New Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer (spoiler predictions)

Exciting action sequences, the Millennium Falcon dodging lasers, a cyborg-ish Sith, some of our favorite planets return (Naboo, Tatooine, Hoth, maybe others), plenty of Storm troopers to get toasted, a few more droid characters to add a chuckle or two during tense moments, the Rebel Alliance is still doing its "rebellion" thing. Nothing disappointed me in that trailer, I'll be honest.

The trailer devides me into two different thoughtlines.

A million things shooting at a million things while depicted with bland, cold, glossy unrealistic colors and lighting. It looks and feels as if its printed on some shiny plastic foil. The trailer makes it feel a lot like the force unleashed style of games. and the look and feel of the actors...


But at the same time it is supposed to be a starwars movie, so i want to watch it and give it a chance.

Trailers...

Trailer made me nostalgic but didn't move me in a... this movie will rule... sort of way.

I saw the original Star Wars in theatres when it first came out... 23 times. Many years later and episodes 1, 2 and 3 crushed my Star Wars spirit. I now find it very hard to get excited about any of this... especially after what J.J. did with the last Star Trek... he had the whole physical universe open to him and Trek's driving theme of exploration... and instead he chooses to go with terrestrial terrorism... I guess because it's current and relatable... yay. >_>

So I'm going to wait on this... I will not see it premiere day, but will wait on word of mouth before I bother. I'm hopeful of coarse, but not optimistic.

It's interesting that they're basically giving away nothing regarding the plot.

A consistent complaint in recent years has been that movie trailers have gotten to the point where they're practically mini plot summaries of the entire movie, so in that sense maybe this is a nice change. On the other hand, it really just seems like they're saying "fuck you, you're going to see the movie anyway, we don't have to tell you anything about it."

But why is the Rebellion still a rebellion and not the New Republic?

All I know is that it'll have a hard time competing with Mad Max Fury Road as this year's most badass movie.

I really like Kylo Ren, I think he and Rey are my favourite new characters. The idea of a Darth Vader fanatic as one of the villains is really cool, I think the reason he's working with the First Order (The New Empire) is because they've discovered that the Rebellion found Anakin's lightsaber, something a fan of his would most certainly want. I'm still curious as to who "The Knights of Ren" are, and whether or not Kylo is a sith or if this is just a one time thing. Can't wait to see what they do with Luke in this movie, the trailer makes it seem like the planet he's on with R2 is being attacked by The First order and Kylo, wonder how that plays out.

Edit:

"I'll finish what you started" makes me think that thing on the poster really was a Death Star, kinda stupid to bring it back a third time imo.

I'm actually quite pleased with the Trailer. While it seems to be the most flashy of all Star Wars (and that could raise concerns of story quality and implementation vs aesthetics and action) I think it's possible to have cake and eat it too when it comes to one of the most funded and sought after movie franchises in the world.

Star Wars always had its sort of subtle cheesiness in a mysterious universe that gradually grew from curiosity into epic confrontation. I hope this movie manages the same. However the trailer seems to show off so much action like it was the final epic battle scene. Is this trailer for just the one installment of the new trilogy? I suspect a greater threat is definitely lurking.

Looking at the images on starwars.com i am going to retract my statement about the colors which bothered me ever since the first teaser trailer. most of it makes (digital and cgi) sense.



This scene with r2d2 shows the warmth of old-school lighting work, even though it creates that plastic lighting feel in the lower left corner.



Then there is this image, with the mechanized creature which seems to mimic the classic look of starwars machinery while having this natural film-roll look to it. Yet there is that light bleeding trough from behind.



So i guess it are things like this which create that shiny plastic feel for me... The lightsaber throws a flare over the screen, the blue lights throw up some flares, the depth of field blur feels a bit off. it is as if it was printed on reflective plastic. The J.J. flares. joke ; for gods sake man, the blue light in the back is in front and on top of the hand.. dude..

all in all i do not want to know what people had to do to even create all of that... this stuff looks unreal and off the charts in terms of promising effects and situations. i hope i can say ; "go disney, go !"

Spoiler Alert: Its like Guardians of the Galaxy 2 but with older characters.

Avoozl said:

But why is the Rebellion still a rebellion and not the New Republic?

Because you can't make a movie about scruffy renegades battling an evil empire if they defeated said evil empire in a now 30 year old movie.

The likely answer is that after the death of the emperor and vader and the destruction of the second death star some upstart simply filled the power vacuum and assumed control. It is a galactic empire after all. One battle loss, however significant doesn't mean total defeat.

The one thing that bothers me though is, how does the new darth who gives a fuck have vaders melted helmet? Luke cremated him and then just left his remains where they lay?

Quast said:

The one thing that bothers me though is, how does the new darth who gives a fuck have vaders melted helmet? Luke cremated him and then just left his remains where they lay?

Either Kylo was at the celebration as a child (very unlikely), Luke kept it as a souvenir (unlikely), or someone who has some sort of connection to Kylo took it and was at the time part of the alliance (still unlikely).

Will be interesting to see how this and the recovery of Anakin's lightsaber are explained, considering Bespin is a gas giant and the saber most likely fell to the planet's surface.

Edit: And does anyone else think that's Carrie Fisher's voice at the end?

Linguica said:

"fuck you, you're going to see the movie anyway, we don't have to tell you anything about it."

A good attitude.

Han Solo returns, what else do you people want?

Not sure I saw the last star trek film, but I remember being irked by all the lens flares on Abrams' first Star Trek film. Here he seems to really be focused on getting this film right (is that even possible? Is there actually even consensus on what that means? I can't be bothered to look up star wars forums to find out). I think the trailers show that he is rising to the challenge of making something fresh while at the same time making it feel like it is consistent and part of the original Star Wars.

I also like the cast choice for the Jedi protagonist; strikes me as similarly non-super-star status and homely like Mark Hamill was. I mean he doesn't seem all suave and sexy and stuff. Maybe I'm setting the expectation bar too low? It's hard not to after so many movies get botched. I am finally learning not to carry insane expectations anymore. But I think some of the comments in here don't even make sense. I'd like to hear with some specifics and details regarding look, special effects, plot and characters, how people think the movies should be done.

FireFish said:

A million things shooting at a million things while depicted with bland, cold, glossy unrealistic colors and lighting. It looks and feels as if its printed on some shiny plastic foil. The trailer makes it feel a lot like the force unleashed style of games. and the look and feel of the actors...

I didn't see what was wrong with the lighting or the colors. I think it looks good. Okay, I see your more detailed post farther down; you are much more discerning than I and pick up on much more than I do. I can't argue with the blue light error that you point out! But it doesn't feel unreal to me watching the trailer.

Here is the original star wars trailer for comparison:

Here is an interview with Harrison Ford shortly after the original film came out. Jump to 2:10 for the part most pertinent to this discussion:

Yeah, after looking at the screencaps from starwars.com it al seems to fit in place when ignoring the lens flares. purely based upon the images they seem to have achieved a classic look in general. Some shots almost look as if they where filmed with a filmroll. Many trailers are prety effective at giving an absolutely wrong impression anyway.

I always found that Reality holds no grounds in starwars as its a sort of magical science-fiction fantasy adventure which breaks and crumbles if injected with realism and ways to prove how everything could work... which kind of got destroyed when they wasted the mysterious magical force with the midichlorians in episode 1. Which is what i hope you meant with your reference to 2:10 in the interview.


It almost feels as if they want to recreate the original movies their "impact" in terms of visual awe... hence the heavy, loaded, bussy action scenes in the trailer. trailers... dont get to deep into them.

edit ;
not suited for work
http://i.imgur.com/rd5jhzV.gifv

I actually like the fact that there's almost no plot details. I tried to avoid almost everything on Jurassic World since things seemed pretty spoilery (Trailer shows Helicopter crash, and oh look, principle character happens to have an affinity for helicopters. Oh, and look! He's flying the one that goes down. I wonder if he dies... Note that I didn't watch any full trailer until after I saw the film, so for the most part, I didn't spoil myself) but with the way that plot details are pretty under wraps, I feel like I can safely watch a trailer and not have anything given away, which should hopefully leave a fresh impression on me when I see the film.

I also like the fact that Han Solo seems centric to the story, as well as the fact he actually looks like Ford is enjoying this. He seems spry, and lively. I mean, he wasn't totally dead in Indy 4, he just didn't look as enthused then as he does now. The fact that the actors of the new characters are all relatively unknown actors also seems to be helping it. We don't have to rely on Star power to root for the new characters like Rey, Finn, or Poe (Though Oscar Isaacs is probably a bit more well known than Ridley or Boyega, so he may not technically count).

All in all I'm excited for the film, and already bought some tickets (Which was a painfully slow process).

FireFish said:

So i guess it are things like this which create that shiny plastic feel for me... The lightsaber throws a flare over the screen, the blue lights throw up some flares, the depth of field blur feels a bit off. it is as if it was printed on reflective plastic. The J.J. flares. joke ; for gods sake man, the blue light in the back is in front and on top of the hand.. dude..

It's probably been a while since you've seen a movie done in 35mm (and 70mm IMAX) film rather than cheap and fast digital. Go watch Spielberg's older films again and you'll recognize all the quirks you describe.

Clonehunter said:

I tried to avoid almost everything on Jurassic World since things seemed pretty spoilery

Spoiler: the dinosaurs escape.

Bucket said:

Spoiler: the dinosaurs escape.

They eat stuff too.

Bucket said:

It's probably been a while since you've seen a movie done in 35mm (and 70mm IMAX) film rather than cheap and fast digital. Go watch Spielberg's older films again and you'll recognize all the quirks you describe.
Spoiler: the dinosaurs escape.

Yeah there are other movies with those quirks, but without JJ flares or the motivation a movie with the name Star Wars could give one to break it down. ;)

The trailer didn't have the same impact as either of the previous teasers which would culminate with the well-known Star Wars fanfare. I'll have to see the movie, because the trailer didn't really impress me, and the villain looks quite unoriginal. Old men in power, like Palpatine and Dooku, are scarier than robo-ninjas with long dead role models.

FireFish said:

... for gods sake man, the blue light in the back is in front and on top of the hand.. dude..

That's exactly how it's supposed to work. The light flare is not AT the light source... it's an artifact of the lens, which is in-front of the hand... so yeah... it "better" be on top.

Why does the director wish to bring attention to the fact that the events unfolding are being filmed with lenses? I never got that. One thing that I really loved about The Lord of the Rings was the look of the film, it felt very real; like Middle-earth was a real place with real events (which is fitting since Tolkien imbued it with as much verisimilitude in his writings).

I just got talked into being booked in to go see this before Christmas in what I think is the most expensive movie ticket I will have bought in my life, so it had better be good.

Is it just me or did movie tickets suddenly sky rocket as much as gas prices suddenly dropped?

Hellbent said:

Is it just me or did movie tickets suddenly sky rocket as much as gas prices suddenly dropped?

I've been signed up for 3D, xtreme something, premier seating, goodness knows what else... the works.

18 English pounds, or nigh on 30 Yankee dollars.

I'm not joking when I say I could get a blow job for less, mind you not one that lasted two hours...

AwesomeO-789 said:

Will be interesting to see how this and the recovery of Anakin's lightsaber are explained, considering Bespin is a gas giant and the saber most likely fell to the planet's surface.

Bespin? I would presume vaders light saber was either destroyed in the death star, or was burnt along with him, or luke maybe kept it?

Quast said:

Bespin? I would presume vaders light saber was either destroyed in the death star, or was burnt along with him, or luke maybe kept it?

Only time I recall Vader ever losing his lightsaber is when Luke lops his hand of in front of the Emperor while above Endor's moon?

okay great

We get to see JJ Abram's version of what we already saw in a pandering and fanservicey way with really dumb lightsabers and a really forced "ethnically diverse" cast to overcompensate for the whitewashed cast of the previous 6 films. And it counts the prequels as canon.

I'm not sure there's much hope with this one. Not that I was too much of a Star Wars guy to begin with. Of course, it could be good. Guess I'll have to wait and find out.

Yo geemork, is that you?

Hellbent said:

Is it just me or did movie tickets suddenly sky rocket as much as gas prices suddenly dropped?

I bought 3 at 13 USD each, so I dunno. Thing is, I could have got them cheaper, if I went to a different theater. But the theater I wanted at an Ultra Screen theater. Plus the people I bought tickets for are paying me back anyways. However, the difference was 3 dollars, which is pretty standard around here. Except for Marcus 5 dollar Tuesdays.

Quast said:

Bespin? I would presume vaders light saber was either destroyed in the death star, or was burnt along with him, or luke maybe kept it?

I meant the lightsaber Anakin used when he was still a jedi and Obi-Wan gave it to Luke in the first movie. It's in the trailers and now Finn is using it.