Exploring the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Trailer
Like us, you’ve probably watched the latest, epic Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer roughly 800 times and in between the hairs on your arms standing on end and your jaw hitting the floor, you might be wondering about some of the content, namely, does what the trailer imply actually happen in the final film?
While there was a little back and forth between director Rian Johnson and some entertainment sites about the spoiler-filled nature of this two and a half minutes of pure joy – with Johnson calling out those who claimed that he told fans explicitly not to watch the trailer; something he categorically didn’t say – it’s clear to us at least that the trailer feels like one big tantalising misdirect...and that's no bad thing at all.
The trailer even starts with the warning, delivered by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) that ‘this is not going to go the way you think’ which is a very clever way to circumvent expectations without actually stating just how that will be achieved. Now we’re not saying that the trailer is drawing those conclusions and nor would we argue that it’s trying to mislead anyone – which would do more harm to the movie than good – but we wanted to highlight a few moments that suggest that all is not as it seems.
Firstly, there’s the juxtaposition of scenes between Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). When the trailer starts we hear Snoke (Andy Serkis) in voice over apparently addressing Kylo Ren that ‘When I found you, I saw raw, untamed power and beyond that, something truly special’ but this dialogue could easily apply to Rey – and as the trailer seems to make clear later, there’s a definite confrontation involving all three at some point. The sequence then ends with Rey firing up her lightsaber, which could be the literal show of power Snoke was intoning about.
Then there’s the moment when Kylo Ren is apparently chasing down Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) ship, and apparently getting ready to ‘do a Han’ on his mother too – While we’re a little sceptical that this moment is in the film as it is assembled here but there’s an interesting idea here. Perhaps slaying Han hasn’t provided the answer he hoped it would? Maybe the presence of Rey has shattered his confidence so much that he can no longer match the expectations placed upon him by Snoke? Maybe, like a psychopath, the only way he can settle his soul is to take out his mother too? It doesn’t seem likely though.
How about that moment when Kylo Ren appears to reach out to Rey after she says “I need somebody to show me my place in all this,” could she be switching to the dark side? Probably not. More likely these moments are assembled from two different scenes – the backgrounds certainly look different enough to suggest so – but again perhaps they hint at some of the thematic ideas of The Last Jedi.
And how about when Luke says “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then. It does now.” What do you make of that?
Irrespective of what you may or may not take away from the trailer, one thing cannot be denied; that in a period of great upheaval, where division and hate seem to dominate the 24 hr news cycle, nothing unites people like Star Wars – and the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi is hands down the best trailer we’ve seen this year. It both delivers what you would expect from a Star Wars trailer: breath-taking visuals, cute alien characters (I don’t know what those fox/cat creatures are but I demand to know more!), and an epic conflict between good and evil – the fact that it does this while hinting that it will throw everything that we know about Star Wars out the window, re-invent the stakes and deliver a truly great, new Star Wars story is nothing short of stunning.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released on the 15th December 2017 and we cannot wait.
