Star Wars: Rogue One Teaser Trailer Is Even Better Than The Force Awakens
This is a rebellion isn't it? I rebel.
It's here. It's finally here. After months of waiting with almost total silence, the first teaser trailer for Rogue One has landed, and it looks absolutely incredible.
Rogue One is essentially Star Wars' Opening Crawl: The Movie, and the teaser sets it up as exactly that. We meet Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso, and the trailer quickly shows us her induction into the ranks of the Rebel Alliance, and then some snippets of the mission to steal the Death Star plans.
We're also introduced to the other members of her team, including Forest Whitaker, Donnie Yen, and Diego Luna, all of whom look to be bringing very different skills to the team, with Yen's staff-wielding character a standout in a fight with a Stormtrooper, while Whitaker gets to deliver the trailer's key monologue: "What will you become?"
There are some moments in this trailer that are recognisably Star Wars: the music; Felicity Jones is a loner who joins in the fight and becomes a hero, and may be tempted by the Dark Side; there are spaceships, AT-ATs, and an amazing shot of the Death Star; Stormtroopers galore; even the return of Mon Mothma.
And yet in many other ways it's not like anything we've seen before from the franchise. There's no hint of the Force in play here; instead, it's going to be a heist movie, and one that isn't afraid to show the grittiness of war. It's still going to be Star Wars, which is important, but standing outside of the Skywalker arc it can offer something different, which is a very good thing.
Will it be better than The Force Awakens? Maybe, maybe not, though perhaps it's an unfair comparison (albeit one that will be endlessly made). Certainly this teaser offers us more than the early Force Awakens one did, in part because we're nearer its release, and also because it can do its own thing, now that the franchise has been brought roaring back.
It sets the tone wonderfully, outlines the story, and introduces us to the lead character and some of the supporting players, while holding plenty back - for example, there's no Mads Mikkelsen here. In short, it does exactly what a good teaser should do. December can't come fast enough.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released 16 December, 2016. Hopefully by then they'll have dropped the 'story' part of the name.
Come back to WhatCulture later on, when we'll have a comprehensive breakdown of the trailer.