Fellow Digital Crack cohort Punisher and I were anticipating the release of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer last night. When it finally dropped, we had two wildly different opinions of it. He was ecstatic; I was mostly indifferent. We still both want to see the movie; he already purchased his tickets. But maybe my Star Wars fandom has exhausted itself.
That has nothing to do with the trailer, which is pretty spectacular. It has all the hallmarks of a Star Wars movie that I gravitate towards. Hell, seeing the modernized AT-ATs alone made me giggle a bit. But I’m just not as jazzed as I used to be. Maybe I’m burnt out; Star Wars hype has almost eclipsed the hype around the MCU, which I’m also tired of.
Well, enough of my fandom crisis. This is about the trailer. Like I said, it’s spectacular. It also shows off some pretty large plot points, so look away if you want to go into the movie pristine.
First off, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is way more prevalent in the trailer than he was in all of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In this movie, he’ll be the Obi-Wan Kenobi analogue to Rey (Daisy Ridley), who’s trying to harness the Force. One of the supposed plot points seems to be Luke’s reluctance to train Rey as a Jedi. I’m guessing he became a hermit when he saw Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) turn to the Dark Side, just like Obi-Wan did after Anakin turned. It also seems he’s spooked by how strong Rey is, though there are scenes where he’s training her. At one point in the trailer, he seems to shun Rey away.
That’s important because, at the end of the trailer, it looks like Rey is seeking her purpose. And it’s Kylo Ren that offers to help. That and Luke’s reluctance to train her gives the movie’s title more weight. Is Luke intending to be the last Jedi? Will Rey be?
Other minor yet important points are shown. During a space battle, Kylo Ren is ready to fire at a ship when he suddenly senses his mother, Leia (Carrie Fisher) aboard it and backs away. Snoke (Andy Serkis) makes a brief appearance, looking like he’s doing something painful to Rey. (Well, at least the trailer was cut that way.) Other bits include Finn (John Boyega) fighting against Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), Poe (Oscar Isaac) giving a speech, and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) piloting the Millenium Falcon. Oh, and there was a Porg with him. So now we know there’s a Baby Groot-like adorable character than will sell about a trillion plushies and Funko Pop figures.
Speaking of Baby Groot, was I the only one who felt like the backing music for the trailer sounded an awful lot like something out of Guardians of the Galaxy? I checked the IMDB page for Star Wars: Last Jedi just to make sure John Williams is behind the movie’s score. He is. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that the trailer had the typical bombastic-but-flat music MCU movies use.
Speaking of the movie’s IMDB page: Tom Hardy is listed as rumored to be a Stormtrooper. Uhh, that’s miscasting, Disney. Mad Max can fire without missing.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi flies into theaters on December 15th. Punisher will be there with bells on; I’ll show up eventually, too. And be on the lookout for a Stormtrooper in the movie that actually hits his target.
