Last night, the world tuned into ESPN to see the Philadelphia Eagles trounce the New York Giants. Oh yeah, there was also the debut of the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens final trailer. Like most fans, we here at LP were glued to our TV’s for the two-and-a-half minutes that the trailer was shown and then proceeded to view it multiple more times when it hit the web moments later.
While some have taken to dissecting the trailer frame by frame and scouring it for clues, we, instead, have chosen to present our overall impressions and whether the trailer served to whet our appetite for the film. However, our resident Star Wars expert, Patrick, will share some of his spoiler-free insights in his review near the bottom of this post.
In case you (somehow) haven’t seen it yet, here is the new final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens followed by commentary from some of the LaughingPlace staff.
Doobie:
Unlike a lot of the Star Wars fans that saw this trailer, I would’ve been watching this football game anyway. So thank you, Disney, for bringing even more fans to football. And, oh yeah, thank you for bringing more than a few new fans to Star Wars. I have no doubt Disney upped the Force Awakens Q score many points with this event. The way the online world reacted, you’d have thought a Kardashian showed another body part. Thankfully, this was good news that brought us together.
The trailer itself is still a blur. I’m not a Star Wars fanboy, so I wasn’t looking for anything specific, just going with my gut. My gut says this film is going to be a lot of fun and, based on the tone shown, perhaps a bit serious which I consider a good thing. Varied lands, droids, stormtroopers, heroes, villains, epic scope, old favorites shown and some old favorites still hidden — I could not be more excited for December 18th. I’ve got my tickets!
FanBoy:
I just can’t process it. I am sure the trailer will be analyzed and dissected frame by frame, but for now I am just trying to take it all in. There are two things that happened tonight that I just can’t get over. The whole internet stopped and watched a trailer all at the same time. In just 40 minutes, the trailer had over 2 million views on Facebook. While the world often gathers together in the face of tragedy, it was nice to see us enjoy this communal moment for something fun and relatively trivial.
It also struck me how Disney has changed. Disney has done major trailer releases before they went on a buying binge. I remember some Pirates of the Caribbean trailer events that seemed like a big deal at the time. Of course, they seem like non-events to what we just experienced. Now Disney is involved in the biggest franchises in the world that breaks the internet.
Reports abound of ticketing websites crashing — of course they did! I really can’t blame them. When practically every movie-goer is trying to buy tickets all at once, how could they meet demand? There is not enough server power in the galaxy for this kind of internet event.
That being said, I have my tickets… Now I am just waiting for the big event.
Alex:
A young woman, a self-professed “Nobody” from a desert planet. A rogue Storm Trooper, lost without purpose. A masked lunatic, seeking to finish what was started decades prior by a man who had a secret change of heart. And the legendary stories passed around through generations, reality lost to time, turn out to be true. “The force… it’s calling to you… Let it in…”
Upon my sixth viewing of the trailer (today), I can’t help but feel enormous excitement for Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. This new trailer instantly feels familiar, yet different all at the same time. Jakku is not Tatooine, but it feels close drawing an instant parallel between Rey and Luke. And the fact that Rey seems to be gaining some Force abilities, along with Finn the Storm Trooper, makes me even more pumped. A new order of Jedi seeking the help of legendary heroes, Han Solo and Princess Leia. Where is Luke? I imagine he is the Jedi Master they seek to truly hone their skills so that they can take on this evil-looking power that appears to be on the verge of rising. Indeed, it seems the galaxy is in need of “a new hope”… again.
Like every Star Wars fan, this trailer left me with a lot of questions. I personally prefer not to have anything spoiled for me prior to December 17th at 10:20 when I will be sitting in a dark, hallowed IMAX hall with my 3D glasses and my jaw agape for roughly two hours of excitement and wonder. Star Wars is back, and this time it’s going to be really, really, ridiculously good. I can tell… I can feel it… my force has awakened.
Kyle:
Tickets: purchased… well, they were purchased about an hour before I saw the clip but maybe I’ll buy them again just because this was amazing.
I liked how this trailer was very much focused on the new set of characters. If this is any indication, I think this will be Rey’s film and I’m excited for that. Personally, I hope Adam Driver stays in his Kylo Ren mask the entire time because that could be really distracting for me otherwise.
When the poster was released, there were a lot of questions about where Luke was. I think this trailer will raise even more questions — none of which I dare speak aloud for fear someone will try to answer them. Still, the glimpses of Han and Leia were nice, though, as I said, I was glad the new characters got the vast majority of the time.
The ending of the trailer was actually a little different on TV than on YouTube, but I still like how the title lingers with a somewhat-serine orchestration. The music struck me as hopeful — perhaps this chapter will bring “a new hope” to the galaxy? Overall, I think this clip did a great job of encompassing the epic, exciting, and nostalgic elements of Star Wars and blending them all together. If Abrams pulls that off in the film, I can’t wait.
Patrick:
This is it dear readers… the big one… the one we’ve been waiting to see… THE FINAL TRAILER. I’m not joking, I literally just finished watching the trailer for The Force Awakens 30 times. I’m pausing for a few minutes to write this and then I’ll probably watch it 30 more times. Well, that’s not entirely true. I watched it once, got online, bought our tickets to the film, and then watched it 29 more times… now I’m writing.
So, first impression? I sat there with my mouth hanging open, got a huge smile on my face, teared up, sat there with my mouth hanging open, and so on. Disney and Lucas continue to give us amazing visuals, hints about the story, and not much else. You know what? I’m fine with that. It has become common practice in Hollywood to show all the best moments in a film’s trailer, the funniest jokes, and to reveal exactly what’s going to happen in the film. Not in this case. In eight weeks, I’m going to sit down in a theatre with my wife and three kids and we’re going to watch a film where anything could (and probably will) happen; we won’t know what to expect because they didn’t give everything away in the trailer, or the toys, or magazines, or books, or anywhere else for that matter.
I do want to take a moment, however, to examine the trailer a bit closer, and break down what they did give us.
The first minute of the trailer features the same three characters they’ve been showcasing in each trailer: Rey, Finn, and Kylo Ren. Each gets about a 20-second intro montage. We see Rey, scavenging the wreckage of what is probably the downed Star Destroyer we saw in the opening of the previous trailer. Finn and his Tie Fighter, I assume crashing on Jakku where he’ll meet Rey and Kylo Ren on what looks to be the bridge of a New Order Star Destroyer. We see Darth Vaders burnt helmet and hear Ren saying “I will finish…what you started.” After a few more quick shots we see what appears to be a tree line or, possibly, an entire planet being destroyed. There has been talk of a “super weapon” so we’re probably seeing it in action here.
At this point, there are some shots of the Millennium Falcon being chased by Tie Fighters, and the music caught my attention. There is a newly orchestrated version of Han and Leia’s love theme playing during this portion of the trailer, followed by Han Solo speaking with Finn and Rey. She states that “There are stories about what happened.” Han replies that “It’s true…all of it.” We can assume they’re discussing the events of Return of the Jedi, and the fall of the Empire…but we really can’t be sure. This is followed by Han saying “the Dark Side…” accompanied by shots of Kylo Ren and Stormtroopers, and then as he says “…the Jedi.” we get a front and center shot of Finn. A hint? Perhaps. We know he has Luke’s Lightsaber from The Empire Strikes Back, which also happens to be Anakin’s Saber…more on that shortly. At this point it’s a fast-paced montage of clips, we finally get a quick look at Leia in Han’s arms, and Finn firing up Luke’s Saber to take on Kylo Ren. If you’re paying attention here, you’ll notice that Ren’s hood and mask are removed. You had to figure that this was going to happen at some point anyway. I mean, why hire Adam Driver to play the character if you’re not going to show his face?
And that’s it. That’s all they’re giving us. Still no sign of Luke. In fact, he’s not on the poster either. Of all the original cast, Han has gotten the most screen time so far, suggesting that he’ll be getting the biggest role of the three, at least in this film. We know Luke will be appearing in this film, but it will likely be a very short appearance to set up his role in the next film. It’s also interesting to note that we get the Lucasfilm logo, not the Disney logo everyone was panicking about. They aren’t sticking it in front of Marvel films… why would they do it here? That said, I need to get back to watching this trailer some more.
Until next time, may the Force be with you!
So what did you think of the final Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer?
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