Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 9 Mistakes Episode VIII Can't Afford To Repeat

6. Mistaking A Cool Action Scene For A Genuinely Memorable Set Piece

Here's a controversial opinion: J.J. Abrams isn't great at directing action sequences. Or, at least, the action scenes in The Force Awakens are average at best. That's not to say he's bad at putting them in (because he loves an action scene), or that they're anything close to bad. He just doesn't have a particular flare with them; they don't make you feel anything. The one exception in Episode VII might be the final battle between Rey and Ren, but even that scene lacks the memorability factor of, say, the Darth Maul fight at the end of Episode I. Say what you will about George Lucas, but he knew set-pieces. Whenever Abrams unleashes an action scene in The Force Awakens, there's no escaping the feeling that there's something not quite right; they just seem to come and go in the same way that all the other scenes do, refusing to pop. They're competent, but they don't stay with you; they don't take your breath away - not compared to anything in the original trilogy. Part of that seems to derive from the way that The Force Awakens never slows down (it's almost directed as one huge action scene), which means that everything blends and blurs together to the point where the impact of any individual set piece is lost. Abrams' set pieces don't feel intricate or carefully devised; they play well enough out, but they don't linger. And so Rian Johnson, a director who has shown himself to be highly capable when it comes to delivering an inventive action scene, must find a way to differentiate the action scenes in his film from that of the rest of the narrative - give us a set piece to marvel over, Rian!