The first official look at Star Wars: The Last Jedi has appeared, released to coincide with Star Wars Celebration Orlando, which is taking place at the Disney resort. Digital Journal takes a look at the trailer and pulls out seven things of interest.
Before doing so it’s worth mentioning the Florida based event at which the trailer debited. The weekend has already seen many of the cast from the original trilogy reunited to mark 40-years since the first movie (later given the subtitle A New Hope). To the surprise of many both George Lucas (who was mildly critical of the first Star Wars product not under his control – The Force Awakens) and Harrison Ford (who generally distances himself from the franchise) made an appearance. There was also a special clips-and-music feature about Carrie Fisher, who passed away in December 2016.
Carrie Fisher tribute from Star Wars Celebration Orlando (April 2017):
The look back had a strong air of nostalgia, but the Star Wars behemoth continues to rumble on. Following on from the first spin-off movie (officially at least, disregarding one Clone Wars animated movie and two frankly terrible Ewok adventures from the mid-1980s) Rogue One, comes episode 8 scheduled for a Christmas 2017 release (written and directed by Rian Johnson). The new movie is cryptically subtitled The Last Jedi.
The teaser trailer can be watched below:
At the same time the official movie poster was released. In the poster Daisy Ridley’s Rey stands at the bottom, thrusting a lightsaber skyward in a manner reminiscent of Luke Skywalker in the poster for the original 1977 Star Wars:. Is it significant that Rey’s balde turns fro blue to red the higher up it reaches? Also featured in the poster is Luke Skywalker, the ‘largest’ image, together with Adam Driver’s petulant fallen-Jedi Kylo Ren.
So, what can we learn from the trailer? First off, to please fans who were concerned about Mark Hamill’s brief appearance in the previous movie, Luke Skywalker speaks! In fact he is the main person who speaks in the teaser trailer. Second, it seems as if Luke is training Rey to become a Jedi much like Luke was taught by Yoda, although the lightsaber wielding antics look a little like a scene from The Karate Kid. These scenes suggest the movie follows directly on from JJ Abrams’s previous installment. Of interest in Luke’s lair there are ornate tomes embedded in the rock formations and old parchment bearing the Jedi symbol. This suggests Luke is based at an old Jedi temple.
Third, there’s an indication that the force is again out of balance. Luke tests the young Jakku scavenger with ‘light’, ‘dark ad ‘balance’. Fourth, and most startling, it looks like Rey could be the last person trained to become a Jedi. Luke indicates that it is time for the Jedi to end.
“I only know one truth, it’s time for the Jedi to end” (Luke Skywalker, The Last Jedi).
Perhaps this harks back to his failure to properly train Ben Solo (Kylo Ren), who went onto kill his own father brutally with a cross-headed red lightsaber in the previous movie. Or perhaps Luke releases that a new generation of Jedi will be unable to take on the heirs to the Empire, The First Order who seem to be led by a powerful dark side force user in Supreme Leader Snoke.
There’s no appearance of Snoke but there is a fleeting glimpse of Kylo Ren. Here Ren appears to have abandoned his wannabee Darth Vader mask. Plus there’s an action shot one of a mean looking Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, leading stormtroopers and surrounded by flames. Both of these shots suggest some fierce battles taking place.
Fifth, two other characters appear briefly. A back shot of the late Carrier Fisher and a blink-and-you’ll-miss it image of R2D2, seemingly reunited with Luke. The sixth point to note is that longer shots are shown of John Boyega as Finn and Oscar Isaac, who plays Poe Dameron (with his trusty droid BB8).
Most exciting for older viewers is the link back to the original trilogy. When the image is shown of Kylo Ren’s destroyed mask, Alec Guinness’ voice is faintly heard in the background with a line from the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope. Obi-Wan says “seduced by the Dark Side of the Force.”
Overall the teaser trailer suggests a darker tone. Could this be The Empire Strikes Back to The Force Awakens? Time will tell.
