Unless you were living on Alderaan (sorry), you know about the latest, and final Star Wars trailer for The Last Jedi that came out yesterday. Now that the DAPs Magic team has had two or three (hundred) watch-throughs, I thought I’d take a stab at breaking it down a bit, showing what we know, and what’s being hinted at. Take another watch (you know you want to), and read through my breakdown, scene-by-scene.
-The trailer opens with a shot of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), voiced over by what sounds to be Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis). Kylo appears to be taking in the First Order’s intense operation (perhaps preparing for another battle?), while Snoke describes “raw, untamed power.” As with a lot of moments in this trailer, I think this may be a misdirect, meant to lead us in to assuming that Snoke is describing Kylo, when he is really describing another (Rey? Luke?).
-Next, we see First Order boots on the ground on the previously-referenced planet known as Crait, assumed to be the location of a Resistance base. We see a much beefier version of the Empire’s walkers, as well as some striking angled shots of Kylo and troopers (potentially Snowtroopers? Maybe a new unit type?) walking on Crait (assumed by the red streaks on the ground). The prominence of red and black is apparent, adding to the menacing tone.
-We then see Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Luke (Mark Hamil) on his hermitage island of Ahch-To, and we finally have Luke touch his old weapon. Interestingly, we see a jarring expression on the old Jedi Master’s face. This isn’t the confident, young man we see in the original trilogy, and I think we will be seeing some very interesting character direction.
-Voiced over by Rey, we get more insight to the title of the film, as she discusses this awakening inside her, and her need for guidance. Shots of her in a foggy landscape play, with Luke conspicuously absent. Is this the old Jedi Temple? It feels somewhat similar to the cave Luke enters when training with Yoda in the original series.
-We get another brief look at some old tomes, next to a tree. There’s already a lot of speculation about these, but they appear to be Force related, and a potentially very powerful artifact. Are they in Luke’s possession? What do they teach?
-We see a bit of Rey training and meditating. She wields Luke’s old lightsaber with considerable expertise (years of training with a staff seem to be paying off). Also, while apparently meditating, Rey splits the ground open, apparently by accident. There’s another interesting shot of Luke, looking shocked by her power. We always knew Rey was going to be a powerful Force user, but apparently she’s got some serious juice.
-Luke voices over with his fears, after seeing this much power once before (presumably Kylo). We see shots of what I’m assuming to be his training facility burning down, which Luke has to climb out of. It’s clear to see that this has severely traumatized the old Knight, and he may not be as much help to Rey as she assumed. I love that we might have a not-so-heroic, broken hero figure developing in Luke. It’s a really different direction for the franchise, and I’m here for it.
-Another shot of Kylo Ren, this time with something covering his wound from the last film. It’s interesting texture makes me wonder if it’s more than just a simple cover-up. More cybernetics, perhaps? It would follow in his grandfather’s (Darth Vader) footsteps. And we get another hissy fit from Kylo as he smashes his helmet in to a wall! I’m wondering if he’s abandoning the helmeted identity entirely.
-Next, we get Kylo piloting some kind of modified TIE fighter, causing some chaos amounts of damage to a much larger ship. It’s a great connection to his lineage of pilots in his father and grandfather. This is cut in with shots of General Leia (Carrie Fisher), as the dialogue discusses killing the past. This is a straight gut-punch following the late Fisher’s real life passing, and it hurts. I’m thinking this might be a misdirect as well, as it’s been hinted that Leia was still to appear in the next film, but it’s clearly a dark path for Kylo, but will he pull the trigger on his own mother as well? I think this is setting up for his potential redemption.
-We get some shots of the Millennium Falcon, battling some First Order ships on Crait (maybe). There’s a quick cut to Chewie, with one of the already-infamous porgs. I gotta admit, I’m still really worried we might have a Jar Jar on our hands with these little penguin lumps. But they are cute.
-Poe (Oscar Isaac) isn’t in this trailer much, but what he is in is awesome. We see shots of him in the pilot’s seat, cut in with lines about taking the First Order out. He’s already a fan favorite, and I can’t wait to see this more intense, empowered evolution in his character.
-After an uneventful appearance in VII, it looks like we’re finally going to get a show of Captain Phasma’s (Gwendoline Christie) battle prowess, against a recovered Finn (John Boyega). I’m very excited to see this particular match-up, as there’s so much potential for epicness. Also, it looks like Finn is back in some First order garb. I doubt he’d rejoin, so perhaps he’s spying?
-During another shot of Resistance ships getting decimated, we briefly see BB-8, taking an apparent hit. Is everyone’s favorite little droid safe in this film?
-More discouragement from Luke on training Rey. This man is looking more and more broken.
-What looks to be Crait again, just before a big fight. There’s a brief shot of some white, fox-like creature, potentially fleeing. I can’t get over the shot of Leia, standing alone at a large hangar door. This movie is gonna hurt.
-Rey again, swimming, maybe in the misty location from before? And Luke looks less than pleased.
-Back to Crait, with more shots of ships kicking up that red dirt. We’ve seen these ships before, but this time around, I caught how much they look like podracers. It wouldn’t be the first time these new films have referenced the prequels, and I’d be totally cool with them redeeming another element.
-We finally get to see Snoke in the flesh, apparently torturing Rey with the Force. We’ve seen a bit of this method of restraining a person in the last film with Kylo, but this looks… disturbingly strong. It’s more than a little unsettling.
-The last shots heavily imply Kylo and Rey, meeting, and perhaps joining together. This throws up the most red flags as an intentional mislead, but it raises a lot of things to speculate. Who’s joining who? Rey to the Dark Side? Kylo to the Light? Neither? Both? It’s a great cliffhanger!
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This last trailer has sated my Star Wars hunger, but now I’m starving to see the film in December! Until then, may the Force be with us all.
Did you have any thoughts/theories/speculations to add to the discussion? Be sure to comment them below!
