With Star Wars Celebration in full-swing, the release of the first teaser-trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi was inevitable. As expected, the newly released teaser for the Rian Johnson directed film appears to be promising to make some pretty big changes to a galaxy far, far away.
Check it out below!
Visually, the film looks to be appropriately stunning and colorful. We see the return of Ahch-To, the beautiful water covered planet, that serves as the home of the first Jedi Temple. There are also several brief action sequences highlighted, including a space battle between the Resistance and the First Order, a ground assault involving new speeders and First Order walkers, and the destruction of what appears to be Luke Skywalker’s (Mark Hamill) Jedi Temple. Additionally, Johnson seems adamant on showcasing the sheer breadth of the film’s rich environments. Overhead and wide shots provide a sense of grandeur to the film’s physical environments, and they’re made all the more epic with Luke’s voice-over.
Aside from the vistas and visuals, we see a few short clips of several recognizable characters, including ace X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Issace), the adorable BB-8, a recuperating Finn (John Boyega), Resistance leader Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and a very angry looking Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Much of the trailer’s focus is firmly on Rey (Daisy Ridely) though, and what appears to be some pretty intense training under the watchful eye of Luke.
It’s through Rey and Luke that we start to get a sense of what direction the film might be going in, hinting that Rey’s apprenticeship under the Jedi Master will be vastly different than what we (and she) might have come to expect.
Easily the biggest moment in the trailer that has left countless people to obsess and speculate over is Luke’s ominous words in the final few seconds. “I only know one true thing,” Skywalker says. “It’s time for the Jedi to end.”
Paired with John Williams’s terrific score and the reveal of the menacing red Star Wars title card, Luke’s words carry a tremendous amount of dramatic weight. Since the beginning of the saga, it’s always been assumed that the act of bringing “balance” to the force was the destruction of the Sith and the return of the Jedi; just a simple, but compelling good vs. evil story in which the light side would snuff out the dark side. However, as Luke’s newfound sentiment seems to suggest, he’s come to learn that the Jedi’s idea of “balance” was incredibly flawed, and that the Force is far more complicated and bigger than what was previously established in the films and other Star Wars media. It’s possible that Luke’s new personal philosophy is that as long as light side force users exist, dark side force users will too. With both fighting for dominance, it naturally creates an imbalance. Whatever it might be, it adds an incredibly interesting wrinkle to the Star Wars mythos that will hopefully expand upon George Lucas’s initial ideas of what the Force was over 40 years ago.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will arrive in theaters on December 15, 2017.
What about you reader? What did you think of the trailer? Is there anything that you saw that warrants speculation and examination? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
