Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final film in the Skywalker Saga, is less than four months away and we still have yet to receive a full trailer for the movie, which will presumably arrive in October, in keeping with the pattern of the Sequel Trilogy. While we await that trailer, we can pore over the teaser trailer released at Star Wars Celebration and the special look released at D23. Now someone has combined all the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker footage into one epic trailer. Check it out:
Even with over two minutes of footage, much in the way of plot for The Rise of Skywalker remains a mystery, but what this trailer makes clear is the truly epic and climactic feel this movie is going for. What’s cool about the way Nathan Rojas put together this super trailer is that it maintains the feel of both the teaser and the special look and is weaved together so seamlessly that the transitions between the two sources of footage don’t come off as jarring.
The whole trailer builds in a way that feels really natural and somewhat adheres to the way we might expect the story to play out based on the footage. This trailer also only uses the Rise of Skywalker footage and doesn’t incorporate the footage from the rest of the Saga that was in the D23 special look.
I like that Nathan doesn’t break up the beginning scene from the teaser trailer with Rey and the TIE fighter and allows it to just, like Rey, breathe. There isn’t really any overlap between the two teasers with the exception being Luke Skywalker’s voiceover about passing on all they know and how this is the new generation’s fight and that is laid over this longer trailer in a way that makes sense.
One thing I was really curious about was whether this extended trailer would end on Emperor Palpatine’s laugh or Dark Side Rey but what was done here was really smart. Nathan Rojas put Palpatine’s dialogue from the D23 special look towards the end but saved Darth Sidious’ laugh for after we see Rey with the double-sided lightsaber, ending the trailer with an ominous one-two punch.
This choice really plays in to all the various theories surrounding Rey and her origin and possible Dark Side ties. There are thoughts that she may be a clone and/or that she was somehow the creation of the Dark Lord of the Sith and by putting these two things together it really leans in to the intrigue of those possibilities.
The rest of the trailer intersperses the D23 footage with the celebration footage but as the trailer goes on it leans more heavily on the former. There are some other really nice touches as well, like when the music swells when the heroes see the wreckage of the Death Star.
Also, the build to Rey and Kylo’s fight surrounded by the raging sea is really well done. First we see some poor fool getting bodied by Kylo Ren to establish his power, then we see Rey using her lightsaber like a boomerang to show her skills. Then we get Palpatine’s voiceover about the journey coming to an end right as Kylo walks from his ship seemingly in to a climactic battle with Rey. It’s exciting stuff and only serves to get us more amped for the full trailer’s arrival and December when this movie hits theaters.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens on December 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all this year’s biggest movies.
