8 Things Missing From Star Wars: The Force Awakens

6. Some Actual Fighting With The Guys From The Raid

Fans were understandably thrilled by the prospect of Yayan Ruhian, Iko Uwais and Cecep Arif Rahman being announced to appear in The Force Awakens. Mainly because of their noted pedigree, having recently appeared on the international movie scene as absolute badasses in The Raid (2011) and its 2014 sequel. Their expert knowledge of obscure (to the Western world, anyway) Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat implied that we were going to see some batsh*t crazy, knock-down, drag-out fights happening in a Galaxy Far, Far Away (which characters they'd be playing or how they'd figure into the story were, of course, a mystery). Unfortunately it looks like whatever high-octane action these stuntmen of enormous talent brought to proceedings was wasted on the cutting room floor (if shot at all). The trio turn up as a roving gang of enemy smugglers known as Kanjiklub, getting involved in a three-way standoff with Han and another band of vagabonds. Just when you think we're going to see some deep-space fisticuffs, Rey accidentally unleashes some Rathtars and our favourite Indonesian martial artists are getting eaten for dinner. Why bring these guys in at all, if not to use them for their not-inconsiderable talents as stuntmen? Stuntmen with specific knowledge of intense fighting styles, no less. If you need a character to be eaten by a feral tentacle monster, I'm sure any stuntman on the payroll would do. Such a waste.