By now most of you have probably seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens at least once. Against all odds, J.J. Abrams and the rest of the creative geniuses involved in the making of the film actually created a movie that lived up to fan expectations. However, despite just how airtight the movie is, not everything we were promised in the trailers made it into the final cut.
Yahoo! Movies broke down Star Wars: The Force Awakens and identified several moments from the trailers that drove fans crazy, but never made it into the actual movie. The most glaring omission is the brief moment in which Kylo Ren fires up his cross guard lightsaber; apparently Abrams found the moment great for the trailer (short form storytelling) but not necessarily right for the actual climax of the movie (long form storytelling). Whether or not he was correct, the fact remains that the moment was one that got fans talking well over a year ago.
Another moment from the trailer that drove fans wild was the moment when Maz Katana hands over Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber that he lost in The Empire Strikes Back. Once again, the moment made for great buzz during the film’s marketing campaign but didn’t quite work for the already exposition heavy moments during the middle of the film. An original verison of The Force Awakens had Maz traveling to Leia to deliver her brother's former weapon. But in the end, Finn ended up being the ultimate recipient of the legendary sword, later passing it on to Rey when the time came to embrace her destiny.
The final part of the trailers that was not included in the film is not an image, but a brief monologue. Mark Hamill re-recorded Luke Skywalker’s iconic moment in which he tells Leia about her true parentage and her connection to the Force, and reworked it to apply to Rey. However, as fans of the film most certainly already know, Luke ended up not having a single line in the final cut of the movie. As good as it would have been to hear him impart sage wisdom upon the new generation of Jedi, keeping him mute certainly added to the drama and weight of his appearance in the film.
Check out the trailer for The Force Awakens below to see if any moments were missed:
Ultimately we can’t say we’re complaining; the film was constructed perfectly, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens completely lived up to its expectations. J.J. Abrams has said that he doesn’t like the idea of Director’s Cuts for his films, so it looks as though these awesome moments will live on only in the movie’s amazing marketing campaign.
