Trailer Time: Star Wars: Episode IX – Teaser

Wow.



Wow!





Okay...



Let's address the elephant in the room: The Last Jedi.



I have been clear about my overall positive assessment of Episode VIII, despite it's flaws.  But the reality is that the last movie in the saga burned many fans.  One of my best friends, a life-long Star Wars fan has said that because of how the "ruined" Luke Skywalker, he has no interest in these movies.  That is a damning statement and I think it is a feeling shared by many, many fans.  Rian Johnson's desire to do something radically different and to defy expectations has led to intense disappointment and frustration.  I am convinced that a major reason for the failure of Solo was due to the backlash against The Last Jedi.  It is true that there many people who loved the non-traditional path that movie took.  But they are not enough to make up for the loss of the long-time fans.  Star Wars can survive without the fans brought in by The Last Jedi.  It cannot survive without the fans that were turned away.



A lot is riding on Episode IX.  The main question is can director JJ Abrams win back the fan base.



This teaser is Abram's first olive branch to that community.



I, for one, loved this trailer.  It made me giddy the same way that I was when I first saw the teaser to The Force Awakens.  Here are my thoughts:



-Great action:  The opening moment is set up so well.  It is character based, as we get into the emotional world of Rey.  But this culminates in an incredibly cool action moment.



-Luke:  The voice of Luke Skywalker featured so prominently in the trailer is a good touch.  It is a nice nod to The Force Awakens teaser, except this time the dialogue is not reconstructed from previous films, but it clearly new dialogue from this movie.  That is important because one of the things that burned a lot of fans was the loss of Luke in the last film.



-Fixing what is broken:  the shot of Kylo Ren's helmet being reforged is important for me.  The helmet, which was broken in The Last Jedi, was a symbol of the Star Wars tradition that was being rejected in the last film.  The reforging of the helmet is Abrams way of saying that he is picking up the fragments of the broken franchise and putting it back together.



-Lando!:  This made be giggle with joy.  Watching Lando laugh as he pilots the Millennium Falcon was a nostalgic shot in the arm.  I like that he's wearing his outfit from Solo.  A friend of mine said he imagined Lando putting it on, looking in the mirror and saying, "Still fits!"



-Return of the Jedi feel:  The shots of the heroes on a skiff in the desert evoke a strong sense of Return of the Jedi, which is a good thing.



-Emotional reunion:  I'm not sure of the context the Leia scene, the emotion of that moment was strong on many levels for me.



-Evil laugh: There is some debate as to who is laughing, but I think that it is clearly Palpatine.  Again, this is Abrams reaching into the Star Wars past and bringing it into the present.



-Title:  I LOVE the title!  One of the things that bothered many people, including me, was that Star Wars seemed to be rejecting the Skywalker saga in favor of less interesting story elements.  The Rise of Skywalker could mean many things: Luke, Kylo Ren (who is a Skywalker), or even Rey (I still stand by my theory about who she really is.  Regardless, this is the first Star Wars movie with "Skywalker" in the title.  And that makes me very happy.



Thoughts?