ST Which saber fight was better?

Of the two final saber fights in the movie, which did you enjoy more?
Finn vs Ren
or
Ren vs Rey
Elaborate if you can

 

Kylo vs Ren.

A non force user putting up a fight vs Kylo was making me cringe the whole time.

 

Ren v Rey all the way. It means more in terms of the overall narrative

 

Kylo vs Finn. It was quicker but it was brutal, more tense (although Kylo and Rey was too), and aided by the lack of music and cutaways during their duel.

 

Ya, their fight felt a lot more gritty and that's one of the things that I liked about it

 

Finn's was barely a fight at all, once Ren rode out the first charge he was dominant. Sure Finn got a cheap shot in but it only made Ren angry, it didn't noticeably impede him at all. Rey on the other hand got a fight with a proper narrative and while the 'heroic comeback' is an old, old trope it's a Star Wars tradition and justifiable with Rey's 'awakening.'

 

Kylo vs Rey was obviously better. Rey is a force user and was capable of fending Ren off whereas Finn was simply being toyed with so that we could get our big reveal and see Rey reach out with the force and take the lightsaber. Finn was outmatched and got punished for trying to play in the big leagues. He couldn't even fend off a stormtrooper. Standing up to Ren was tantamount to suicide.

 

Kylo vs Finn was the better fight. You can see during Kylo vs Rey that they are consciously showing us that Rey is untrained and her technique unrefined, so it seems a little crazy that she 'beats' Kylo, and the pacing of that fight is odd too. A rematch with both of them completing their training should be interesting indeed!

Finn, on the other hand, may never pick up a saber again...

 

The fact that two newbies who have never used a lightsaber were able to fight a trained former-Jedi is ridiculous. Couldn't buy it at all. It doesn't make Rey seem powerful it just makes Kylo Ren seem like the incompetent villain in the saga.

 

Kylo v Rey. Loads more going on thematically..

 

They were both more raw and wild than controlled finesse, and both were believable as combatants trying to kill each other without a lot of flashy moves. I'm going to have to see it again before I try to choose.

 

Rey all the way.

I also thought that she fought like the Emperor, with the thrusts and all.

 

Rey v. Kylo all the way. Finn v. Kylo was pretty one sided and you could tell Kylo was being a cocky SOB with his saber twirls and spinning hammer attacks. Rey v. Kylo had that beautiful long shot of Kylo driving Rey back as she's frantically trying to counterattack, and when she embraces the Force and starts fighting back more effectively you can just watch Kylo's morale plummet like a rock.

 

This.

 

The outcome of Finn vs Ren isn't... far fetched, but this outcome kind of contributes to the ridiculousness of the later duel.

 

Again, Kylo was horribly wounded and he wasn't trying to kill Rey. This was made clear in the film that you allegedly watched.

 

The snarkiness is real.

 

I actually really like that aspect. He's not a Skywalker, not a Solo, doesn't come preloaded with story meaning, doesn't have the Force, can't save the girl, but he'll still fire up a lightsaber and get in there like, "Oh yeah? Well take this and this and this!" No he didn't last long, nor should he have lasted even as long as he did, but I respect that when faced with the power of the dark side, he fought to the end.

I have never been heavily invested in the whole "Non-Force-sensitives will instantly self-decapitate" angle, so I like that Finn gets to cross blades with his old boss.

 

Yeah, non force sensitives can use lightsabers. It's been this way for a long time. Vizsla, Grievous, etc. It's about training.

 

You need training with a sword to fight expertly with it. It's considerably easier to avoid impaling yourself on it, especially if you're physically fit and already have training with other melee weapons (and the accompanying physical coordination).

And even an untrained novice can get a lucky hit on a more experienced swordsman if that more experienced swordsman isn't taking the novice seriously.

 

Okay, I don't disagree with any of this, I think. I want to say going from a staff to a sword, let alone a lightsaber would be ridiculously hard to manage, however.

 

I'm not sure why you're bringing this up again.

 

Who knows.

 

Kylo's injury was supposed to appear to the audience as more debilitating than it did. That was the problem.

 

Perhaps.

From the beginning, they had to wound Kylo Ren so the outcome is believable. But, they also want to attribute Rey a significant amount of credit for the win. Ren's injury can't be so significant that Rey's victory is utterly meaningless. So, there is definitely a need for a delicate balance.

This could be why Ren is able to do things he shouldn't be able to do if he was actually injured to the extent where a loss to a completely untrained opponent is believable.