See the original post. As if I need to add even more online commentary about this movie…
I rewatched it the other night, and I paid special attention to the lightsaber fight between Kylo Ren and Rae, and I probably should revise my original thoughts. When they start out, it’s basically Rae trying to get away from Kylo Ren, occasionally fending off one of his attacks or making a clumsy attempt of her own. This is accurate to their characters and situation. Remember that Kylo Ren is injured, and she has no lightsaber or heavy battle training, plus she knows the planet, or at least the general area, may be going to go up in flames very soon.
She starts to rally after Ren corners her and makes a padawan offer, and she refuses. She then starts to really connect with her fighting. Ren gets injured further, but not critically. That last part is something of an unlikely situation, but so was Luke’s. What good is a story where something unusual doesn’t happen? The movie might be subtitled “The Force Awakens” for a good reason.
The only thing I take issue with his Rae’s use of the Force. She stumbles along with it, but for a mature adult with no training at all to suddenly know how to use it like she did it is suspect. She resisted Ren’s mind reading and used mind tricks on the Stormtrooper guarding her. She would have to be astronomically (heh) intuitive with the Force to be able to use it like that, which, again, is unusual, but not impossible. There may be more to her lineage that what’s been revealed so far.
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Oddly, I seem to recall a discussion of the mythology behind the Force somewhere. Luke’s problem was a prejudice against it. However, someone who lacks that blindness might have a series of “ah-ha” moments about how it works just as they need it. That was supposed to be part of what it does, allowing you to see things just a moment or two before it happened. So without seeing the movie — and wholly unlikely to see it — that part of the story still makes some sense to me.
You might be thinking of this scene. It’s a video of a video, but we can blame Lucasfilm/Disney for being grouchy about intellectual property:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69NCLxwLEY
Luke’s line is telling: “With the blast shield down, I can’t see. How am I supposed to fight?” He was young and impressionable, and Han was feeding into his skepticism…so I’d forgive him.