29 Nov 2017

A Painstaking GIF Analysis Of Every Second In The New ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Trailer

Brought to you by Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The next chapter in the Star Wars saga arrives in cinemas on December 14.

After the new trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer dropped last month and a giant 60M Kylo lightsaber flew over Sydney Harbour, it’s fair to say that Star Wars fever is here… and we’re damn excited.

The new trailer is full of incredible stuff (a quick heads-up for super fans, though: the trailer gives a meaty look at the storyline of the new film, so continue at your own peril). That being said, it left us with more questions than answers.

So, we embraced our inner nerds and spent some time capturing every second of the new trailer in glorious GIF format to analyse what it all means. Warning: there’s plenty of speculation ahead.

A second-by-second breakdown of Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer in glorious, forever immortalised GIFs

Kylo Ren is having a gander at something being built by the First Order. There are some sparks raining down so it looks like we’re in full production mode. There seems to be some movement of AT-ATs in there.

Now we’re hanging out on Crait – which is where the Rebel Alliance were chilling during the Galactic Civil War.

Those brand-spankin’ new AT-ATs are looking mighty impressive as they line up. Meanwhile, ol’ mate Kylo hovers above the mineral-based planet in his command shuttle. Damn that thing is scary looking.

The voice of Snoke is talking about ‘untamed power’ as Kylo marches into battle. The red streaks below their feet signal that they’re probs still on Crait, where we’re likely to see battle action go down.

There’s also a sinister-looking red room. As The Independent points out, it’s very Twin Peaks. With Snoke’s voiceover revealing why he chose Kylo as an apprentice, this could well be a flashback concerning the very red-looking Elite Praetorian Guards behind the lightsaber.

But maybe Snoke is speaking about Rey? We say this because we suddenly cut to Ahch-To, where she’s holding Luke’s lightsaber and seems deep in thought.

Speaking of which, Ahch-To is super pretty. TBH, it looks like the perfect place to lay low, open up a resort or franchise out a Mos Eisley Cantina to see out your days. That wouldn’t make much of a story – so let’s push on.

Rey treks out towards a figure staring out to sea. Deep.

She passes the baton – and its Luke’s lightsaber, which is still in their hands following The Force Awakens!

Luke seems super confused or angry…

Rey tells him, “Something inside of me has always been there…”

Rey walks up to an ominous-looking haunted tree stump. As some sites have pointed out, we’ve seen this before in a Marvel comic called Shattered Empire.

The comic follows Poe Dameron’s mother, who rescues a Force-sensitive tree. She takes part of it and Luke takes the other.

It’s looking like this tree is going to have a big part to play in this storyline.

There’s a book inside the tree, and the internet reckons this is the Journal of the Whills. It’s supposed to contain all of the Jedi adventures. The big question is, why does Luke have it? Could it be that Luke has decided to suppress the Jedi because whenever they exist, so too do the Sith?

Rey gets training. Eye Of The Tiger probably won’t play over the top of this montage but you get the idea.

It looks like a beautifully shot sequence. This clifftop is exactly where I’d be opening up that hotel/bar.

On second thoughts, that bar isn’t going work. There’s no way this ground is going to cope with a foundation for Mos Eisley Cantina. Luke looks bloody concerned about all this. We pan to his expression of pure horror.

But his face is less likely to do with opening a new bar and more to do with the sheer strength of the force in Rey. She’s real powerful.

And doesn’t Luke know it. LUKE IS SHOOK and says, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before…”

We flashback to The Force Awakens. Luke has seen Kylo Ren rip apart an entire Jedi order before and it sounds like he’s worried about what Rey could be capable of.

Luke braces himself.

Rey is bracing herself too, against a rock.

Now we know who Luke is talking about because we cut to a scary AF shot of Kylo Ren looking very Darth Vader-y. Spooky.

And he’s mad. Like real angry. Very Rage. Much Punch. Many sad. We also see the nasty scar that Rey gave him in the final battle of Episode VII.

Kylo flys off and is about to go into battle – he’s focused, mad and probably hoping to kill off the past. We can see his finger pulling the trigger. Shots fired!

With the battle on Crait likely behind him at this stage, Kylo is flying through space like an absolute boss. Approaching Leia’s ship, he says, “Kill it if you have to”. Is he going to kill his own mother? Surely not…

Cue an incredibly tense scene featuring the late Carrie Fisher as Leia, who faces up against Kylo. It looks emotional… and like it’s almost certain to end badly.

Kylo is locked onto his target and his hand hovers over the button. He gulps. “That’s the only way you will become what you’re meant to be,” he says.

We cut back to Leia and the camera begins to pan slowly. LOOK AWAY!

The Millenium Falcon swoops through – it looks like we’re back on Crait.

Chewie is back to save the Resistance and this new little dude makes an appearance. Honestly, this GIF is all of us right now.

BOOM.

Poe Dameron is under fire and caught totally off-guard by the surprise attack.

He then likely heads off to defend General Leia from the oncoming attack. The narration here leaves us with a lot of questions: “We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.”

MORE BOOM.

Captain Phasma’s in the house… and it looks like she’s battling it out with Finn.

BOOOOOM!

BB-8 is back but the poor dude has been hit and we’re kinda tearing up. Hope he’ll be okay.

Luke continues to look like he’s having a terrible time. There’s a lot of mystery here. It could be that Rey has turned on her mentor, or that Kylo arrived and bested Luke. We don’t know. “This is not going to go the way you think,” he says, prone against a rock, probably somewhere on Ahch-To.

This little pupper is the best. Thats a good doggo!

We cut back to Leah potentially preparing for an attack.

And then more shots of Rey.

She’s looking super Jedi-y. This is potentially part of her training – either that or she’s running from Kylo or maybe even coming to turn on her mentor.

Finn is looking sharp but he’s been captured by the First Order.

And the First Order is all-powerful.

Back to some epic battle scenes on Crait.

… And it’s spectacular to watch.

Speaking of the dark side, we also get one of our first proper glimpses of Supreme Leader Snoke, looking intensely evil while apparently torturing Rey.