The biggest criticism thatStar Wars: The Force Awakenshad to shoulder while it was making all of the money was its similarity toA New Hopeand the original trilogy on the whole. And though I remain firm in my belief thatThe Force Awakensis the third bestStar Warsjoint behindA New HopeandThe Empire Strikes Back, this criticism is absolutely correct and it undeniably limits a good movie that had the potential to be great. It’s also worth noting that, in the years since the original trilogy, both Disney and Lucasfilm have become passionate believers in avoiding genuine originality and invention as often as is humanly possible.
That is certainly the reason that we are now here with videos that shows a near-mathematical visual and auditory equation, employed to avoid trying to think of a new idea between the release of the trailer forThe Force Awakensand this past Friday’s release of theStar Wars: The Last Jeditrailer. The videos, which you can take a look at below, clearly lay out how every cut and every cue in theLast Jeditrailer has been timed to evince the same exact reaction as theForce Awakenstrailer did in 2015. It’s actually kind of fascinating until you realize just how depressing it is that arguably the most influential and inspiring franchise in the history of the American cinema, one built on a galvanizing sense of creation and imagination, can’t even think of a fresh way to roll out a teaser. As a noted idiot would say: Sad.
My very real hope is that this is not a bad omen forThe Last Jedi, which looks visually spectacular and promises plenty of high stakes drama under directorRian Johnson. I’m not indifferent to the nostalgia that these films represent but bothRogue OneandThe Force Awakenswere problematic specifically because they felt the need to constantly remind people that they were watching aStar Warsmovie. Whether or not they’ll be able to give Johnson a bit more breathing room will not be known until Christmas Day.
Here’s the video:
Here’s a different version via The Playlist:
