The new, and official, full trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi has finally arrived and continues o feed our hopes that the Star Wars franchise will remain viable in the cable hands of Disney. The trailer itself which was produced under the direction of Rian Johnson is a solid addition to the new series of advertisement and hype that has come with the new trilogy that began in 2015, but still strikes me as not quite as exciting as the teaser for The Force Awakens. I think more on that later. Either way, it’s a good trailer and reveals more about the mysteries of the Force and the potential dilemmas that may befall our stalwart heroes from a galaxy far, far away.
Without going necessarily into a play by play recap of the scenes in the trailer, I would like to focus on some of the concepts and the potential of where the franchise may be headed for our future viewing pleasure. I mean, the Star Wars universe has always had such tremendous potential that was only limited by those at the helm of its direction. Even with the original theatrical release of the original Star Wars, so many mysteries were left by the end of the film that fans could really do nothing less than speculate to the extreme. One of the biggest and most looming questions was “What the heck is the Force?” This is where the new “Reylo” trilogy has the most potential to shine. Namely, what is the true nature of the Force?
The trailer begins with Snoke saying “When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special.” It would be evident that he was talking specifically to Kylo Ren but the video switches immediately to Rey igniting her (I say her lightly as we all know that that saber rightly belonged to Anakin despite them saying it was Luke’s) blue light saber. There’s nothing strange about this as we know that somehow, according to the Force Awakens, Kylo and Rey are exceptionally gifted in the force and connected in some way to each other that is not yet revealed. It’s a nice touch as to how they transition and communicate this idea in the first few seconds of the trailer. It continues with Rey expressing that “Something… inside me has always been there, then I was awake and I need help.” This is her presumably talking to Luke and expressing that she’s always felt a certain way but didn’t know what it was and what to do with it. This is what the “Force Awakens” was essentially about, the fact that event of the movie awakened something inside her that she didn’t understand. The ripples of this event was powerful and loud enough to alert Snoke and company to the possibility that there were more threats around the corner beyond the obvious Luke Skywalker issue. In the scene in question, we see Luke watching in amazement and fear as Rey cracks the ground with the Force as she meditates. This leads to Luke expressing that he’s seen this type of raw power before that didn’t scare him the first time, but definitely scares him now. This is seemingly in reference to Kylo and his as of yet fully tapped Force potential. Again the trailer does a good job of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the masters as they look upon the potential of their students. Snoke’s seeming lust for power and Luke’s fear of training the next generation of Jedi are evident here and particularly disturbing in the case of Luke as we see one of cinema’s greatest heroes cower before a challenge. This theme seems to fit in the fabric of the new trilogy. We have these time tested but battle weary heroes who continuously fight for peace but are met with constant failure and loss. Han Solo was challenged by Maz Kanata in the “Force Awakens” to get back into the fight despite Han’s attempts to run away from his looming issues, particularly the loss of his son to the Dark Side. Luke is now different in this sense as he struggles to come to terms with the loss of his students, his new Jedi temple and his now turncoat nephew. I think this movie will present the greatest challenge of how to we get our number one Jedi back to hero status and usher in a new era of properly trained Force users.
To continue, the trailer switches to the Kylo Ren issue. That is, the same issue as the last movie where Kylo doesn’t know whether to be light or dark. Snoke goes on about his potential in the Force and that he is special but withholds his full training regiment until he can snuff out the pull of the light side of the Force. Many a fan and analyst has pointed to idea that snoke is most interested in Kylo due to his ability to seemingly tap into both the light and the dark. What’s confusing is Snoke’s thought process in how he plans on bringing this potential out. He taunts Kylo about his attachments to his father Han Solo and Kylo comes to the conclusion that he needs to be snuffed out in order to move forward in the development of his Dark side abilities as well as achieving Snoke’s continued approval. But there’s still this whole mystery as to whether the totality of the Force would allow one to achieve balance in such a way. The trailer at this point shows Kylo flying his ship and fixing his guns on what is supposedly Leia and while preparing to press the trigger is voicing that one must “Let the past die… kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you are meant to be.” Who was he talking to? Rey perhaps? We won’t know of course till the movie is released but my bet is on it being Rey who may be seeking Kylo for his help in understanding her powers as seemingly indicated at the end of the trailer.
I keep using that word…”seemingly” because this entire trailer, if taken as is, tells a lot of the story already. I simply don’t believe it’s what it seems other than the fact that these two young Force wielders have put their masters in complete awe at their untapped potential. Thus the title of this article. I think it’s a big fat misdirection from the main plot of the story. At the end of the day, it’ll be about good versus evil, light versus dark and the need for the protagonists to gain redemption and realize their places in the universe. It’s probably not that simple but I’m just throwing out my opinion. I just want to see Luke Skywalker kick some butt.
As for the rest of the trailer we get Finn versus Phasma, lot’s of cool ships and worlds, battles, Millennium Falcon looking cool as ever, the Gorilla Walkers (can’t wait to see them in action), Ice Foxes (that’s what I’m calling them), Chewbacca yelling while sitting next to his little sidekick Porg (penguin looking thingy) and a ton of great looking special effects. It’s a great looking, well executed trailer that I think has me excited for the movie but not quite as stoked as the Force Awakens trailer. I’m still trying to decide what exactly it is that I like more about those trailers, but I may be prone to all things J.J. Abrams style. Nevertheless, I’m absolutely dying for December 15th to get here and will only be calmed by the viewing of Blade Runner and Justice League in November.
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