The Force Awakens: Samuel L. Jackson Is Unimpressed With The Lightsaber Fight
By Elaine Tveit
Samuel L. Jackson said Kylo, Rey, and Finn “need to go to lightsaber fight school.”
Mace Windu is not impressed with the fighting style featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (let’s be honest, the standards were higher back in his day). That was the harshest criticism he had of the film, though the rest of what he had to say sounded more diplomatic than positive.
Watch the section of his interview with Peter Travers in which he talks about The Force Awakens below (via i09).
"“Did you see the new one?”“Yeah.”“So?”“It’s done in the spirit of the Star Wars films.”“Well, that was a diplomatic answer.”"
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It appears Jackson is going for non-aggressive negotiations on this one, but it’s clear he wasn’t overly impressed with the film (I wasn’t, either, to be honest; you can read my review here). As for his comment on the lightsaber fight between Kylo Ren, Finn, and Rey, he has a small point; the fight could have been more impressive, at least from Kylo’s vantage point. After all, Kylo is the most skilled of the three and has received the most training.
However, we have to remember: The golden age of the Jedi Order is over. Luke Skywalker learned his lightsaber skills pretty much on his own, and Kylo, if he had learned from his uncle, would have adopted a style similar to Luke’s hacking and swinging. Finn and Rey had no training whatsoever, so they have every excuse in the world to not have fancy moves.
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I do hope we see the style progress to something a bit flashier than what we saw in The Force Awakens, going forward. For Episode VII, it was fine, but there’s room for all three characters to improve. If they can impress the most badass Jedi Master in the saga, I think they’ll have it made.