There’s so many trailers dropping at the moment! And from what I hear, there’ll probably be another big one dropping in a few days time, so depending on how interesting it is there should be another one of these posts next week too. Jeez, I have a life to lead, y’know? Oh, no wait, no I don’t, that’s why I’m picking apart a trailer for the new Star Wars movie.
Sand, lots of sand. So this must be Tatooine, a planet it’s getting unbelievable that anyone still lives on because of how much terrible stuff goes down there. That tiny blip on the bottom left is presumably Daisy Ridley on the speeder-bike/ice lolly be saw in the first trailer.
There’s a crashed X-Wing in the foreground, and an Imperial Star Destroyer crashed in the back. Clearly, some shit has gone down.
Mark Hamill’s on voiceover duties, giving us his force-based family history: “The force is strong in my family. My father has it.” What I find interesting here, other than the fact that even non-superhero movies seem to feel the need to throw in a shot of a broken mask, is the use of the present tense. “My father has it.” Apparently Darth Vader still has the force. Now, we know he’s a force-ghost (as seen alongside Yoda and Obi-Wan at the end of Return of the Jedi) so perhaps it’s something like the presidency where you’re still called Mr. President even after you die. Regardless, is ghost-Anakin going to be in this movie? Just don’t let him be played by Hayden Christensen, for Fett’s sake.
Mark Hamill continues: “I have it,” so he still has the force, and presumably uses it, and also still has the cool metal hand, and R2-D2. I have no problem with any of these things. Also, the brief snippets of dialogue and visuals we get seem to show Luke Skywalker is no longer the whiny, pathetic twit from the original trilogy. I have no problems with this either.
“My sister has it. You have that power too.” And here’s the point(s) of the narration. We’ve never seen Jedi Leia. We don’t even know if Leia is a Jedi, but here we have definitive confirmation that she has the force. Also, either she or Luke has presumably had some form of offspring, who has the force too. When this lightsaber is handed over in the trailer, it’s to the line of “My sister has it,” which would indicate this is Luke handing his death-stick to his sister, but it could just as likely be one of them passing on an heirloom to a youngster for the first time. If so, at what age is the handover being done? How old would someone need to be before being told they have force powers?
Aerial combat! X-Wings flying everywhere! I like X-Wings, so hurrah!
One of these is being flown by Poe Dameron, as played by Oscar Isaac. I approve of this casting, because Oscar Isaac is great.
Here’s that potentially ridiculous light sabre sword in action.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and super-cool new robot BB-88 fleeing a big explodion, as is recommended. There’s a strong possibility that BB-8 will be my highlight of this film, and I will need at least one scene that’s just a conversation between him and R2D2, in nothing but beeps and whistles, for at least 18 minutes.
Adam Driver? Maybe. Villain? Definitely. Mask is not as cool or iconic as it needs to be, this isn’t a Vader or Maul look that will catch on and be instantly recognisable to everyone, so I’m guessing there’s something else about this character we’ll find out along the way.
Gotta have those stormtroopers in there, being all storm-troopery, as pictured. My guess is that big symbol on the background is a target, and these guys are being taught how to aim straight. Clearly they’ve mastered the art of stormtrooper accuracy, seeing as they’re facing the wrong damn way.
An indoor battle, involving TIE-Fighters, one of whom makes a stormtrooper fly upside down. I can’t wait. 
John Boyega’s Finn, as a stormtrooper. Is he one? Is this an episode 4 callback to Han and Luke going undercover? Either way, just a big well done for casting Boyega, I loved him in Attack the Block.
Clearly, not all the Star Destroyers were Star Destroyed. Y-Wings! Woo!
As before, if this is the film’s main villain, the design isn’t iconic enough. There’s a chance he could just be a chromed-up stormtrooper with a flair for the theatrical, but if it is a primary villain, then the design is believable, but lazy.
BB-8! Being adorable! I love this guy already. Also, I want one.
Come with me if you want to not die.
Millenium Falcon! Fan service! Flying inside something whilst being chased, just like it’s done before!
“Chewie, we’re home.” The line is both a fist-in-the-air, but also a depressing confirmation that Han got old. Has Chewie even changed? Do wookies age? Don’t point me towards the Star Wars Holiday Special, I don’t actually care that much. It’s good to see the Wookie Bowcaster is still operational, but there’s a part of me that thinks Harrison Ford might ruin this film. I like the guy, I like the character, I’m just not sold on why he’s come back. We’ll see. This shot is purely for the fanboys though, and that’s fine. Hey, you know who we haven’t seen yet? C-3PO. I wonder if there’s been some aesthetic change to old goldenrod. Or he gets disassembled really early on and everyone celebrates.
Obligatory title shot! I liked this trailer. There’s a good balance of pleasing the old fans and showing enough glimpses of new stuff to entice new ones, without giving away too much of the plot. Terminator Genisys, this is how it should have been done.
Star Wars: the Force Awakens is released internationally in December 2015.