Perhaps the most anticipated movie of the millennium, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, had its third and final trailer revealed during ESPN’s Monday Night Football – and its a doozy.
Middle of the way through the final trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens, villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), commander of the First Order, delivers a line that might as well be a mission statement for LucasFilm and Disney’s entire Star Wars enterprise, whilst the camera hovers over the melted remnants of Darth Vader’s helmet.
“Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish, what you started.”
If Vader is representative of the original trilogy, then this line is the purpose of Star Wars: The Force Awakens – to redeem the past, return it to glory.
So much of this final trailer is steeped in ideas of loss and reclamation. Rey (Daisy Ridley) floats into the remnants of a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer on Jakku, her desert home world, in the garb of a scavenger – deliberately reminiscent of Luke Skywalker on Tatooine. Finn (John Boyega) speaks of being lost, without anything to fight for – after having a dramatic experience with, possibly, the Force causing him to abandon his fellow Stormtroopers.
There is the exchange that set a thousand hearts on fire – Han Solo (Harrison Ford) explaining to Rey that the stories of the original trilogy – “the Dark Side, the Jedi” – are real. “All of it.” The original stories that captured millions of imaginations have since themselves become legends potentially gone unbelieved – that their power was lost. And Han Solo, one of those legends, is alongside these new heroes as they plunge into those legends – shots of the trio plus, of course, Chewbacca, entering ancient temples. Long forgotten.
And then there is the exchange that bookends the trailer, the first appearance of Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o), speaking to Rey.
“Who are you?” asks Maz. “No one,” replies Rey, before Maz Kanata speaks not just to her, but to the millions of faithful watching and waiting for this December. As Finn and hotshot pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac) grasp shoulders. As Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) stalks through burning ruins. As John Williams’ score kicks up again and the red and green of laser blasts from X-Wings and TIE Fighters. As war between the Empire and Republic returns to the galaxy far, far away – and we return to it.
“The Force is calling to you. Just let it in.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters December 16th-18th around the world.
