Source: ScreenRant. Animated Gifs: Tumblr.
Read the Part 1 here.
THE SON OF SOLO
Ben Solo may be the son of Han Solo, but as Kylo Ren it’s hard to see any traces of the old scoundrel in him at all. He is actuaslly Han’s opposite in many ways: he trained to be a Jedi, he abandoned those close to him, and he’s super intense, but it seems like a hint of that old Solo spark might shine through in The Last Jedi, as well as a heaping helping of Skywalker when he gets behind the stick of his TIE silencer. Don’t be surprised if the son of Han Solo and the grandson of Anakin Skywalker is more dangerous than ever when he’s flying.
We definitely see a bit of his grandfather in him here, too, not just in his prototype TIE fighter that clearly resembles Vader’s own TIE Advanced, but the way he simply rips through the Resistance fleet may remind a good number of fans of the time Darth Vader laid waste to most of Phoenix Squadron on Star Wars Rebels.
TIE SILENCER AND THE SUPREMACY
Speaking of Kylo Ren’s TIE Silencer, we get more than a good look at it in the trailer, including a shot that reveals the massive Mega-Class Star Destroyer, the Supremacy, in the background. The TIE Supremacy is a fairly natural evolution from the classic TIE design, but it’s clearly a larger size and its boxy red cockpit instantly makes it iconic compared to its simplistic TIE fighter cousins.
The Supremacy, on the other hand, is a major departure from the more familiar triangle shape of Star Destroyers, but it’s also an incomparably big, with a wingspan that’s more than 8 times the bow-to-stern length of a Super Star Destroyer. This behemoth is the center of the First Order’s power and even serves as a sort of mobile shipyard, with the facilities to produce more Star Destroyers on board. Without any planets to establish a bearing, it’s hard to know where or when this battle takes place, but considering the Resistance ships appear to be engaging, not fleeing, this is most likely not a part of the opening space battle.
THE BOY AND HIS MOTHER
Kylo Ren’s physical scars still haven’t healed from the duel he had on Starkiller base after killing his father, but that doesn’t stop him from going after his mother, Leia. We still don’t know the sequence of events that led to him turning on his uncle’s Jedi, killing them and joining the First Order, but he was obviously strongly affected, believing he has power in his destiny, saying “kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become who you’re meant to be.”Despite this dangerous mantra, it looks like he hesitates after targeting the bridge of the Mon Calamari Cruiser his mother is on. Is the pain from killing Han still too fresh, or has he always shared a stronger bond to his mother, making it harder to pull the trigger on her?
Regardless, the idea of literally putting Leia in his crosshairs is sure to get a reaction from fans after the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher at the end of last year. Her remaining role in the universe is uncertain, but there has been a lot of discussion over her story being properly resolved in Episode IX, meaning we won’t have to sit through Kylo Ren continuing to kill our heroes, which admittedly just wouldn’t go over well.
THE MIGHTY PORG
The Porgs are all the rave with The Last Jedi, and apparently, they’re fairly prolific on the island of Ahch-To, but this trailer only features one, and it appears to have significantly more personality than people had been ascribing them previously. While it could just be this single moment and not a predominant characteristic, the behavior of the porg when it bellows to echo Chewbacca almost leans more toward Minion than it does penguin, but either way, it appears Chewbacca has a new pet – or friend – in the single porg that tags along to Crait, although fans would surely be excited to learn the Falcon’s cargo hold has been entirely taken over by the winged creatures.
The porgs have already drawn some comparisons to the somewhat controversial Ewoks of Return of the Jedi, but it’s not yet clear if they’re able to play a part in the story of if they’re just some fluffy eye candy and comedic relief and play no other role. Either way, you can expect this movie to sell a lot of stuffed porgs.
FINN VS PHASMA
Anyone still mad that Phasma didn’t get any epic fight scenes in The Force Awakens should be thrilled to see this. Phasma and Finn finally face off for the first time (say that 5 times fast) in what looks like one of the most visually impressive scenes in the trailer. Phasma’s armor has never looked cooler, and you can even see Finn’s reflection in her helmet.
How we get here is another story. There’s an earlier shot in the trailer of Finn being led by stormtroopers indicating he’s been captured. Since the fight scene appears to take place in the hangar bay of the Supremacy, Finn is probably on the Mega Sar Destroyer. With one of the last shots of the trailers suggesting Rey may also be holed up on the ship somewhere, this could be a rescue mission, but the state of the hanger indicates there’s a lot more going on, and maybe the Resistance was able to land a major blow as a part of a more coordinated effort.
REY TAKES A DIVE
Rey appears to undergo a variety of different training programs on the island under Luke’s supervision, although it’s not clear exactly how long the training lasts in total. This shot has her diving into a pool and swimming to the bottom, possibly in search of something, and we see a dangerous looking skull with long teeth visible down in the corner of the screen.
This could simply be a physical conditioning exercise, but she appears to be in search of something. According to some of the promotional images. Luke’s X-Wing, and who knows what else, appear to have sunken to the bottom of the ocean near the island. Luke also noticeable isn’t carrying his green-bladed lightsaber in any of the images (not even at his belt), so it’s possible that many of Luke’s belongings, including his lightsaber, are with his X-Wing, or maybe he even sank them himself as a part of his self-imposed exile.
ENTER SNOKE
After only appearing in giant hologram, Snoke finally makes his way to the screen and he looks like another brilliant Andy Serkis motion-capture creation. Given, Snoke looks close enough to human that it should be possible to portray him simply with traditional makeup – like Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, but if Snoke is truly far taller than a normal human, then that would make more sense. It’s difficult to gauge his height with the limited context of the shots he appears in here.
In the fashion of the traditional Star Wars baddie, he’s urging Rey to fulfill her destiny and join him. His Force powers are on display here as he levitates Rey as she squirms, clearly in pain. Now that we know Kylo Ren and Rey both go to Crait, that’s probably how she got captured again, although, after the way her last fight with Ren went, it’s hard to imagine her capture being a simple task, unless she went willingly, which could very well be an indication from the next scene.
A DANGEROUS LIASON
This last scene might be the biggest shocker of the whole thing. In fact, if you string Rey’s dialogue together from the beginning of the trailer, it appears as if maybe everything she says could belong to this final scene, making her dialogue “something inside me has always been there, but now it’s awake and I need help… I need someone to show me my place in all this” If that is truly all spoken to Kylo Ren, there’s a number of potential scenarios.
First, the impression the trailer gives is that maybe Luke’s refusal to train her eventually forced her to leave and she’s now willing to explore other options. This seems fairly unlikely since she just saw him kill Han Solo, but it’s still a possibility. The other is that this scene isn’t actually happening. Looking around the background, it appears as if they’re in the middle of a burning structure. Her Forceback in The Force Awakens notably ended with Kylo Ren, so what if that happens again here when she sees Luke’s temple destroyed and then she has this vision.
Either way, it gives the impression, or hope, even, that Rey and Kylo will find a way to settle their differences and fight on the same side. For who and against what, who knows, but taken in context, it seems very unlikely that the two would actually form any kind of alliance, at least not in this movie.
“THIS IS NOT GOING TO GO THE WAY YOU THINK”
Jumping off that last point, Luke has a bit of dialogue that almost seems pointed directly at fans: “This is not going to go the way you think,” possibly serving as a hat tip to the numerous layers of misdirection going on. Snoke’s dialogue could actually all be a part of his interrogation of Rey (instead of split between Ren and Rey), Rey’s dialogue may all be directed at Kylo Ren, and there’s the significant potential of some dream/vision sequences, all of which cloud the proper order of event. Then, of course, the trailer is lacking any easily identifiable major 3rd act setting or event meaning even the few puzzle pieces we do have don’t assemble complete snapshot.
This trailer may show a whole lot more than the last one, but when it comes to actually revealing significant plot elements, it might actually be obscuring the movie’s plot even more than the last trailer, meaning some of the movie’s biggest reveals may actually end up waiting for a theatrical experience, which is truly exciting.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in theaters on December 15th.
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