Well, if there was any doubt that the new Star Wars movie would be the biggest thing ever, a new trailer debuted during a truly awful Monday Night Football game tonight. It will be the final trailer before the December 18th release, and it is getting an incredible reaction. As I am writing this, the MovieTickets website is down, which as far as I know has never happened before. The trailer is being shared on social media so frequently that I have to assume is record breaking. Some fans are almost certainly already figuring out how to cosplay as background characters, like that red droid that walks by the gang for a second. This is gonna be huge.
The new trailer was a great balance between introducing us to new characters and while also giving us a peek at old favorites, with a couple of notable exceptions. We got a first full look at Rey (Daisey Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). We know they are the three most important characters because on the poster, they had the biggest heads. Each had a sentence describing their characters, which already makes them more three dimensional than anyone from the prequels. Rey is a nobody, probably hiding from some sort of heroic destiny. Finn is a stormtrooper who was abandoned by the Empire, also probably as a result of some sort of heroic destiny. Kylo Ren is the ultimate Vader fanboy attempting to build what looks in the poster like a third Death Star, probably this time because of some sort of villainous destiny.
Han Solo (Harrison Ford) seems to exist exclusively to bridge these new films with the old ones as a sort of new Obi Wan, who will explain what’s what to our heroes before going down in a blaze of glory. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) also gets a short but tender moment in the trailer embracing Han. There is a lot of speculation as to why she is crying. Some fans think it is because she just thought about Alderaan for a second while others think it a result of JJ Abrams not letting her grow out her cocaine nail. It realistically probably has something to with her brother and his absence in the trailer. We’ll get to that in a second.
We also got a couple of looks at some less prominent new characters. Heroic X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) gets a few seconds of screentime. He gives Finn a friendly pat on the shoulder in one scene and in another seems to be at the mercy of Kylo Ren. The chrome tropper, Captain Phasma (Grenwolyne Christie) also only shows up for briefly and with relatively no new footage. The award for the character with the least screentime who was certainly in the trailer has to go to General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) who plays a high ranking First Order general and appears for half a second while giving a speech to some StormTroopers.
The big question on everyone’s mind concerns the lack of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). While you may be able to see him about a minute and forty seconds into the trailer, that doesn’t give us much new information as to what part he will play in the story. Fans who have been keeping close eyes on the internet have seen some leaked images of Luke that point to him becoming some sort of force wizard. It remains unclear and if JJ Abrams’ previous films are any indication, Luke will ultimately turn out to be whatever JJ denies the most.
The other notable omission from the trailer is a mysterious character known only as Supreme Leader Snoke. The character will be portrayed by Andy Serkis and will be 100% CGI and that is all we know for certain. Some fans have speculated that Snoke is a misdirect and the character is actually the legendary Darth Plagueis who trained Palpatine. He is super evil and is also known to carry a staff similar to the one Rey has been seen holding. I have a feeling Luke and Snoke’s absence from the trailer is deliberate and their stories are heavily connected.
Overall, there was a lot to like about this trailer. The visuals were stunning. The characters were intriguing. The score was gripping. December 18th can’t come soon enough. Everyone strap yourselves in as the Hype-Falcon makes the jump to light speed.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters on December 18.
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Matthew Nando Kelly is an incredibly cool and handsome staff writer for Pop-Break who was allowed to write his own bio. Besides weekly Flash recaps, he focuses on film, television, music, and video games. Matthew also has a podcast called Mad Bracket Status where he discusses pop culture related brackets with fellow Pop-Break writer DJ Chapman. He has an unshakable love for U2, cats, and the New Orleans Saints. His twitter handle is @NationofNando. Did we mention how handsome he was?
got my tickets for 11:30 showing on 12/17! Been waiting for this for 30 years!!!!!