Well, thanks to the star wars celebration, we now have the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Teaser. Time for a breakdown then!
We open on Rey, (Daisy Ridley) in her Jedi gear from the last film, seemingly in the middle of some Jedi training. Judging by her gasps and the pained expression, she’s not having the best time. The disemboided voice of luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) Channels Yoda in Empire Strikes Back as he tells Rey to “Breathe” and asking her to reach out and what she sees as a result.
Then we start to cut away from Luke and Rey to take a look at the rest of the galaxy as handily visualised metaphors for good and evil are presented.
Light: A very subdued shot of General Leia (Carrie Fisher) follows, as she stands on the bridge of a spaceship, watching a galaxy map. (Good Choice by Disney not to make a big fuss of her. Supposedly Carrie Fisher has a bigger role in this film, but keeping her performance under wraps for now is less mawkish.)
Darkness: Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) distinctive helmet lies shattered and broken on the floor. There’s a lot to read into this, potentially shedding his need to hide behind a mask after the events of The Force Awakens. The destruction could also be him Still struggling with what the mask represents in his dark side.
The Balance: This is one of the most interesting Shots. Seemingly on the same island Luke has been living on, Someone is looking at the symbol of the Jedi Order from the Galactic Republic. As Luke was never technically trained as a member by Obi Wan, it seems he’s been collecting relics of the past, searching for answers.
Then as the music swells, we see Luke guiding Rey as she practices Lightsaber Combat. Then it’s time to check in with the rest of the cast. There’s an absolutely gorgeous sequence where we see skimming speeders dragging themselves across a saltflat. They’re throwing up clouds of red salt in their wake as they stream towards a column of AT-AT and AT-ST Walkers. In terms of visual effects, it’s arresting, with the haziness of the Walkers in the distance making them seem ethereal and menacing.
From there, time to check in with everyone’s favourite Resistance Fighter couple,
Finn (John Boyega) still seems to be feeling the effects of fighting Kylo Ren, as he remains in a medical pod. Understandable really. He is just a normal human, and he went toe to toe with a trained force user and held his own. He’s earned a bit of a nap.
Then we get a few shots of our boy Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac) as he and BB-8 try and make their way out of whatever Resistance Base they’re in.
I’m fine with referencing Empire Strikes back a lot, but we do need to be seeing some new plot developments to make them worth watching again. The attack on Echo Base on Hoth is still excellent, but we have all seen it several dozen times at this point. This is hopefully more of just an homaging effort we’re seeing here in the last jedi Teaser than with the actual film.
From there, a swift montage of shots being cut together.
We see the millenium Falcon fighting TIEs, suggesting Chewie is going to still be on board when the First Order eventually finds Luke and Rey.
Of note, the juxtaposition of Rey/Kylo Ren is still happening, with the fun motif of Rey being the aggressive one while Ren plays Defence.
Then some of the really interesting shots appear.
Luke and R2 watch over burning wreckage. I imagine we will be getting a flashback to the attack on Luke’s students by the Knights of Ren, so we can understand why he ran from the galaxy.
Oh and look who it is: Captain Phasma and her Storm Troopers. This feels more tied to the scenes where the Resistance Base is under attack, as opposed to the destruction of Luke’s School, but this order of shot progression works visually so let’s go with it.
Then, We have a full on Resistance v First Order Spaceship fight. Based on what we saw in Rogue One last year, this will hopefully make for an excellent action sequence.
Finally, we get to the real Wham lines of the teaser.
Luke Skywalker says that “It’s Time for The Jedi to End”
Remember what I said about Luke never being a full Jedi? Well, it seems that he hasn’t found peace in his research. As the Jedi Order messed up so very often, maybe this is Luke (And Disney) making a clean break between the old and the new films. Here, Luke seems to offering a new path, being the one who is supposed to bring balance to the Force. This is The Last Jedi Teaser after all.