Analysis of Full STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Trailer with 147 Downloadable Stills
If you're trying to go into Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoiler-free, I'm going to go ahead and advise you to just stop reading this right now. While technically nothing herein is a spoiler, there will be a lot of speculation centered around what we've seen in the newest trailer. Which, if any of this does turn out to be true, it will indeed be a spoiler. So once again: If you are trying to be spoiler-free, thanks for playing but you've been dealt a poor hand — have a nice day. Before we get started, however, let's talk briefly about the trailer on the whole.
In summation: It's amazing! Start to finish this is equal parts epic and emotional. We get to see Rey doing her thing as a scavenger and hanging out with everybody's favorite rolling droid. We see a little more of who Finn is, and what his story is. We learn for sure about Kylo's obsession with Darth Vader. There are stormtroopers and dogfights, explosions, and tons of everything else that makes Star Wars, well, Star Wars! And that final line: “The Force, it's calling to you. Just let it in.” That can mean so much!
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty of this trailer. Remember, most of this is speculation, so take all of this with a spoonful of salt.
Let's start at the beginning. So far we know very little about most of the characters. We know Rey lives on Jakku (which is the desert planet we've seen in all the trailers), she's a scavenger, and a bit of a loner. I was really excited to see her in action, exploring what looks to me like the inside of the crashed Star Destroyer we've seen.
There's not much speculation there, I know, but I'm excited at the opportunity to see a derelict Star Destroyer.
We get a few seconds of Rey and BB-8, then things get interesting.
We're treated to a few seconds of a far off ship flying upward. The triangular shape of the ship immediately draws up images of Imperial craft (i.e. the Star Destroyers) and I believe this ship has something to do with the search party that is looking for Finn. We know that Captain Phasma will be leading the hunt for him, so this will likely lead up to our first meeting with the towering Stormtrooper captain.
Next we're treated to a pan of a mysterious figure speaking before the amassed forces of the First Order. If you zoom in it's clearly Captain Phasma standing just to the right of the speaker, and they appear to be wearing an Imperial uniform. I believe this to be General Hux, and this to be Starkiller Base, which he commands. This may be in preparation to attack the Resistance forces, or to prepare for an attack by them.
We're treated to a quick shot before Finn takes his helmet off that is interesting to me.
It looks like there's some blood smeared on Finn's helmet. While it's not particularly ominous of anything in particular, blood is a fairly rare sight in these films. I think this shows us that this will be a somewhat darker film.
Finn talks about being raised to do one thing, and the implication is fight. If that's true, he may have been drafted as a child and raised from a young age to be a soldier. This can mean that the First Order is stretched for troops, so they start them young. It could also mean that the First Order is dedicated solely to warfare, and they're troops are some of the best. Stormtroopers that don't miss all the time? Sign me up!
We get a beautiful pan of a TIE fighter, presumably Finn's, spiraling toward a planet that is most likely Jakku. I think these will be in the beginning of the movie. We'll start with Finn fighting his way out, stealing a TIE fighter, being shot down, then we'll be introduced to Rey as seen in the earlier shots.
Finn says he has nothing to fight for...perhaps he'll find his purpose among the Jedi?
Next we get a shot of Kylo Ren standing on what looks like the bridge of a Star Destroyer overlooking something. I honestly have no idea what it could be.
Now we have a couple of shots of Kylo doing what appears to me to be almost praying to Darth Vader's helmet.
We know Kylo is obsessed with Darth Vader, JJ has told us that. This definitely speaks to that, but it would also imply that there is almost a religious fervor to him. He may be so obsessed with Darth Vader because of who he is under that mask. I believe that Kylo Ren is (if not in name) Jacen Solo. In the former EU, Jacen was the son of Han and Leia, who turned to the dark side. He was obsessed with Darth Vader, as Kylo seems to be. We'll talk more about the Jacen parallel in a moment.
We next see what looks to be Kylo torturing Poe Dameron using the Force.
There is a scene in one of the Legacy novels where Jacen tortures a prisoner using the Force. He messes with their minds, forcing them to relive their worst memories and nightmares, then repeatedly smashes their heads into the table until they are dead. This scene seems to fit that. Poe is bloodied (again, we're seeing a lot of blood) and seems to be in excruciating pain as Kylo moves his hand in front of his face. If that is the scene they are portraying, I'm VERY excited to see them do something this dark on the big screen.
We get a great moment of Rey asking Han if all the old stories are true, and he tells her that all of them are. There's some awesome shots of the Falcon doing her thing what looks like on Jakku.
Now in a previous trailer we were treated to Han telling Chewie they were home, and it appears they were on board the Falcon. If it's on Jakku at the beginning of the movie, this could mean that Han and Chewie don't actually possess the legendary ship at the start of the film. Maybe Rey and Finn get it from its current owner and return it to them. This does leave us knowing that Greg Grunberg's character (who has yet to be named) might own the ship at the beginning of the film, but his fate is still up in the air.
We get a great shot of the Falcon traveling through hyperspace (which admittedly looks a lot like one of the scenes from JJ's Star Trek into Darkness.)
Then we get this beauty.
We know that Ren is a title, much like Darth. We also know that Kylo is a part of a group called the Knights of Ren. These are most likely more of these Knights. While we know very little about them, it seems like Kylo may be the only lightsaber-wielder of the bunch.
We're treated to several shots of X-wings, stormtroopers, dogfights, and the like. You know, your typical Star Wars goodness. We get a quick shot of Rey and Finn being stopped in their tracks by an explosion.
There are a number of flags in this picture, but 3 of them stand out to me. Dead center we have a mythosaur skull, the symbol of the Mandalorians. Just to the left of that there is a flag bearing the symbol Boba Fett wears on his armor, the symbol of his clan. Then down and to the right of those we have a blue flag with what looks like the Death Watch symbol on it. I don't recognize any of the other symbols on the flags, but here's my theory. In the Legacy series Boba returns to Mandalore and unites the clans. The Mandalorians stop being mercenaries for the most part and instead work on rebuilding their world and their society. I think this building they're about to walk into is some sort of Mandalorian stronghold, and that Han is taking the kids to ask Boba for help. While that may sound crazy, in the former EU the pair shared a professional mutual respect for each other. On top of that, in the most recent episode of Rebels, it's mentioned that there are Mandalorian strongholds but nobody knows where they are, and we've been told that there will be things in these new movies involving the animated series.
Now we get another look at a shot from the previous trailer with some additional footage.
I believe that these shots are all from the same area. Whomever is with R2 (and I believe it to be Luke) is being hunted by Captain Phasma, Kylo Ren, and a sizable contingent of Stormtroopers. If Luke has been in hiding, as some rumors have said, this could be the First Order's opportunity to capture him.
Rey is crying over what looks like a body. This looks like one of two people to me. If at the beginning of this film Rey is a loner and spending her time on Jakku, then who could she have bonded with to cause this reaction? My theory is that if Kylo is Jacen, Rey is his sister Jaina. If she is the daughter of Han and Leia, either of these will work: Chewbacca or Leia. Now the right side of the shot looks like fur, and in the bottom right corner appears to be Chewbacca's bandolier. It could also be a jacket worn by Leia, as the left side looks like her hair. I know, that's loose. But this reaction would certainly be warranted by the death of her mother.
Now what could cause Han and Chewie, who have been professional criminals, resistance fighters, military leaders, and have been on the lam or in hiding for years at a time, to react in such a fashion. Clearly they were about to be arrested, and based on some of the other shots in the trailer, it looks like they have been a part of the battle all over this footage. So what could have caused them to be so shocked? Shot in the dark here: Luke. We've seen strangely little footage of Luke in the trailers so far, but if Luke were to arrive in the nick of time to save his friends from certain death, that could certainly spark such a reaction.
We're treated to several more shots of dogfighting, and stormtroopers charging off a shuttle.
Then we're back to Rey.
That's anger if I ever saw it. I think this is following her scene with whomever's body she is crying over a few seconds before this. Whoever killed that person is going to face the wrath of Rey shortly thereafter.
More action shots, Kylo looking like a total badass, and then the most emotional moment we've seen so far.
Han embracing Leia. When we last saw the pair they were madly in love, so it's probably safe to assume they're married by this point. Leia is clearly feeling some strong emotions, maybe at the loss of an old friend, who is also a Wookiee? This more solidly supports the idea that Rey is crying over Chewbacca's body earlier, and this is when Han and Leia hear the news that their dear friend is gone.
And now, the piece de resistance:
I believe this will be the only lightsaber fight in the movie, and it won't be what we're used to. When you take a close look at Kylo's saber, it looks very hodgepodge. We know that he built it himself, and that he has little training in its use. We also know that Finn is no Jedi at the beginning of this movie. Which means that we're going to have two people who have very little training or experience using the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy. We'll probably see two people hacking away at each other more like medieval knights, and less like graceful samurai. Personally, this excites the hell out of me. I love the classic lightsaber fight, but I'm ready to see a different type of duel.
As I said before, this trailer was absolutely wonderful. I love that we still know very little about the story. We know nothing about what is going on with Luke, but we have gotten to see some more character interaction between the new gang and the old gang. This seems to be a happy blend of the feeling of the original trilogy, but with some darker tones added to it. While we know very little still, this gives me a lot of hope for a wonderful Star Wars experience, with new stories to tell.
All 147 images have been split into two zip files for easy download.