Entertainment
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Trailer Breakdown and Reaction
After waiting for months for the official trailer for The Last Jedi film, the trailer officially aired during Monday Night Football. It was amazing and had a bunch of new information for fans to dissect — or freak out about. After stormtroopers took the field the trailer began. Let’s watch it and then break it down because there was incredible scene after scene.
The trailer began with Snoke talking about presumably Kylo Ren, saying that when he “found You (Ren), I saw raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special.” That could also mean Rey as trailers like this always misdirect people, but it did seem like he was talking to Ren. Snoke recruited Hana and Leia’s son from Luke’s Jedi Temple before The Force Awakens in a terrible tragedy that killed the other trainees. It clearly negatively affected Luke.
The trailer then cuts to Rey, who is practicing fighting with Luke’s lightsaber against a rock formation on the island seen at the end of Force Awakens. “Something, inside me has always been there. But now it’s awake and I need help,” she says, presumably to Luke, who is training Rey — perhaps begrudgingly, from the look of him.
It then shows Rey training some more and cracking the ground — which is pure rock — in a way that frightens Luke. Luke later says, “I’ve seen this strength once before and it didn’t scare me enough then, it does now”. This could lend credence to the fan theory that Rey is actually a descendant of the emperor from the original movies.
Considering she has an English accent, though, some think she’s related to Obi-Wan. Unless he’s talking about Anakin, but the Emperor was more powerful than Darth Vader — but maybe not Anakin since he lost limbs and was on life support the rest of his life and lost some of his “chosen one” power.
Either way, she’s someone that neither force-sensitive Leia nor Han Solo recognized in the first film so that should eliminate the theory that she’s Luke or Leia’s child. The other theory is that she’s the next “chosen one” and essentially a reincarnation of Anakin. Which, would just be weird but could make sense, especially if you watch Star Wars: Rebels, which has delved very deep into the Force and how it maintains the balance.
The next shot shows Kylo Ren hitting a wall and then flying in a new looking ship, fighting a gigantic warship that is presumably under the control of the Resistance. Kylo has a black tattoo over the spot on his face where he was scarred during the fight he lost against Rey at the end of Force Awakens. Ren narrates:
“Let the past die, kill it, if you have to. It’s the only way to become what you’re meant to be.”
Ren looks like an amazing pilot, and he ends up thumbing the button for some sort of torpedo, which appears to be aimed directly at his mother, General Leia’s ship. The creators of the new trilogy have said that the original plan was to make the first film “about” Han, the second about Luke and the third Leia.
But perhaps with the death of Carrie Fischer and the fact that Disney/Lucas Film has said that they weren’t going to use any CGI to replace her, they’ll actually have Ren finish his descent into the dark side by killing his other parent. Either way that statement shows that he’s still struggling with the light side, which could become a huge plot point in the film — as perhaps he’s just a “grey” Jedi, someone who can pull from both sides as opposed to relying solely on just one side.
The trailer then shows more classic Star Wars space fighting between good and bad. Then there’s a shot of Chewy being Chewy with one of the Porgs from Luke’s Island also making some sort of sound. The trailer then shows a healthy Finn looking bad ass with another lightsaber-fighting Captain Phasma, who blocks his saber with a weapon. The other shots pepper in some Poe being Poe, as well.
Luke, either talking to Rey or his sister, Leia “this is not going to go the way you think”, giving credence to the title, The Last Jedi. Either Luke has just given up or he knows that perhaps Rey is too powerful and too tempted by the Dark Side.
There are theories online that Rey is actually going to end up on the Dark Side with Ren actually ending up turning to the light — or grey? — side. That’d be amazing, but really it looks like Finn could be turning to the Dark after that as he seems to be being escorted somewhere in all black. He also wears black in his fight with Phasma.
Next, Supreme Leader Snoke reappears and says:
“Fulfill your destiny”, with a really quick and obstructed shot of Snoke in the flesh — as he was only seen as a gigantic hologram in The Force Awakens. He looks old like a pale raisin, so he must be extremely powerful with the Force because he wouldn’t be able to fight anyone physically — which may explain his head wound.
The shot of Snoke is followed by a shot of Rey apparently attacked by the Force. She’s leaning back a bit with her arms to her side and she appears paralyzed and in immense pain. Taking notes I called it a “Force seizure” and that’s really the best way to describe it.
She might end up at Snoke’s headquarters, apparently a gigantic ship called the Supremacy.
The trailer ends with Rey saying:
“I need someone, to show me my place in all this”… and Kylo holds out his hand like he’s about to team up with Rey as he proposed while fighting her at the end of Awakens. It did appear that they may have been in two different places in that situation so it could’ve been patched together.
Would something that big be put in the trailer? Ren could be reaching out to Finn — or even Poe.
Either way, the first note was just “wow,” and really if you weren’t excited about this movie after the teaser trailer, you are now.