Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Reaction
I’ll come right out and say that I hope this article is coherent. In October 2012, the announcement was made that Lucasfilm had been acquired by Disney in a mega blockbuster deal. Future Star Wars movies were announced, including Episode VII, which we now know is titled “The Force Awakens.” Not long after, the man who brought Star Trek back to life (J.J. Abrams) was hired to direct. After months of incessant rumors, the official cast was finally announced, confirming the return of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, among other original cast members. Despite all these major milestone announcements for Episode VII, this movie never felt real to me. It’s not that I didn’t believe this film would actually happen, it just didn’t feel tangible yet.
Now I’ve seen a trailer. It’s a teaser, but I’ve seen a trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. It’s real, and the hype towards December 18th, 2015 has officially begun. We are full fledged into Star Wars marketing. But it’s time to stop rambling and break down what the hell I just saw. If you haven’t seen this trailer yet, I’m going to spoil the force out of it, so please keep that in mind. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but here’s my analysis on the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens…
What I loved most about this trailer is that it felt familiar, but different. It’s a Star Wars movie. There is no doubt about that. It had a different vibe though, and I loved that. We need a different vibe after those prequels. Nothing about this looked overly digital. Nothing about it looked CG. It was gorgeous. And even though nobody spoke aside from a voice-over (we’ll get to that in a minute), you can tell there’s a great focus on character already. That first shot of John Boyega in a Stormtrooper costume was very powerful, as was what I believe was Daisy Ridley who looked like a clone of Natalie Portman, so I’ll speculate for now that’s Leia’s daughter.
I did not expect all the Stormtrooper references or the TIE Fighters as I thought we wouldn’t get a lot of Empire shenanigans, but clearly that’s a part of the film. Speaking of the villain side of the trailer though, the Sith Lord walking through the woods and unleashing that lightsaber was insane. What the hell are those two little extra blades? That’s bad ass. Then of course we have the voice-over. Benedict Cumberbatch was never confirmed for this movie, only rumored, but I’d be shocked if that wasn’t his voice.
Then of course we have the grand finale. The cherry on top. The stuffing in the turkey. The Millennium Falcon flying through the air as two TIE Fighters start shooting, and then J.J. Abrams cuts away. Holy matza ball soup, are you kidding me? The teaser could have just been that. That’s probably the greatest tease you could ever put in a trailer for a movie.
If I had one complaint about this trailer, it’s that we didn’t get one shot of an original cast member. I’m shocked there was no Luke. I’m sure the next trailer won’t be for a while, I’m guessing May with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. This was a tease in every sense of the word, but it was enough to go on for the next few months. The tone in this trailer was perfect. It felt dark and serious, but had a sense of whimsy and fun. That’s Star Wars. If it wasn’t there already, the anticipation for this film has officially begun. It’s going to be a long year.
Trailer Rating: 94 out of 10
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