The newest teaser trailer of the new era of Star Wars films dropped yesterday and all geekdom rejoiced. The reason for all the joy? The fact that, love or hate, they had yet another Star Wars film to endlessly debate. Aside from Marvel, DC, and the Star Trek reboot, the renaissance of Star Wars has further solidified that Hollywood wants even more of that hard-earned geek-cash.
After the advent of The Force Awakens and the absolute box-office steamroller it was, we knew that we'd see additional side stories in the following years apart from the main Episodes VII, VIII, & IX. The first non-roman numeraled Star Wars film looks like it will come out swinging though and so I thought I'd take some time to breakdown the "teaser" trailer and cast some theories of my own into the argument. (Why this got the moniker "teaser" is beyond me. It's a friggin trailer.)
Overall, the information about Rogue One has been kept very "hush hush". Honestly, I think the CIA and NSA wishes they had this kind of security. Unlike a Clinton inbox though, the information that has been leaked has been very vague and high-level. We know that the story has to do with how Princess Leia received the plans for the original Death Star. Ostensibly, we can also assume that we'll see some kind of nods to what put Darth Vader onto Leia's trail at the beginning of A New Hope since all we've had until now is the first title scroll.
Alright, let's dive right in. Unlike the first Force Awakens teaser that was basically a heavy-breathing prank phone call followed by a series of flashy costumes and punctuated by Millennium Falcon pulling an Immelman, Rogue One's "teaser" has a lot more meat and a lot less creeper to it.
Immediately, we are introduced to the second strong female lead of the new era - Jyn Erso.
Of course, geekdom has exploded trying to figure out who she is much like if you've ever seen a girl walk into a miniature gaming store. As of now, there isn't a lot out there that clues us into who she is. On the surface, it looks like she's the typical scoundrel that the Rebellion seems to attract - most of whom look like they haven't showered in weeks. Still, I like the casting of Felicity Jones.
Before we go any farther though, gotta call out somebody...
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| My eyes are up here buddy... |
Didn't think we see it, huh, Mr Guard? Sneaking a peek at the goods? Dirty old man...
Anyway, as the trailer continues, we are shown Jyn has been taken to the Rebel's main base of Yavin IV. Nice to see the old digs again.
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| Uh-oh, there's some Abrams lens-flare. It's sneaking in already... |
The base looks fairly well established at this point in time and we see a T-65 X-Wing in the background. Costumes all fit the aesthetic established in the original film as well. Accompanying our entry into the base, though, was a voice-over listing off all of her crimes against the Empire. All of these are explained by this guy...
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| Get Netflix on that Holotank? |
... and Mon Mothma! Surprise?! She gives a very motherly introduction to the main character of Jyn. Aside from it being pretty much rank-and-file for pretty much any scoundrel in the SWU, we can tell Jyn has been an outlaw, neither beholden to the Rebel's idealism nor the powerful Imperials. I'd count Mon Mothma as another plus for this movie. In terms of the original movies, she's a drastically underused character and the casting director did an amazing job getting an actress who is a dead-ringer for a slightly younger version of the venerated ex-Senator.
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| I'm just gonna brood over here... |
We also meet this handsome gent. Again, no identification or introduction, but I agree with some other sources that I think this could be maybe Poe Dameron's daddy. They look pretty similar and considering it looks like there might be a possible love-interest developed between himself and Jyn, it would give us one hell of a great origin to one of the new core characters.
The trailer continues on to show Jyn acting out her rage with a droid buddy of hers. Effectively, we find out despite her small stature, apparently she is some sort of elemental bad-ass. Not only is the vaunted "stormtrooper accuracy" in question, but I question their martial prowess. Dude, you just got beat up by a girl...
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| We introduce Jyn Erso-Bourne... |
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| And boom goes the thermal detonator! |
So after the soon-to-be iconic Jyn catchphrase is uttered ("I rebel..."), I loved Mon Mothma's smirk.
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| You go girl... |
It's now we get to the money of the trailer. First we see the mission ahead of her. Of course, we already know this movie is about the stealing plans for the Death Star, but why not treat us to some new shots of the tragic monolith.
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| DirecTV or Dish? |
I will admit this is a great scene. Very awe-inspiring, but I'm not really a fan honestly. Considering the lore I grew up with have the central spine reactor, superstructure ribs, and the superlaser in place before the rest of the Death Star was built, the fact that we get treated to a scene where they insert a continent-sized focusing dish in place again looks cool, but it just doesn't jive for me.
That and this...
Good looking Star Destroyer, except for what appears to be a giant drying rack or rabbit ears on top of the bridge? That or they worship the evil Chaos God Khorne...
Now we're greeted by the classic Imperial klaxon and a series of quick snapshots. On top of this we are introduced to who will likely be the foil of Mon Mothma's brilliant white outfit, Forest Whitaker's grizzled old character who is yet to be identified.
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| Despite the limp, I wouldn't mess with him... |
His character is a giant unknown to me, but I think I am safe in saying he's probably going to be the type of character who will help our team of protagonists, but also stab them in the back. His speech about how far Jyn will go sticks to a very common pragmatism that movies tend to use for those grey-area villian/anti-heroes that end up being the guy you should have shot much earlier in the film. Ya know, not before they effectively sacrificed your whole team for some Judas-like sum of money.
Stay tuned for part 2 of my breakdown of Rogue One. There's a whole lot more to cover, and that's best done in a second post. Overall, I am really looking forward to this movie, as you will see in my next post.
Until then, may the Force be with you.
You can find part 2 of my breakdown here:
Rogue One: Breakdown and Reaction pt 2
Please note, all images are screenshots from the Rogue One trailer found on Star Wars Official Youtube channel located here: https://www.youtube.com/user/starwars. Dropship Inbound is a non-profit blog and all images are protected under Fair Use. All rights reserved for the images of the trailer are Lucasfilm and Lucasfilm-affliates.
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