There is a lot of excellent visual storytelling going on throughout the entire movie. I could write a huge post on all of the big and small visual storytelling moments that are in pretty much every frame of the movie. Watching it the third time on Saturday (this time 3D, which was ok), I picked up on even more visual bits. My wife leaned over to me during the Han/Kylo scene and was like, "Now the blue light on the side of Kylo's face is gone," right before he stabs Han. The biggest bit of non-verbal and visual storytelling is the audio design. So much subtlety is weaved into how sound is used in various scenes, not just the score, but ambience, especially when the force is being used in various ways. The sound team just killed it.
I'm dying for the Blu Ray release so I can go through it bit by bit and dismantle it. I already have it pre-ordered.
Yup, really all of the action scenes specifically do a tremendous job of communicating and building and informing the relationships between the leads. As Ghaleon mentioned up there, it really does recall Fury Road, and specifically how the relationship and trust was established between Furiosa and Max with almost no words spoken between them.
Poe and Finn become friends in their first action scene, because they have to work together to escape. It was impossible for only one of them to get out of their, they needed to rely on each other to get as far as they did. When Poe flies them into position, keeping at the optimal distance from the ship, and Finn fires and destroys the turrets, they both are super excited because they both got through it together. They are bonding through action.
The same is very much true of Finn and Rey's first action scene. First when the TIEs attack the salvage yard, and Finn keeps trying to grab Rey's hand to lead her to safety, yet Rey is adamant that she doesn't need this help before ultimately taking charge and leading Finn to the quad jumper and their hope of escape. In this scene, Rey is learning that Finn will try to do the right thing by helping her, and Finn is learning that Rey is capable and skilled.
Then they get into the Falcon, and we again have two characters who need to rely on each other in order to escape. Rey's flying alone doesn't save them, and neither does Finn's shooting. Rey needs to maneuver the ship until Finn has an opening to shoot. The last big move in the sequence only works because both of them are there. Rey puts the ship into the controlled freefall, to put the broken and immobile turret into position so Finn can take out the last TIE. They both get through it because they had each other's backs, thereby building their relationship.
The battle on Takodana/Maz's castle, we start to see the relationship between Rey and Kylo build, how Kylo is showy and trying to overpower her, physically and literally paralyzing Rey. The battle also represents the first steps Finn takes in actually consciously doing the right thing rather than running away, and when Kylo takes Ren we in fact see Finn run forward rather than away.
The mind control fight between Rey and Kylo is a pretty overt and obvious, and wildly effective, scene at further establishing the relationship between Kylo and Rey, and Kylo's insecurity.
It all culminates in the final lightsaber battle in the woods, where Kylo again tries to show off and dominate, immediately taking Rey out, and Finn completes his arc by taking up the lightsaber and stepping forward into a fight he surely will lose. Kylo again tries to project his own superiority but cracks are starting to show in the facade, represented by this being the first action scene he is not wearing the mask and the wound bleeding at his side. He easily overpowers Finn while essentially showing off, but not before Finn actually manages a hit on him. He isn't in as much control as he would like to be in.
Then he tries to Force grab the lightsaber, and it flies by him and essentially picks Rey over Kylo, again reinforcing his sense of insecurity. The rest of the sequence is pretty self explanatory as Kylo pushes Rey to the edge, tries to turn Rey, which causes her to close her eyes and let the Force in, propelling her to victory where it has failed Kylo.
