i don't get your point about weapon-on-weapon contact, they do hit weapons, just less than in the prequel fights. the sparks that come off from it are part of the 'fight confetti' (something that unbelieveably doesn't have a tvtropes page). and the guards specifically don't have lightsabers so they'd use a variety of techniques and raise fewer nitpicks from people who'd say 'why don't they hit them' everytime a protagonist parries one guy's sword.

the scene was not there to subvert anyone's expectations (except the merking of big head at the beginning), its just a group fight and, as the nitpick video points out, choreographed by a guy whose done a lot of hand to hand, less sword duelling. and they were a good choice, because its communicated in the story that Kylo is a crude fighter & Rey is woefully underprepared. the scene therefore takes more from brawling than prequel lightstick dancing and is better for it.

i don't know how much of that video you endorse but holy shit, a child made that. why wasn't it like the prequels--idk maybe they didn't want to waste 20 minutes doing bright twirls with unsufferable and undeveloped characters? maybe you can communicate more in a fight than 'this is how this guy lost this limb', 'this is why this guy isn't in another movie', 'we can sell a bunch of toys from this shit'? the best duels in Star Wars are the first three, and they are a) 90% about the mental states of the fighters b) advance character arcs c) more visually compelling than impressively choreographed.

prequel shit was filler spectacle and just as ridiculous from a martial arts perspective. MF actually praised prequel fights and turned around to criticise useless spinning in the TLJ fight.