On Friday at Star Wars Celebration Orlando the first trailer was released for Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Being a massive fan of Star Wars and after taking a couple of days of watching the trailer over and over and analyzing it, I thought I would take a little time and talk about this new trailer and discuss my theories and speculation for the film. So without further ado...
Here is the new trailer
Here is the new trailer
If there was ever a perfect first trailer for a film then this is it. There are a lot of nice action set pieces and we get some new and very enticing information that makes this film the most anticipated film of the year.
The trailer starts out with what seems to be a shot of space, but then it slowly transitions to a rock and in similar form to the first trailer for The Force Awakens with a jump scare of sorts. Instead of Finn, this time it's Rey who looks as if she has went through either her first training with Luke or she has come out of a cave of sorts like Luke did in The Empire Strikes Back. The next couple of frames in the trailer are gorgeous distance and overhead shots of Skellig Michael Island with a voiced over from Luke Skywalker talking to who we assume to be Rey telling her to breath and stay calm. If you listen closely you can actually hear a hint of The Joker in Mark Hamill's voice when he says "What do you see back from his days of voicing the character in the Batman animated series. Another great thing about this film is that you can tell Rian Johnson directed the film mainly due to the opening shot of the trailer and the shot we get of the rocks slowly coming up off the ground and if you've seen his previous films that is a typical shot he uses.
After that we get very key shots that give a little insight into the film itself. The first we get is a shot of Leia from behind while the camera closes in on her possibly going over several plans for the Resistance. If you listen closely then you can here the line "Help me Obi Wan-Kenobi" a line in which Leia spoke in Star Wars Episode IV and it makes you wonder why that line was chosen especially when you go to the next shot also we hear Rey say "The Light". In that shot we see Kylo Ren's helmet on the ground destroyed which is puzzling to me because at the end of The Force Awakens when he was on the bridge he took his helmet off and never picked it back up. The only way it makes sense is if he made a new one and he got mad again and destroyed it, Also in this scene if you listen closely you here the line "Seduced by the dark side" a line from Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode IV and in Star Wars Episode VI so a pattern is beginning to form as well as hearing Rey saying "Darkness". Next we get a zooming in shot on what looks to be a book shelf which virtually confirms a rumor that Luke has the old archives of the Jedi and that's even more confirmed when we see the Jedi logo on one of the books and one of the appears to be The Journal of the Whills which if you are deep into the mythology as me, you'll know that this book is massive player in the entire universe. This journal basically tells the entire history of the galaxy and it's easy to see and wonder why people want to get there hands on it. There is also someone whispering in the background and it in fact is Yoda saying "Surrounds us, binds us" which is a line from Star Wars Episode V and of course he is talking about the force. Rey also says "The Balance" which could basically say that Rey can see both sides of the force and how to possibly balance them out which in fact could potentially make Rey a Grey Jedi which would be so awesome.
The next shot might be the best shot of the entire trailer when we pan around a mountain side and see Rey in the distance with a lightsaber practicing her moves with Luke watching from afar and it really hammers home we will see the full training of Rey from Luke. Then we get a shot of ships with red smoke flying from underneath going towards a herd of AT-AT's on the planet Crait (which was revealed by Rian Johnson as a planet with great importance to the overall film) and from my guessing it could be a battle that happens towards the end of the film. Next we get a shot of Finn in his healing pod (wouldn't call it a Bacta Tank due to no water being in the pod) still recovering from his lightsaber to the spine injury he suffered at the hands of Kylo Ren at the end of The Force Awakens. Next we get a great shot of Poe and BB-8 running away from explosions only to run into a group of them in a hangar which seems to be in space and it leads to the battle in space we later in the trailer. Then we get the Falcon back in action and you wonder who is flying it becasue the last we saw of it was on Ahch-To at the end of The Force Awakens and Chewbacca and R2-D2 were beside it as Rey went to find Luke. You have to think that Chewie either left of Rey is flying it with Luke and Chewie on board.
Now the next two shots I think are connected in a big way. We first see Rey running with a lightsaber at what appears to be at night and then immediately we see Kylo Ren with his lightsaber pointed towards someone and possibly engaged in a fight. I say these two are connected because there has been a rumored scene floating around that I am 100% saying is in the film and the guys over at MakingStarWars.net have the story and you check that out right here if you want to check it out. Next we get a shot which to me is an obvious flashback and it has to 100% connect with the scene we got in The Force Awakens with Luke touching R2's head so this scene must've happened right before it and this one shows Luke staring at the burning Jedi Temple afterwards he decides it's time to hide and regroup.We also get a voice over from Luke saying "he only knows one truth" and it connects to what we hear at the very end. After that we get a great shot of Captain Phasma leading a battalion of Stormtroopers into a base and it could be the base in which we see Poe and BB-8 in earlier in the trailer. In the proceeding shot we finally get a true space battle which was lacking in the Force Awakens and this looks to take place either towards the beginning of the film or the end and it very well could be the Resistance feeling their base (an omage to Empire Strikes Back) or possibly defending the base at the very end of the film.
Now we come to the final shot and line of the trailer that has everyone buzzing and that is Luke saying 'It's time for the Jedi to end" with him at the entrance to a cave of sorts the whole thing could mean a multitude of things which I'll come back to in a second. Then we great just a great piece of music from John Williams as the title (now outlined in red) is show with the release date showing shortly after that. Back to the Luke line, to me I think it is Luke saying that the Jedi need to end due to his failures in the past with the training of the Knights of Ren, but to also end the war pointed out by Josh Macuga of Collider and Schmoes Know and the whole Empire vs. Rebellion was started due the Jedi being so ignorant and blind not see that Chancellor Palpatine was the Sith Emperor. After the Emperor was defeated, his legion of followers reformed into The First Order which is continuing the war that was started by the Jedi. Luke's thought is if the Jedi and Sith end completely that the war will stop. To add to that, I think this also shows Luke as a Grey Jedi who are Jedi that can dabble in both sides of the force, but not lean towards one side more than the other and you can go back through the previous films and see hints of this in Luke. As mention with Rey seeing the balance between the light and the dark, Luke is teaching her how to become a Grey Jedi as well.
Also there has been speculation that Luke is now the keeper of the Whills and one big theory is that when Luke was finding other Jedi temples, he figured out that the Jedi weren't all that they seemed to be and their rules were often out of touch or misused only to benefit themselves and not the entire galaxy. Since he is technically the last true Jedi (hint at the title and becasue it was confirmed the word Jedi in the title is singular), that he trains Rey under the new guidelines and teachings to create an new type of order which is what he was trying to do before Snoke corrupted Kylo Ren and the rest of the Knights and Rey is his only hope
Overall this is a fabulous trailer to quick off the road to The Last Jedi and the main theme I got from the film was Balance and the balance between the light side of the force and the dark side of the force is playing a major key in the entire universe and we get those examples in various scenes as well as shots that go from dark to light and vice versa. The next trailer is sure to give us more insight into the film as a whole and maybe we'll get more of the same characters and possibly get a shot of Snoke or even out first glimpse at Benicio Del Toro's character.
Also at Celebration, they did also release the teaser poster which is gorgeous in its own right and here it is...
As for poster itself it might be the best poster ever released for a Star Wars film and that is saying a lot because each are iconic in their own right, but this one is just so amazingly beautiful. It pays an omage to the original poster for Episode IV which had Luke pointing a lightsaber to the sky and now we get Rey pointing one which could be hinting at something bigger for the story. Now the big thing that stands out is the way the lightsaber goes from blue to red which signifies there is going to be a struggle for balance in the film when it comes to light and dark side of the force. Balance also comes into play on the poster with Luke and Kylo Ren where Kylo Ren is just a tad lower than Luke which has to say that Kylo Ren is almost as strong as his uncle.
So ladies and gentlemen what are some of your thoughts on the trailer, did it get you excited for the new movie and are you looking forward to Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.
Jonah Sparks
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