New Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer

[DefunctTheory]

Just to add to that, it really does feel as if Luke kicking some major arse is the only thing which can save this film from it's lack of any real heroic hero.

Well...


This wouldn't be the first Star Wars where the trailers didn't exactly convey stellar characters and exciting heroes.

From what I've seen, the lady doesn't look particularly interesting, but I'm excited for the black dude (Yes, I haven't been paying enough attention to know their names). He has an interesting look on his face when he's facing the Sith - He looks like he wants to fight, but is terrified at the same time. That makes me interested.

Spoiler

THEORY: For decades we've all thought that it was all about the Light and Dark sides of the Force. But what if it was about Anaking bringing balance between the Living Force and the Unifying Force?

If so then what could be happening in movie VII is that the Force--now that it's balanced--is itself literally awakening and people who are Force Sensitive but lack training are finding themselves pushed and/or drawn to those already skilled in the Force (such as Luke and Imperial Inquisitors) as a result?

Well...

Spoiler

The Unifying Force (As a concept) is neither evil or good, but simply is. Its essentially God, and Jedi worked through it and with it much like a monk would with his God. The Living Force is an entirely different concept, where the force is simply, well, a force of nature, to be used towards a goal. It may call and beck and do things that may have some sort of intelligence behind it, but nothing really 'unifying' about it.

Personally, I think 'Force Awakening' simply means that more force users are coming about. Its been 30 years since Vader and Sidious have died, and thus have been unable to cull force users. The next generation of Jedi/Sith/Force Users are 'awakening' to the force, not because the force has changed, but because they weren't murdered in their cribs or abducted and used as pawns by the Empire.

Also, according to Clone Wars, Qui-Gon Jinn's body doesn't disappear because he never fully learned how to become one with the force. He was able, to a minor degree, do so, but wasn't able to fully do so. Yoda and Obi-Wan both learn how to do so entirely, and presumably elevate Qui-Gon Jinn to full fledged force ghost at some point (Unless you ignore the new Episode 6 ending of course, which I wouldn't blame you for). Anakin manages to become a force ghost either through elevation, or because he's the chosen one, and once he rejected the Sith had a revelation about it right before death.

EDIT:

Its a big galaxy guys, he doesn't HAVE to land on Tatooine.

Not Tatooine. Jakku. That we've seen shots that look very evocative of Tatooine could evoke two schools of thought.

1. It looks JUST like Tatooine. So boring! Another desert planet!
2. Deserts tend to look similar. That we've seen a desert planet shouldn't mean we never see another desert again in a Star Wars film, especially as they tend to be cinematographers' delights. It makes sense that the film would create locations that called back to or echoed locations from the original trilogy, as the stated goal is both to usher in a new generation of Star Wars whilst anchoring it in the mythology and nostalgia of the first three films.

As far as I can tell, its Tatooine all but in name. But I'm willing to keep an open mind. From what I've seen, I think I'm going to like it overall (though I still find it hard to get over the Death Star. Come on, J.J.).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I feel like I've experienced the whole movie at this point. Between all the teasers and the trailers, all the production stills, all the press releases telling us who's who and what's what... I wish they had saved themselves a little mystery.

Surprising sentiment. The overwhelming consensus on Reddit was the three trailers gave away virtually nothing of the story.

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/3pfpp1/star_wars_the_force_awakens_trailer_3/

Like, four comments in. Three thousand upvotes.

Do you genuinely feel like you've got the entire movie sussed out? Did you read some leaked spoilers or something?

I already know the names of everyone, their roles in the story, where the action takes place, who shows up, who the enemy is... and I'd rather find out about all of this when I go to the theater, rather than having to chew on it so that the movie doesn't have to tell me the story it already told everybody.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I already know the names of everyone

Do you know Rey and Finn's last names? If so don't tell me, I'm just curious if you do. That information was never officially released.

...their roles in the story...

What's Rey's role? Finn's? Poe Dameron's? Other than a breakdown of whether they're roughly good or evil, what do we know about ANY of these characters?

...where the action takes place...

Other than Jakku, which everyone including me thought was Tatooine, where does it take place?

...and I'd rather find out about all of this when I go to the theater, rather than having to chew on it so that the movie doesn't have to tell me the story it already told everybody.

I can appreciate wanting to go in COMPLETELY unspoiled, but by pre-release hype and trailer standards, this production has been unusually tight-lipped. I've seen trailers that have literally given away the last moments/surprise endings of the film before, or functioned as plot summaries complete with narration.

 

[Asita]

Eh, not really hyped. Maybe they're saving the big guns for the silver screen, but the trailer's not giving me that much to be excited about other than "Oh god it's Star Wars!"

It seems they're putting some serious meat on the bones of the Chosen One prophecy from the prequels: When Anakin/Vader died he brought balance to the Force and that meant...what?

I'm guessing there's a ton of interpretation, EU knowledge, Lucas interviews or whatever that throws what I'm about to say out the window and makes it sound silly, but am I the only one (no Critical Miss links plx) who always thought that bringing balance to the Force prophecy meant empowering the Dark Side? I mean balance (between two things) is two things being equal(ish). Light Side was all over the galaxy, whereas Dark Side was pretty much just Palpatine.

That's been a popular fan interpretation ever since Phantom Menace established Anakin as "the chosen one", and it's probably the interpretation that best meshes with the original trilogy considering the philosophies best associated with it (namely the duality of yin-yang (from Taoism), Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism), but Lucas has officially ruled that the proper fulfillment of the prophecy came with Anakin redeeming himself and killing the Emperor, thus getting rid of the Sith. According to him, the dark side is itself an imbalance. Which, again, seems a betrayal of the original themes and inspirations.

 

[Casual Shinji]

That's a heck of a conclusion to jump to. Oscar Issac is arguably a better actor than anyone we've had in the entire series to date, and has tremendous magnetism. Boyega has shown extremely well in his limited screen time. And Ridley is an unknown. Naturally new characters won't evoke emotion in you upon simply seeing them in stills or teaser trailers, you know absolutely nothing about them. Bit early to declare them 'shit'

To be fair though, Oscar Issac was also in Sucker Punch. And his casting as Apocalypse in the new X-Men doesn't look too great either.

But I actually like the three main newbie heroes from what I've seen of them in the trailers. They look vastly more intersting than anyone in the Prequels did, simply due to them actually having emotions.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

To be fair though, Oscar Issac was also in Sucker Punch. And his casting as Apocalypse in the new X-Men doesn't look too great either.

I can't hold Sucker Punch against the guy. Snyder is not exactly renowned for his ability to wring strong performances out of actors. And Issac was arguably one of the only redeeming elements of the film.

He was the best part of the (absolutely excellent) Ex Machina, and was strong in A Most Violent Year and Inside Llewyn Davis. He feels like an actor who is starting to crest/come into his own. That said, there's no guarantee his performance OR the film will be good, it's just way too early to be hand-waving the new cast/characters as "shit".

But I actually like the three main newbie heroes from what I've seen of them in the trailers. They look vastly more intersting than anyone in the Prequels did, simply due to them actually having emotions.

That also wasn't the fault of the prequel actors, Lucas is an inept director and the dialogue was abysmal. You could've had Daniel Day Lewis and Michael Fassbender in there, and they would've been making a hash of it. Great directors can get amazing performances out of even mediocre actors, and terrible directors can make the best actors in the world look like amateurs.

That said, Portman has been turning in a pretty bi-polar resume since her promising childhood turn in The Professional, including a literal bi-polar in that insufferable Zach Braff film (the name of which escapes me). She seems to be someone who NEEDS an exceptional director or she just mails it in.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I can't hold Sucker Punch against the guy. Snyder is not exactly renowned for his ability to wring strong performances out of actors. And Issac was arguably one of the only redeeming elements of the film.

He was the best part of the (absolutely excellent) Ex Machina, and was strong in A Most Violent Year and Inside Llewyn Davis. He feels like an actor who is starting to crest/come into his own. That said, there's no guarantee his performance OR the film will be good, it's just way too early to be hand-waving the new cast/characters as "shit".

Yeah, he's great, I just like reminding myself that one of his first big Hollywood roles was in a really shitty movie.

But I actually like the three main newbie heroes from what I've seen of them in the trailers. They look vastly more intersting than anyone in the Prequels did, simply due to them actually having emotions.

That also wasn't the fault of the prequel actors, Lucas is an inept director and the dialogue was abysmal. You could've had Daniel Day Lewis and Michael Fassbender in there, and they would've been making a hash of it. Great directors can get amazing performances out of even mediocre actors, and terrible directors can make the best actors in the world look like amateurs.

That said, Portman has been turning in a pretty bi-polar resume since her promising childhood turn in The Professional, including a literal bi-polar in that insufferable Zach Braff film (the name of which escapes me). She seems to be someone who NEEDS an exceptional director or she just mails it in.

While I don't blame the actors, a lot of them had little to no screen presence and seemed casted simply to look hot. Primarily Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. Not bad actors (though I've never been found of Portman), just lacking that spark. But then when McGregor was announced as Kenobi I thought he'd be perfect (and I still do), but yeah... Lucas.

Most of all I like that these new guys are generally unkown. Even Issac isn't that big yet. Instead of going for the regular bland hot new talent, like Jennifer Lawrence and whoever's in Game of Thrones.

 

[Random Gamer]

Isaac was also in Agora, and that one wasn't a shitty movie.

Stuff

Well, you just made me realise what might be the answer to one of the main questions around...

Spoiler

We don't see Luke in the trailers because he's already "dead" and has become one with the Force...

 

[BloatedGuppy]

While I don't blame the actors, a lot of them had little to no screen presence and seemed casted simply to look hot. Primarily Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. Not bad actors (though I've never been found of Portman), just lacking that spark. But then when McGregor was announced as Kenobi I thought he'd be perfect (and I still do), but yeah... Lucas.

Most of all I like that these new guys are generally unkown. Even Issac isn't that big yet. Instead of going for the regular bland hot new talent, like Jennifer Lawrence and whoever's in Game of Thrones.

I think even Christensen did fine work outside of the prequels. Portman reaffirmed her abilities with Black Swan, but I agree that she's not really lived up to her potential through most of her adult film career.

McGregor did the best he could. I think the actor that probably survived the prequels the best was Neeson, in large part because he's never been much of an ACTOR, he just has a movie star's charisma, and charisma can carry you through pretty terrible dialogue and lousy direction. Worked for Ford back in 1977.

Agreed about casting relative unknowns. Huge break for them, and it lets them inhabit the characters without the audience being saddled with preconceived notions.

I like Lawrence. I've liked her ever since Winter's Bone. It's not her fault she's getting overexposed.

Spoiler

We don't see Luke in the trailers because he's already "dead" and has become one with the Force...

Spoiler

We see his metal hand stroking R2 in trailer 2. I'll eat a womp rat if that's not Luke, particularly since he's giving voice over at the time it happens.

 

[PureChaos]

I've only seen ep I, II and III so I guess I should watch IV, V and VI at some point soon as the new one looks pretty good. Would help if I knew what was going on before watching it.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Isaac was also in Agora, and that one wasn't a shitty movie.

Stuff

Well, you just made me realise what might be the answer to one of the main questions around...

Spoiler

We don't see Luke in the trailers because he's already "dead" and has become one with the Force...

Spoiler

Luke's presumably in the trailer/teasers. Or at least some dude in robes with a robot hand.

 

[Spiders In The Brain]

Isaac was also in Agora, and that one wasn't a shitty movie.

Stuff

Well, you just made me realise what might be the answer to one of the main questions around...

Spoiler

We don't see Luke in the trailers because he's already "dead" and has become one with the Force...

Except we've seen his cybernetic right hand pawing R2-D2. [small]Which should be expected of a standard issue asexual Jedi (Remember we're talking about Jedi "monks" rather than standard issue normal folks).[/small]

 

[Spiders In The Brain]

Posting error. Sorry. New here.

 

[FPLOON]

I'm guessing everything that happens in this trailer happens during the first hour or so of the entire 2+ hour movie...

Other than that, that warp speed...

You said it, me!

Also, I wish I could see this trailer in a theater just to really take it in at full force...

 

[Vrach]

Eh, not really hyped. Maybe they're saving the big guns for the silver screen, but the trailer's not giving me that much to be excited about other than "Oh god it's Star Wars!"

It seems they're putting some serious meat on the bones of the Chosen One prophecy from the prequels: When Anakin/Vader died he brought balance to the Force and that meant...what?

I'm guessing there's a ton of interpretation, EU knowledge, Lucas interviews or whatever that throws what I'm about to say out the window and makes it sound silly, but am I the only one (no Critical Miss links plx) who always thought that bringing balance to the Force prophecy meant empowering the Dark Side? I mean balance (between two things) is two things being equal(ish). Light Side was all over the galaxy, whereas Dark Side was pretty much just Palpatine.

That's been a popular fan interpretation ever since Phantom Menace established Anakin as "the chosen one", and it's probably the interpretation that best meshes with the original trilogy considering the philosophies best associated with it (namely the duality of yin-yang (from Taoism), Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism), but Lucas has officially ruled that the proper fulfillment of the prophecy came with Anakin redeeming himself and killing the Emperor, thus getting rid of the Sith. According to him, the dark side is itself an imbalance. Which, again, seems a betrayal of the original themes and inspirations.

Fair enough, as I said, I kinda expected something to trump that theory, but it just seemed so fitting with everything that was said during the prequels about the prophecy, though I've never actually gone as deep with the analysis about the themes as you did. Shame, I kinda liked that theory

 

[DirectorK]

You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that this is going to be an unofficial remake of Episode IV with some obvious differences. I know that sounds crazy but think about it.

From we've seen so far through the trailers:

1. Kylo Ren gets show down and lands on a all but desolate planet like C3PO and R2 did.
2. Rey finds him and helps him like Luke Skywalker did with the driods.
3. They eventually meet Han and Chewbacca and escape the planet from the New Empire just like they did with Luke and Obi-Wan.
4. Kylo will fight against Supreme Leader Snoke is a lightsaber duel like Obi-Wan did with Darth Vader(I highly doubt it but I'm seriously going to laugh my ass off if Kylo ends up sacrifices himself to motivate Rey like Obi-Wan did to motivate Luke. That would just be insulting given the "diverse" cast they've been bragging about over the year).
5. And then we have a big climatic battle against the Death Star 3, just like in Episode IV.
6. Luke will basically be the new Obi-Wan.

Yeah... I think it's safe to say, "I have a very bad feeling about this."

Who knows? We'll see.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Well...


This wouldn't be the first Star Wars where the trailers didn't exactly convey stellar characters and exciting heroes.

From what I've seen, the lady doesn't look particularly interesting, but I'm excited for the black dude (Yes, I haven't been paying enough attention to know their names). He has an interesting look on his face when he's facing the Sith - He looks like he wants to fight, but is terrified at the same time. That makes me interested.

Yeah but lets be realistic about the films starting point. That 70's trailer didn't have the foundation, history, financial muscle or 30 odd years worth of feedback, growth & filtering behind it either. With all that foundation, I'd expect a little more tbh. I'd at least expect heroes who are a bit heroic.

It's not that I don't think they are interesting, I just can't relate to them and they don't wow me. I don't look at any of them and think "he/she's super cool, I'd love to be that person"

After watching the film I may do so, but you only have to look at still pics of Han Solo to think "wow, he's 'kin cool!", whereas these 3 I'm thinking "wow, they look like gimps who I could knock out with a fart"

That's a heck of a conclusion to jump to. Oscar Issac is arguably a better actor than anyone we've had in the entire series to date, and has tremendous magnetism. Boyega has shown extremely well in his limited screen time. And Ridley is an unknown. Naturally new characters won't evoke emotion in you upon simply seeing them in stills or teaser trailers, you know absolutely nothing about them. Bit early to declare them 'shit'.

Oscar Isaac is better than Harrison Ford and Alec Guiness as an actor? I'm struggling to believe that.

But yeah I aint declaring them shit, I'll wait until I see the movie. But as a kid I only had to see an image of Han/Luke/Chewie/Ben to think "they look mint". These 3 don't. they look weak.

They may turn out to be brilliant, but we're looking at the trailer, and looking at it all I'm thinking is "please Luke turn up and kick some arse, because this looks serious soft"

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Oscar Isaac is better than Harrison Ford and Alec Guiness as an actor? I'm struggling to believe that.

Harrison Ford has NEVER been a particularly accomplished actor. He's a wonderful movie star and has tremendous force of personality, but his range is incredibly limited.

Guinness less so, but he always hated Star Wars and kind of mailed his performance in.

But yeah I aint declaring them shit, I'll wait until I see the movie. But as a kid I only had to see an image of Han/Luke/Chewie/Ben to think "they look mint".

That's because you were a KID.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Oscar Isaac is better than Harrison Ford and Alec Guiness as an actor? I'm struggling to believe that.

Harrison Ford has NEVER been a particularly accomplished actor. He's a wonderful movie star and has tremendous force of personality, but his range is incredibly limited.

Guinness less so, but he always hated Star Wars and kind of mailed his performance in.

".

That's what I'm eluding to. Movie star quality. The new gen seem more geeky/emo/wimpy and that ain't what I personally want my heroes to be.

And yeah I was a kid, but I still love having a hero I'd love to be.

Earlier someone mentioned the black guy looking terrified as he squared up to Ren. That aint what I wanna see, a man trained for all his life to fight as a storm trooper bricking it like a pussy. I wanna see someone who'll eyeball him and relish the challenge, even if they're a green farm-boy.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That's what I'm eluding to. Movie star quality. The new gen seem more geeky/emo/wimpy and that ain't what I personally want my heroes to be.

And yeah I was a kid, but I still love having a hero I'd love to be.

Earlier someone mentioned the black guy looking terrified as he squared up to Ren. That aint what I wanna see, a man trained for all his life to fight as a storm trooper bricking it like a pussy. I wanna see someone who'll eyeball him and relish the challenge, even if they're a green farm-boy.

*alluding

Clearly I cannot speak to your desire to avoid "emo" heroes or "pussies". I personally have no desire to return to the stone jawed action heroes of the 80's, a trope that was semi-permanently retired with Die Hard, and good riddance to it. There's nothing wrong with a hero being afraid. As Eddard Stark quite famously quoted "The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid".