
Lightsaber: =------- can hold in one end, can hit by other part. No weight. Cut everything without stopping.
Translate first to second...
people should really complain about the abbysmal throne room fight scene
@GiRayne
No.
Luke has three skills; he can fix things, he can fly things and he can shoot good. These are all established early and make sense (farm boy).
And they let him, in a force assisted timing moment, let him shoot the money shot at the end of the film.
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Rey (quite aside from the fact that she shouldn't beat the main antagonist in the first damn film of a trilogy) doesn't have any applicable skills that can be brought to bear in the fight.
Skills from quarterstaff to hand-and-a-half "sword" are non-transferable and she had no lightsabre training (Luke did).
She has no force training, Luke did.
Her force focus doesn't give her a NOW moment after which she is then relying on her own skills. It magically grants her skills and lets her beat him.
It's the difference between having a 1 second window to land a basket and having a one second window to land a basket whilst also being transformed into Michael Jordan. It was dumb.
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But the main problem is that you shouldn't beat the main antagonist/rival in the first film of a trilogy. Super stupid.
They did the same thing in the latest Terminator film but even worse. The antagonist terminator got the absolute shit kicked out of it three or four times in the bloody trailers! So unbelievably dumb. Why am I scared of it or worried about it? In the same vein; why, in the following Star Wars films, am I worried about Kylo? Answer; I'm not so, there's no tension.
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The good points about this fight are fine if you take the fight out of the film but, put it back in and it doesn't work because it doesn't fit.
@@benwhiley9680 The movie works as a stand alone if someone was vaguely familiar with Star War the problem is Star War established rules and the fans generally knew them and it was jarring to the fans who knew the rules.
Had Rey lost and been saved by Chewbacca blasting a shot from the Falcon which separates them the movie works.
In the throne room if Rey joins Kylo to both be grey Jedi the movie works and sets up an incredible finale
but the insistence that Rey (and Finn for that matter) be characters with completed arcs in the 1st movie ruins the trilogy
Great analysis. Very interesting perspective you’ve brought to what the fight sequences say about the characters. I also like the way the red and blue lightsabers cast a purple light onto Rey and Kylo. Purple (besides being just what Samuel L Jackson wanted) indicate someone balanced in the force. It foreshadows their dyad in the force- two halves perfectly balanced
Oh, nice, I like it!
I like this analysis so much! Others have said this already but I want to point out that "good sword technique" and "realistic" are really not the same thing, because, as you say, taking into account characters' actual abilities, current physical health, and state of mind contribute to the realism or not of a fight. Good technique would be LESS realistic in this case, on all their parts.
I absolutely *loved* Rey's fighting in this scene.
I do LARP combat and battlegame stuff, and I've taught (and fought) newbies for whom it's literally their first time picking up a sword, and Rey fights *exactly* like someone who has never picked up a sword before, and it's utterly perfect to see.
I wish I got the chance to talk with you before my analysis! This was amazing work. Well done.
There’s always next time 😁
Thank you for sharing this with us, Nick!
I feel it's also important to remember that the "blade" of a lightsaber is weightless.
If you hold the hilt in two hands, the center of weight is between them.
Momentum is not usually a part of lightsaber combat.
Which seems reasonable, even if the original trilogy fights very much don’t make it look that way.
I mean, Obi Wan vs Vader in A New Hope makes it look like lightsabers (and their blades?) weigh a ton. And presumably not just because they’re both relatively less mobile than the fit young things they used to be 😁
Completely coincidentally, that might also make a good video, thank you!
@@JillBearup the handles were originally supposed to be very heavy. But I cannot believe a beam of plasma has any significant weight.
But in the defense of your argument here: no combat system ever needs spin attacks, but they look awesome.
I always thought you had to exert force to control the blade, despite its weightlessness. Maybe that's just my headcanon.
From what I understand, canon is very inconsistent about this. The Original Trilogy fights seem choreographed for the blades to have weight as if it takes a strong amount of control to wield them. The Prequel trilogy fights instead jump headling into the weightless blade kind of choreography.
I never heard about any kind of consistent justification either way, though. Personally, I suspect it's because moviemaking just changed. The Prequels were made not long after the Matrix revolutionised Western action films with kung fu fights and tight, fast choreogrpahy, so it's possible that Lucas just wanted to make a broadly appealing product with the same kind of fast-paced action scenes as were popular at the time.
The things you learn after stage combat classes.
And then bore your friends with at parties.
Or your youtube subscribers, if you are too tired to go to a lot of parties.
@@JillBearup Are you kidding me? As a writer, this makes for great research!
As a female fan who pointed this out back in 2017-2018 on a popular post on Tumblr, which then got shared around to Pinterest, Instagram, and other social media websites via screenshot (post under "acagoldsmith" or "obversa"), I'm really glad to see Jill do a video on this as well!
As a background, I am a former Olympic pentathlete trainee, with pentathlon encompassing horseback riding (show jumping), running, swimming, shooting, and fencing. This was based on old-school mounted horse Cavalry training, with the character of Han Solo confirmed to have been based on one of these Cavalry officers, including right down to his costume. We also see his son, Ben Solo, use the iconic Cavalry "Sword and Gun" technique while fighting the Knights of Ren in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker". The actor, Adam Driver, also studied Han Solo's mannerisms to portray Ben in the same film.
We also know that Adam Driver studied fencing, at least for a few weeks to months, for "The Force Awakens", because he was photographed wearing fencing pants during the shoots for the forest scenes where Kylo kidnaps Rey on Takodana, earlier in the film. So, we also know that it was probably the director's (J.J. Abrams') choice - not that of the actor - to position the actors a certain way "to look better on-camera". We also have photographs and BTS footage of both Daisy Ridley, the actress for Rey, and Adam Driver also training with prop lightsabers, with physical trainers and fight choreographers, as well. So, point to Jill on that aspect.
One key difference I noticed between the women - mostly Reylo shippers, myself included - who also noticed and stated the angle presented in this video, especially after "The Last Jedi", when "The Force Awakens" was constantly compared and contrasted with that movie's fight scene(s), is that every other view I've seen is from a Watsonian - or in-universe, character - POV. However, Jill talks about it from a Doylist - or technical, out-of-universe - POV, which I've never seen before. In my case, my post on social media got popular because I simply pointed out that Kylo Ren had presumably never actually faced a trained lightsaber wielder before that point in time - and, therefore, he was "untrained" himself, at least in actual physical combat. He had likely studied and practiced the forms with Luke Skywalker, but not actually faced off against anyone in battle.
(Also, training isn't the same as actually facing against another person with a sword - or laser sword, in this case - in battle or combat.)
Interesting video.
I wonder if the lack of weight and the way they "always cut" should mean that lightsabre duels might possibly take a more knife-fight approach of lots of quick light attacks rather than heavier bastard-sword moves.
When I first saw the movie I assumed that Kylo was hitting himself to try to numb the pain from the injury he got from being shot with a bowcaster earlier.
I agree that Kylo was likely hitting himself to dull/distract the pain.
Either that or he was trying to empower himself, canonically darkside users gain power from pain, so as long as it wasn't disabling he might be feeding into it.
@@asgerkrogh5671 i saw it much more as an escape from his emotional pain. he had just killed his father and im sure that was weighing on him heavily. the physical pain helped focus him on his fight.
@@VoraciousHeart maybe it was all three :p
He was deliberately causing himself pain to direct his energy. Like, the only thing that kept Maul alive was pure hate for Obi Wan.
Totally missed the injury when I watched this. That actually clears things up a lot
it's actually fascinating how many people do. Like, we see Chewie shooting at him and in the fight, we see blood and Kylo repeatedly punching the wound and the film before makes a subtle yet not so subtle effort to show us the power of the weapon:
Han uses it a few times and is so amazed at how powerful that thing is as it launches stormtroopers through their air like 3 times or so like it's nobody's business, with bits of armor flying everywhere. It's played like a joke each time with Han always being giddy about the weapon, so you don't notice that it's set-up, but still..we see it blowing armored troopers all over the place...then Kylo gets hit and he...stands?
So this tells us, that he is still very powerful. He not only survived that blast, but the force of it didn't threw him around like a ragdoll, but it still obviously injured him badly, thus justifying his not-so-stellar sowrdfighting, which is then even worsened by the fact, that he does not want to kill Rey AND underestimates her. I mean, she is obviously no real match for him on even grounds, but he basically expected her to be completely unable to fight at all, the fact that she can at least somehow use that thing, is enough to throw him off..combine that with his plan to capture but not kill and the wound and BOOM the fight makes perfect sense
I like that they added Rey using her quarter staff training to help her in the saber fight because even though they are very different, they're both still weapons that you hit people with and so having experience with one would help you with the other. I recently shot a gun for the first time and even though I had never held a gun in my life, I *had* shot a bow before and so I knew how to aim. My aim wasn't great but it wasn't terrible either and my shots hit the target more often than not .
They also HEAVILY plants how powerful chewies crossbow-thing is.
Every time he uses it it just wrecks anything it hits.
So Kylo tanking the shot and still fighting is a clearly planned move to show how bad ass he is, but still giving the heroes a chance
Love your videos... however I object to the comment about Kylo and his stance... he doesn't, at this point, really consider either a serious match for him, which normally wouldn't cause him to be sloppy with a sword... HOWEVER... key point, he DOES NOT HAVE A SWORD. He has a Lightsaber. He also has the Force, which would alter your use of a blade weapon.
Why does it matter what KIND of weapon he has? A Lightsaber blade has no weight, take a hilt, remove the blade, give yourself Force reflexes and speed, and everything about fighting would change.
Yes, but by this logic, lightsaber duels wouldn't be fought by lightsabers wielded by hand, but rather telekinetically, and with as many manipulated by the wielder as their concentration and training permits, more akin to Kreia/Treia in KOTOR2.
A lightsaber has resistance when moving through the air. George Lucas and Mark Hamill have both confirmed this: (ruclips.net/video/RIefj6dOhnM/видео.html)
Ben learned from Luke, true... But Luke is largely self-taught, since his first lightsabre teacher died - depending on how long it takes to get from Tatooine to where Alderaan used to be - as little as a day after first handing the weapon to Luke. Yoda never goes over sabre techniques with Luke, and, in fact, seems to actively disapprove of the weapon in the first place, so... he probably didn't learn much from Yoda. He figures it out after getting toyed with, getting his ass handed to him, and losing a hand in Cloud City...
Presumably between Empire and Jedi, as he made his new sabre, he got in some practice with it, but... against whom? There are motions you can practice for sword combat alone, but... to really advance, you need a teacher, or at the very least, a partner, yes? Luke doesn't have one of those for most of his Jedi career.
Fast forward an indeterminate amount of years: Luke, who as we've established, hasn't had practice, is now teaching Ben... Ben eventually - for 'reasons' - turns on Luke, and goes to join with Snoke and the First Order... where we never see anyone else with a lightsabre... Ever. So, Ben gets taught by someone who had no one to practice with... and immediately finds himself in a new situation where he's got no one to practice with. Add in the fact that he's badly wounded AND clearly letting the rage flow... Yeah, his style would be more than a little raw in this scene.
But, still, he'd be more than a match for Finn, for many of the reasons you've described: he has at least some training, where Finn has none at all, and has only breifly used the weapon for a couple of minutes earlier that day. Ben's also noticeably taller, presumably possibly physically stronger, and his weapon is definitely longer, so he's got a significant reach advantage, as well as having more skill with the weapon in question.
Rey has... no experience to speak of with this weapon: she briefly held it earlier that day, but didn't even ignite it. Adapting her staff-fighting techniques is a lovely detail you pointed out that I didn't immediately parse, but totally makes sense. But, ultimately, she gets the upper hand for several reasons, not least of which is: Ben does *not* want to kill or even grievously wound Rey, unlike Finn, whom he sees as a traitor who needs to suffer. He wants to 'teach' Rey, so he's not actually trying to harm her. So he's holding back, but still emotional as all Hell, where she manages to find her calm - and the Force - and that's when she immediately wins.
I'm not quite sure where you get the idea that Yoda disapproves of the weapon. He's one of the swordsmasters of the Order and is probably the best practitioner of Ataru in the whole order. If anything, the reason he wouldn't have taught Luke combat is because to him it was far more important that Luke be well trained in the other aspects of Jedi training before they even touched it, and Luke left before they got there.
Okay, I'm going to need to be told which ballet productions have fight scenes in them.
Katherine Alvarez Romeo & Juliet
Nutcracker has the titular character fight the Rat King; ballet sword-fighting is different from theater sword-fighting though. They tend to keep the swords above their heads at most times, allowing them to... ballet even harder
Nearly every ballet production has minor violence in it. Usually wacking (hitting) people with props (brooms, books, fish, ham...) or stomping on peoples feet. And the actions are often times done by the people standing around (not physically dancing).
Rey does one thing right during the duel with Kylo, she constantly attacks horizontally to his center of mass, so he is forced to deflect and defend, limiting his ability to attack. Something she would have learned from quarterstaff combat.
Nerd Info: The stance that Kylo (and a lot of other Lightsaber users) adopt as an opening move is called Happo Biraki, or "Open On All Eight Sides", and was pioneered by Miyamoto Musashi in his classic treatise on Kendo: "A Book Of Five Rings". He advocated using it as an opening stance, particularly against multiple opponents, because it (according to him) "left no opening for attack upon the practitioner. " I always thought that it was genius that the fight choreographers knew enough about Kendo that they almost always include it.
I mean, you have to figure that having been gutshot with a weapon that can literally launch a person a few meters is going to mess with Kylo's concentration. There's definitely a lot of bad stuff to light sabre fights in Star Wars in general but I'm not sure not using a guard stance when he has experienced a traumatic injury to his core muscles is an example.
Excellent analysis.
Kylo had just killed his father, got shot in the chest, is bleeding badly, and run a long way. Not an ideal state for combat. He's woozy from blood loss, and keeps PUNCHING HIMSELF IN HIS CHEST WOUND TO STAY ALERT.
Also, he wants to convert rather than kill his opponents because he's attracted to the girl, and because converts make the most fanatical warriors. Look at the Spanish Inquisition for proof. Tomas de Torquemada was a converso.
So Ren knows they are more valuable to the Dark Side as converts than as corpses. He kills only those who have no value alive, like his father, because they cannot be turned.
Really kinda brilliant. And I hadn't noticed ANY of these dynamics until YOU pointed them out, Clever Lady. Good job. I love smart people.
3:08 not true. The first stance I was taught was Posta di donna where the blade is on the shoulder. In general, my school focuses on guards that aren't pointed at the opponent (the closest guard that is commonly used is Dente di zenghiaro where the tip is pointed at the ground).
Kylo Ren's stance at 3:36 looks like a single handed Tutta porta di ferro, which is a very good guard for both offence and defence. Not as common with a single hand, but it still does the trick (much easier to go into an attack from either above or bellow, a thrust is also easy to do, blocking a blow just requires hand rotation, etc)
Finn's stance at 3:21 is almost like a Posta di donna, but just more defensive (which is something that I have been taught to do as well). Also, lightsabers don't need force (like actual force, not The Force) to use since they can just melt trough stuff so having the sword be there means you can do a quicker attack.
The thing is, the fight has a lot of bad stuff in it, but the stances aren't a part of them.
Rey and Finn hold the light saber kind of like they’re at bat playing baseball which does suggest they’re about to take a swing at someone. To Jill’s point, that may be a decent stance for baseball but I believe her when she says that it’s a lousy stance for fighting.
Unless you are trying to hit laser balls out of the park?
It's a stance that comes up a lot in historical sword-fighting manuscripts: good for launching an attack or a defence, which can often be exactly the same move when you're using a two-handed sword.
if you're using the correct overhead swing with that stance, all you have to do in that stance is punch in the general direction of your opponent's hips and your sword gets to their neck in so little time that they hardly have time to react (about 1 or 1.5 seconds). That's how you kill them in one move. Quite effective as an attacking stance.
as for defense: twist your wrists to go to this position 4:25, lower both hands to go to this position 4:28. If you go to either stance aggressively enough, you'er also cutting your opponent in a one-tempo counter-attack
For those who don't know but are saying that the prequel fights were just fast, flashy, not thought out, Asian cinema esque ....
Nick Gillard was the fight choreographers for all combat action in the prequels, second only to George Lucas. They decided on a vision on what the combat would be, and Nick Gillard decided to study everything from kendo to tree chopping, figuring that Jedi in the prime of the Jedi would study every possible way to swing a sword.
The choreography was meant to be fast and fluid, where every movement was also a check against the next movement. If you blocked here, the opponents next movement would have to be here, which meant you countered here, etc. Also, the way a character fought was supposed to reveal aspects of their character. Yoda, who doesn’t speak in straight sentences, doesn’t fight in a direct manner, using combinations of acrobatics, lightsaber attacks at high speed, and channeling the force.
There's actually a saber book analysis from Lucas i believe explaining the light saber forms & how they incorporate modern sword martial arts & their strengths & weaknesses & how/why some have advantage over others leading to their win or defeat. As well as the stories & emotions & meanings behind things showing the characters motives or whatever like the new fights do too
When I saw the way Rey fought I was SO HAPPY... there are issues, yes, but there are bits in there that speak so well about the characters' pasts. And they didn't just "know how to use it" when they picked it up
I love how messy this fight is. It lets the emotions lead the fights
Love this fight for these reasons, exactly. The criticism of it not being 'realistic' is a wrong one. It *is* realistic. It's just not *practical.* But impracticality is realistic. People have flaws and limitations and do unwise things.
I love how the patrons are mostly regular names and then there’s Wisdom Teeth ✨
Preach! The most important part of any fight, but especially in star wars should be conveying character! So much agreed!
I've been saying this for years, but only recently found your channel, and you've put it better than I've ever been able (probably because you actually know somthing about stage combat and I'm just a casual Star Wars fan).
Definitely saving this for future Reddit arguements.
Kylo doesn’t need to block with his saber- he stopped blaster shots mid flight with the force ...
True. Good catch!
I think it's also important to recognize that even if he wasn't badly injured, Kylo Ren is still horrifically mentally unstable at the *best* of times, so it makes sense his fighting style would be a lot of feral flailing.
Your videos have a combination of informing me about a bunch of stuff I didn't realise, whilst supporting my views on fight scenes in films... aside from the clever technical stuff this is exactly how I've seen this scene from the start..
Totally agree with all points, especially about the three character's fighting history that gets overlooked (Finn's stormtrooper training, Rey's quarterstaff experience)! Their forms don't make sense and it was all sloppy but the fight was visceral, raw, and brimming with emotion. Single favorite lightsaber fight.
I think it's canon that Jedi's use the force to anticipate what their opponents next move is so maybe they don't take a guard stance because they now the attack isn't coming yet
I have a part 2 to this video that was touched upon in it. The story that Rey’s fighting style tells after she uses the Force. An attempt at show-don’t-tell was made in this part of the fight, but it was perhaps too subtle, as it went unrecognized by most of the movie’s viewers.
As you said, Rey’s fighting style in the first half mirrors her fighting with a quarterstaff, hence those lunging stabs that aren’t quite as effective with a sword as they are with a polearm. Earlier in the movie, we are shown that she can touch the lightsaber and see and hear things from the past. In The Rise of Skywalker, this is expanded on to where she is constantly reading the past of objects she touches. I would even go so far as to say she uses this same technique when she’s aboard the Millennium Falcon, learning how to operate it by feeling its past and how others have use it prior to her.
In lore, this is a very rare Force power called Psychometry, one fans may recognize from other practitioners like Quinlan Vos in Clone Wars or Kal Kestis in Fallen Order. The user touches an object and is exposed to its past; they can see, hear and feel it to varying degrees. Why this is significant is that Rey does not just “use the Force” and suddenly fight better, she fights differently as well, and it’s because of her psychometry. In that moment, she uses her powers to read the past of the lightsaber and mimics what she feels from it. When she opens her eyes and resumes the fight, she’s no longer fighting like a junk seller who’s good with a quarterstaff.
She’s fighting like Anakin Skywalker.
And that, to me, is the coolest story that fight scene tells. You can compare her fighting style in the second half to Anakin when he’s dueling Count Dooku, and it’s all there. Sadly, in The Force Awakens, this very cool narrative decision is just...I don’t know, buried? Not made obvious enough? It’s true, but it’s so obscured somehow that it sounds like a fan theory discussing it. How would you have edited the fight to portray that part of it better?
I love this video. I've spent the last four years yelling at people both that Rey has enough fighting experience and that Kylo is too injured to win that fight, but hearing someone who knows much more than me about movie fighting explain exactly what's going on is fantastic.
I’ve always loved this movie and fight, it’s so gritty and fueled by emotion, and it’s really grounded
As someone that studied Gōjū-ryū (A form of Karate) and did begin into the stunt fighting right out of high school way back in the 90s and early 2000s before my illness made me have to stop both. I love to see exactly what you are talking about with how a fight can add more story telling moments when done correctly. These are things I absolutely love in the movie.
Anyway thanks for another great analysis!
"Villain stance" is stance of someone, who is good with sword, but doesn't want to telegraph his fighting style or intentions. Finn and Rey's stances immediately told him, how they will fight. Kylo isn't distracted. He was toying with Finn. Right after Finn took lucky hit on him, he ended the fight with no effort. He also never tried to kill Rey. He is teaching her to fight by making big, obvious moves with lightsaber. And then he told her, that he wants to teach her. From perspective of communicating intent, that scene was awesome.
One thing I really like about this fight is how much of it Rey spends backing up. She's not being pushed back, exactly, but she's clearly being cautious and prioritizing her own safety over tangling with Kylo.
Also, she technically wins by connecting with the Force and all that, but as a practical matter, she stalls until his injury and exhaustion catch up with him and she can just bash through his guard. It's not an elegant way to win, but it's cool to see a fight scene where combatants actually get tired.
The stance of Finn is a real stance in kendo : Hassō-no-kamae (even if the sword seems a bit low)
I suppose it could be written that Finn's training showed Jedi in a Form-III stance, which would be very useful against blaster-armed adversaries like him and his fellow stormtroopers.
This is the first interesting analysis of this fight scene I've seen on RUclips (and boy, I've seen too many). Expertise in stage fighting, in story telling and in Star Wars. Perfect.
That's a very decent analysis of the fight and the various characters' skill levels. I knew I liked this sequence, but couldn't quite put it into words. You did it for me! Cheers.
As a theatre person (without the stage fight skills), the “guard” stances the characters adopt also work really well from a lighting/character perspective. Not only do the good guys get the hero pose, but we can see a lot more of their expressions, humanizing them more throughout the fight. In contrast, Kylo Ren’s low lightsaber combined with his dark clothes and cape make him look more ominous and unknown in the wide shots, like this dark force of nature (no pun intended). From the wide shot perspective, you know very little about Kylo Ren except that he is out to kill you, and it makes him wonderfully terrifying.
Love the video!
Don’t disagree with you, however that stance they are using IS actually a stance taught in kendo. It’s called In No Kamae. Qui gon uses it in the prequels. It’s not the most useful but IS a traditional sword stance, so to say the characters are never in a guard is incorrect. Having said that- the sequel choreography is pretty crap. Another disappointment of these films.
actually, the sequel choreography is well done - their form is SUPPOSED to be crap. all of them - including Kylo - are fighting totally without finesse. Kylo is relying on aggression and the force, and the other two are novices.
Hasso no kamae ("no kamae" just means "stance"). It is an aggressive stance, not defensive.
2:48 Ah, yes. The "near guard" or "Nebenhut" as we say in german. 🙂Looks rather inconvenient as an fencing position, but can lead into an very powerfull cut. Even though it can be risky to pull through an full blow , from that position. (I prefer to strike upwards into ox guard, wich is safer :D ) Gonna use that moment to say greetings from germany! you make great videos. 👍 :D
Rey, holding the sith way finder: “this blade has done terrible things”
Rey, holding the youngling slayer 9000: *silence*
Well, no, since you'll recall the first time she picked it up, she did get the psychometric read of the shit it'd been party to, and damned near freaked out about it.
Finally! I've been arguing this for years(far less articulately than you). Kylo is mocking in his fight with Finn, and has been told to bring Rey to Snoke. The storytelling is all there. Thank you for this great video - I'm just going to shut up and point people to this as the best explanation.
I just noticed something. You mentioned Rey attempts to stab quite often. She has a similar stance as palpatine when he foughy the jedi council in episode 3. He did alot of stabs too
Ive seen various videos show this in depth comparing the two. There are 7 syles and rey and palpatine dont fit in to any.
@@pomaimoikeha829 Maybe they share a style, or maybe I'm just thinking too much in to things. Wouldn't be the first time.
@@cjteriyaga.v2 think its more you are spot on lol.
@@pomaimoikeha829 lol, that's cool, hopefully they keep that attention to detail in the future
@@pomaimoikeha829 Nick Gilliard described Palps as a master of all styles, iirc.
Stage combat video with light sabres. Yes yes yes so much yes.
2:01 The "the end" being at the same time as the lightsaber going off👌
I still wanted Finn to become a Jedi but instead, the sequel trilogy was a mess of people who couldn't put one cohesive narrative together.
This was great. There's a few points worth arguing where story or image is concerned, but i loved hearing a professional talking about the sword fighting. Very enlightening and entertaining. Class.
It’s funny because in the Star Wars battlefront 2 game, when someone playing anakin comes across a kylo ren, anakin can get a voice line saying “you’re no Sith Lord, you barely know how to hold a lightsaber”
That is a Japanese guard stance... for what's that's worth I'm not really a weapons man but I did the Iaido Kata back in the day
I'd agree more with this if there weren't only one fight in the rest of the trilogy that doesn't look as slow and sloppy as this one. Because these ideas do not apply to every fight, they apply to this one really well, but beyond that Rey and Kylo should fight like pros given the training they receive and...they don't. Ever, which sucks. Not cause it's not realistic, but because part of the story is seeing them as powerful too and instead I'm left with the impression that my math teacher who whaps kids on the knuckles with a meter stick, could defeat either of them
You make fantastic content! I knot very little about stage combat but you make it entertaining to follow. Thank you much.
I love how these open up looking at these fights in a new way. Honestly I didn't go that deep when looking at them - it was "Kylo = Ragey feralish slashy angry 70s hair boy," "Finn = Noob but he's trying," "Rey = Also noob but not as much of one, plus force-y." Plus, honestly, until the throne room fight, I figured lightsaber fights "in real life" would be a lot different. Less fun and flashy, so absolute crap for a movie, but things like turning the blade on and off to throw off balance and aim - or two very skilled combatants basically staring at each other, trying to fake each other out to get the "one slash" in, with the blade only existing for a moment or so.
I knew I loved this fight and I instinctively knew why but lacked the technical knowledge to articulate it, you have done that for me
Spot on with this Jill. Was never really sure why I LOVED this fight scene and the haters didn't, but you've put your finger (or blade) on it again. BRAVO!!
This was everything I said from the first time I watched this movie! Two people who have never used this weapon before and one person who has just been injured aren't gonna be using their proper stances necessarily.
Another note on Kylo Ren's stance that is how I deciphered his walk for cosplay: he wants to be perceived as powerful, so he widens his stance and puffs out his chest, but he also is a dark and brooding character, so he's hunched over and closes off his stance. He also stomps when thinking about it, but forgets about it often, proving it's a conscious effort.
5:11 Cameras can zoom, be strategically placed around actors, to shoot them from different angles and even mounted on a drone to fly them around! Consequently, there's no need to worry about stabbing the cameraman or restricting yourself to a particular fighting stance. Indeed, the stance used in the original trilogy by Luke, Vader & Obiwan, which is similar to the HEMA guard "Longpoint", extends the blade outwards from the body, but didn't cause problems for the cameramen.
5:37 Agreed. They probably chose the "hero" stance (as you refer to it) because this was the first lightsaber duel to use (stunt) lightsabers with their own illumination and nearby objects reflected this light, which is why both Finn and Rey are covered in a bluish glow.
I also agree with the rest of your video. Excellent presentation and analysis! 👍 Subbed!
Just found your channel and I’m really enjoying your takes. I’m in no way a fight choreography expert but I have been watching action movies for decades and I can tell when something just doesn’t feel right. It’s nice to hear an expert put my feelings into words.
Excellent, I've actually mentioned a few of these talking points to people who get angry at the scene and how Rey was able to win. JJ went out of his way to show how powerful a shot from the bowcaster is when Han was dropping groups of storm troopers with it earlier and then Chewy lands a shot that against almost anyone else would have been a kill shot. He was hurt and didn't consider them a threat so he wanted to play.
I’ve never been particularly interested in stage combat, and I’ve binged every one of your videos 😁. You are so much fun to listen to.
It seems you focus most on sword fighting, but I’d love to hear your take on John Wick. Like, 80% of his character is developed through his fighting style.
Something else important about the stances they take, which everyone seems to always forget is one of the most important factors in anything Star Wars, is that they LOOK COOL AS HELL
I always like how you were able to tell that Kylo was out of Rey's and Finn's depth in fighting but because he was injured and wanted Rey to join the First Order, he wasn't fighting at his best.
Thank you for this and your analysis. I love not just the knowledge you share but how you do so. Great stuff here
Dang, have been letting your videos autoplay and it's addictive. Clearly have a lot of catching up to do. Just wanted to say, as someone who really loved the sequels and felt I've exhausted the things I might like about them, you've opened me up to something fresh that I hadn't appreciated before. Really great work!
You've already shown a much deeper understanding of these scenes than all the people complaining about realism in their movie fights. When really they just don't know how to criticize a movie and are latching onto something they saw a reviewer talk about in a review of they just don't like that it's not the prequels.
As someone who studied stage combat in my senior year of high school drama (including two projects where we had to script, choreograph, and perform stage fights in pairs), I deeply relate to the perspective Jill provides in this analysis. Kudos!
While I don't agree with all her points, I definitely respect delving into a pov not many take when critiquing movie fight scenes (Granted, many movie goers understandably have no experience in stage combat or theatrical drama so it's easy to miss).
Although I agree that story & character should ultimately come before accuracy & realism in a Star Wars film, my only feeling of opposition would be that they aren't mutually exclusive. You don't always have to choose one or the other for a fight scene.
Even in a fantasy film about space wizards, you don't necessarily have to sacrifice or otherwise compromise accuracy in order to convey character and tell a quality story. To be fair, no duel in the entire franchise (including the OT) has been 100% realistic.
To me, however, Star Wars has always been at its best when it finds a strong balance between both. Like it or not, fantasy or no, at least some people will always pay attention to these details in any pop-culture icon that revolves around sword fighting.
There is no SW (as we know it) without lightsabers, just as there is no Arthurian legend without medieval knights & Excalibur. So, naturally, you can't realistically expect fans to turn their brain off and never criticize technique when watching these duels.
Yes, character & plot are more crucial, but that's not a blank check to justify every instance of sloppy, lazy or flat out poor choreography. When you neglect technique too heavily, that can also impact the "illusion of violence" that helps sell the conflict.
This is one reason why the sequels' duels are so often criticized in this regard, not because they're not totally realistic but because they neglect accuracy in favor of story & character TOO MUCH (Nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in TRoS).
One thing that I noticed is that, Rey does this forceful lightsaber push kinda thing which is surprisingly similar to the way palpatine does it in the prequels.
It’s because of the story and visuals you describe here that this is my absolute favorite lightsaber fight in the whole series. It’s beautiful and filled with emotion and character moments. I love it.
Great analysis! One thing to consider is that Kylo Ren isn't trying to kill Rey in this fight. He says "join me" multiple times through the movie. I think he was trying to find an ally to help him take down Snoke, which we see in The Last Jedi.
Very much here for positive discourse about Star Wars and cool fight stuff 👍👍
0:39 that sounds like you want to be a college of swords bard, and that's freaking awesome
I have never ever thought of movie fighting like this, as character building.
Thank you. This is amazing.
They should hire you as a fight coordinator for the next Star Wars film.
I mean that would be a terrible idea, but I appreciate the compliment.
A bit of really obscure trivia... I recall the stance with the sword blade pointing upright also used in Ladyhawke.
The prelude to the fight between Navarre and Marquet...Philippe Gaston is trying to unlock the chapel door, and the guard, who has been standing with drawn broadsword, held with both hands and blade pointed up, begins walking toward Gaston with the intent of striking him down.
A lot of the comments that are criticizing the various characters' skills are missing an important point, I think. The skill of lightsaber combat was virtually lost with Order 66. Episode 3 was basically the pinnacle of Jedi lightsaber fighting as shown in the movies. The really good fighters--highly skilled, highly trained, powerful in the Force, and longtime veterans--are all gone except for a tiny handful: Yoda, Palpatine, Dooku, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Windu. And two of these guys get killed off by the movie's end. So all that are left by then are Obi-Wan (who briefly trains Luke, and not at all in combat outside of that one session on the Falcon), Palpatine (who continues to train Anakin/Vader), Anakin (who's not training anyone), and Yoda (who continues Luke's training, but seems to concentrate mostly on teaching him how to teach himself, not how to fight with a lightsaber). By the time we get to the end of Episode 6, the only ones around who have any grasp of the nuances and high-level lightsaber-fighting stuff are Vader, Palpatine, and Luke...and Palpatine seems to have given up on carrying one around at all anymore, apparently trusting in his innate Force mastery and the protection afforded by his guards and Vader. Interestingly, Yoda seems to have also gone that route. There's no evidence he ever built a new lightsaber. Maybe he wanted to but didn't have access to the components, or didn't care because his mastery of the Force was all he needed, or some of both. In any case, by the VERY end of Episode 6, the only one around who can capably fight with a lightsaber is Luke, who never did get that high-level instruction. He beat Vader not out of being more skilled, but by tapping into the Dark Side briefly when enraged by Vader's threats about Leia. He got a momentary advantage (that was enough to disarm--heh--and overwhelm Vader) by getting heightened strength, endurance, reaction speed, etc that this gave him. Since both Vader and Palpatine died (well... I'm still not clear on whether the guy in Episode 9 was the same Palpatine or a clone of him...), Luke was, for quite a long time, the pinnacle of lightsaber excellence himself. And I don't think he was all that great at it, to be honest, compared to the ones around who died before him.
So then where does that leave Kylo? He was trained in using a lightsaber to SOME degree by Luke, but we don't know how much, or how well. He left Luke fairly early, and was trained the rest of the way by Snoke to the point where the movies pick up the story... and we don't see Snoke use a lightsaber at all. We don't know if he has one, or even knows how to use one. We know hardly anything about him at all. He's plainly very powerful in the Force and can train students in it...but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be mighty lightsaber duellists because of it, except maybe in a Luke sort of way.
So basically, I think the best skills of lightsaber combat died with Obi-Wan, Yoda, Vader, and Palpatine, what was left was Luke who was a competent but not masterful duellist, and from that point on that particular skill is going to have to be recreated by later Force masters...like Rey, I guess, who's pretty much starting from scratch at this point.
I enjoyed this fight too. I like that it’s a brutal, messy, angry fight in the cold woods. I loved your explanation, thank you!
Her: “ and when you see the (blue) light saber you know*dramatic pause*
Me: “ shits going down”
Her: “ This is the person you should be paying attention to”
Me: “ eh, close enough”
6:57 if you were wondering
Kylo's stance with the light sabre at his side also shows beautifully that it is the only one (that I know of, at least) with a cross-guard. Dark Rey's light sabre in The Rise of Skywalker looks like a fork. The saga sure loves to toy with our definition of "good" vs. "evil"! An interesting take given the ultimate redemption. Thank you for the video, I'm not an expert, so this adds an interesting point of view. :-)
@Jill Bearup I could listen to you all day. That was fascinating. Those are nuances I would have never seen. Plus, you are so utterly charming, witty, and funny that I would probably watch you talk about tax preparation or the merits of sedation during a colonoscopy. You are brilliant.
I've been binging some of your videos, and I absolutely love your critiques/compliments!! I don't know anything about staged fights, but your knowledge and enthusiasm are so awesome :-) plus your puns are great
What I didn’t like about the fight was specifically how awkwardly Kylo used his lightsaber.
Correct me if I’m wrong but. The stance that Rey and Finn take is the beginning of form 4 of lightsaber. And the stance kylo Ben is taking is the beginning stance of form 7. Which is usually considered a dark side form. So both are not terrible stances. However Finn and Rey are unsteady with it and Ben is very casual in that form.