Talking about comic books, TV shows, movies, sports, and the numerous other pastimes that make us Gentlemen of Leisure.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Force in Focus: The Force Awakens Teaser #3


Thursday saw the release of a new 15 second teaser trailer for The Force Awakens, and while it was mostly designed to show off Instagram's new landscape feature and doesn't offer up a ton of new content, that doesn't mean they're aren't still some little details worth discussing!

Spoilers below, but nothing too egregious beyond what's been shown in the trailers and discussed in the Entertainment Weekly article.

The First Order 


The opening shot of massed First Order troops (as we've since learned that this faction, at least, of post-Imperials is called) is reminiscent of the closing shot of Attack of the Clones, intentional or not, here with the camera looking out from behind the leaders, as opposed to the earlier one, which viewed the leaders head-on from the perspective of the soldiers. Also, note the two Stormtroopers flanking the officers; with their backpacks and skirts, they are reminiscent of the Snowtroopers on Hoth.

Rey Amidst Foliage 


The brief shot of heroine Rey and the droid BB-8 is notable for showing some greenery in the background, suggesting either that the desert world of Jakku where most of the previous trailer footage has been set is either not a mono-climate planet, or else that Daisy ends up somewhere else in the course of the film.

Kylo Ren Attacks


One of the most talked about images of the first teaser was Adam Driver's Kylo Ren stumbling through a snowy forest, activating his complete-with-a-lightsaber-hilt weapon. The similar settings and construction of this trailer provides the likely identity of his target: John Boyega's Finn.

Finn Wields a Lightsaber


This is the image that has the internet buzzing, as we see Finn, previously known as the out-of-breath Stormtrooper from the first teaser, brandishing a lightsaber in a similar setting to Kylo Ren's lumbering attack. Far more notable than the fact that he's holding a lightsaber, however, is which lightsaber he's holding: it certainly looks like Luke's original lightsaber, the one which previously belonged to Anakin and was lost when Darth Vader lopped off Luke's hand in Empire Strikes Back. It made a similarly brief appearance in the first teaser as well, where it appeared that Leia was handing it off to someone.

Now, it appears Finn can be added to the chain of people handling Luke's old lightsaber in the film. What that means remains to be seen: is he Luke's son? Leia's? An apprentice? A random Force-sensitive kid Luke takes under his wing? Something else entirely?

Also, it should be noted that contrary to what some fans on the internet are claiming, the fact that Finn is holding an active lightsaber does not immediately mean he's a Jedi and/or Force-sensitive, as there's nothing in the canon and very little in the Old Expanded Universe to suggest that only Jedi or Force sensitives can wield lightsabers. It certainly helps in terms of wielding one effectively, but any old idiot can pick up a lightsaber and thumb it on, as both Luke and Han proved on separate occasions in the Original Trilogy.

1 comment:


  1. Finn holding that lightsaber is really cool. No matter whose it ends up being (or having been) nor what that might mean, I just love seeing that trademark pose, kind-of between how you’d hold a broadsword and the stance you’d have in the batter’s box in baseball. Actors must be trained in how to properly hold the lightsabers in general and then discover how their own character plays into that.

    ReplyDelete

Comment. Please. Love it? Hate it? Are mildly indifferent to it? Let us know!