At D23 Lucasfilm unloaded a brand-new behind the scenes video for the upcoming saga film, The Last Jedi! Needless to say, it was gorgeous. One of my main complaints in regards to The Force Awakens was the lack of imagination. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fabulous film and the reboot of the Star Wars franchise we all needed. However, I missed some of the creativity in regards to design, etc. from the prequel era, and The Clone Wars. We got some of that in Rogue One, with the Ring of Kafrene, and various other tech and environments, which was awesome. However, it looks like visionary filmmaker Rian Johnson is going to take that up a notch! Let’s take a look at some of my favorite clips before I get into speculation and potential ***SPOILERS***. Here’s a gallery of some amazing shots, but not the ones I want to dig into, which will follow this gallery:
Alright, now let’s get to some to some bigger stuff and some speculation. First off let’s talk about the design issue I mentioned above. Check the gallery below and tell me if you’re not pumped for the new environments and prequel-esque design elements Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson have created for The Last Jedi:
We are looking at what is sure to be the casino environment on the new planet of Canto Bight, and there are some awesome new aliens and patrons here! I especially like the tiny gambling table dealer! Also awesome is the pilot (Poe? Finn?) falling through what appears to be a room full of some sort of spheres. I have no idea what these are, but it’s an awesome shot! Next up, let’s look at some returning characters and speculate a little! First the gallery:
Our main characters are featured above, so let’s tackle Rey first. We see Daisy Ridley as training on Ahch-To, in the image we’ve seen in the previous teaser trailer. It’s such a rad shot, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Rey as she continues her journey. Next up we see Rey and Finn (John Boyega and Daisy Ridley) clowning around in what appears to be the new planet of Crait, which to me is very interesting. As I’ve said before on The Exhaust Port, I felt like Rey would be on Ahch-To for the bulk of the film, training with Luke, and this may very well be the case. I guess I’m just surprised that they have already let it out that these characters are reunited in the film. One of the best and most intriguing shots in the entire clip is the shot of Daisy training to fend off multiple (three!) attackers! Is this the rumored showdown with the Knights of Ren? Snoke’s Praetorian guards perhaps?? Who knows, but I am PUMPED for this – even more so now. Next up, we see Finn seemingly exiting out of the healing chamber we saw him in during the teaser trailer a few months ago. Cool to see this referenced again in the behind the scenes clip. Then an awesome shot of newcomer Kelly-Marie Tran as Rose, and John Boyega’s Finn in First Order disguise, and I’m assuming their infiltrating a base or ship?? Awesome! Now for some Kylo Ren. Not too much here, but his scar looks better than I thought it would, after all the ‘scargate’ drama. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love how Rian got ahead of this thing and if he wanted to change it for aesthetic and/or story reasons, then good on him. I love that dude. And the last pic – likely the one of the very first shots of the film — Luke accepting his old (and his father’s old) lightsaber from Rey on Ahch-To. Chills!!! Now let’s take a quick peek at some newcomers to the saga:
Above we see our first onscreen glimpse of Benicio del Toro’s character, nicknamed ‘DJ’, a nickname director Rian Johnson has said will be pretty clear to the audience once the film debuts. Not much to go on here, but he looks cool. Next we get a quick shot of Laura Dern’s new character, Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo talking with General Leia Organa, again portrayed by legendary actor Carrie Fisher, who we all know has since passed away. I think Dern looks AMAZING here, head-to-toe. I can’t wait to see her role unfold as it’s been rumored she is at odds with both Leia and Poe in the film. Now let’s just take a quick glance at the new First Order Executioner Stormtroopers that wield the new ‘spinning blade’ weaponry that’s been hinted at. Take a look below:
Between these bad boys and the aforementioned Praetorian guards, we are in for a real treat when it comes to upgraded the First Order’s fighting forces! One shot I want to touch on is this shot of Kylo Ren’s mask – or masks as it were:
At first glance we notice several versions of the helmet, possibly in different stages as distraction, as we know his helmet gets destroyed in The Last Jedi. What struck me was the book barely making it into the frame of the shot. Yes, that’s the Visual Dictionary from the original trilogy. Wonder what they’re referencing there? If I were to guess it’d be Anakin/Luke/Rey’s lightsaber, but it was a nice touch, and intentional I’m sure as well. Which brings me to the Porgs:
I’ve gotta give it to MakingStarWars.net, they’ve been talking about these little guys for a minute, as they always seem to have all the scoop. These seemingly adorable, penguin-like creatures as rumored to be the indigenous residents of Ahch-To, the residence of one Luke Skywalker and a major location for The Last Jedi. And if rumors hold true, these little monsters aren’t all warm and fuzzy…. It’s awesome that they are actually animatronic, though, although I’m sure there will be CGI enhancements and additions made to them for the final film. Last, I’ll leave you with an amazing shot of Chewbacca sitting by a fire with the Falcon on Ahch-To and a great image of Mark and Rian sitting, deep in discussion about the film I’m sure. December can’t get here quickly enough!
