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I remember watching videos on cast members from the Star Wars prequels having training sessions to learn and practice their fighting scenes. I was wondering what preparation went into the newest movie for Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver.

I noticed the fighting being far slower than the prequels but I put it down to just Rey and Finn being untrained, with Kylo Ren being injured.

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  • Prequels had very well trained military figures at the height of their power. Original had an untrained teenager, two old men ready to die, and two cripples (no offense). The new set had another untrained teenager, an injured melodramatic emo 20 something, and a force sensitive but not active force user.
    – cde
    Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 3:55
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    It's worth noting that the Jedi sword art was originally based on the Japanese styles, particularly Kendo. Darth Maul, by contrast, was using a Chinese style, greatly influenced by "contemporary Wushu", a big innovation. Watching the Force Awakens, it looks like it's back to more more Japanese-style, although the huge guard on Ren's lightsaber would seem to imply western-style medieval sword fighting.
    – DukeZhou
    Commented Oct 13, 2016 at 17:42
  • @cde Plus like half the fighters in the prequels were CG.
    – Andrew Whatever
    Commented Oct 19, 2016 at 21:53

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Yes, they received choreography training.

In practically every action movie, especially those with close quarters combat, the fights are going to be choreographed to the best of each actor's ability to ensure the fights both look real and so no one actually gets hurt (at least not severely) on set.

The changes to fighting styles compared to the prequels likely stems from a desire to get "back to basics". With the prequels Lucas wanted to show a style and speed of fighting that hadn't been seen before that he could now do with the aide of special effects, but Abrams was pretty determined to make the new trilogy feel as close to the originals as possible.

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  • +1 I like this...& yes, fight scenes have really maxed-out in recent years, to the point they started to look more than a little silly. Kudos for knowing when to pull back. Perhaps an end to ludicrous Matrix wire-fights or overkill such as the abysmal remake of Old Boy; compared to the original - the 'corridor scene' wasn't perfect but for a single shot, one of the best.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Oct 12, 2016 at 19:31

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