MuckRaker96 said:
I watched parts of TFA, Rogue One, and Solo last night on TNT.
No matter how many times I've seen TFA - and that's a lot - I can't ever focus on the aerial battle to destroy Starkiller base with Poe and the other pilots. I'm so locked into the Han/Finn/Kylo parts that I space out thinking about what I've seen or what's coming next. It's really odd.
I think it's because the actual aerial battle feels kind of tacked on and doesn't feel like it has the stakes to it that the ground part does. On the ground, you have a team of folks who you either a) already had a strong connection to (Han and Chewie) or b) have spent much of the movie connecting with (Finn and Rey). In the air, you have Poe and several randos, and we've only really seen Poe for about 10 minutes total at that point. In terms of screentime of the battle itself, you get random flashes, but it's super quick with nothing really seeming to happen.
Compare that to the way it's balanced in Return of the Jedi. You have your key players split in a few different areas (Han, Leia, et al on Endor, Luke on the Death Star, Lando and Wedge in space). Each part has their well established goal and their fates are interlocked as they try to survive and defeat the Empire. The sequences are interwoven in a way that keeps the viewer engaged and a feeling that the rebels are in danger of failing. Just think of how you felt when Han and Leia walked out to find the legion of Imperial troops and walkers waiting for them, of when that blast comes from the Death Star, of when Luke tries to strike the Emperor.
TFA doesn't have that balance - lots happens on the ground, but in the air, Poe just does some acrobatics, flies into the generator and destroys it, and it's done. No drama, no sense of foreboding, nothing.