The biggest criticism that Star Wars: The Force Awakens had to shoulder while it was making all of the money was its similarity to A New Hope and the original trilogy on the whole. And though I remain firm in my belief that The Force Awakens is the third best Star Wars joint behind A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this criticism is absolutely correct and it undeniably limits a good movie that had the potential to be great. It's also worth noting that, in the years since the original trilogy, both Disney and Lucasfilm have become passionate believers in avoiding genuine originality and invention as often as is humanly possible.
That is certainly the reason that we are now here with videos that shows a near-mathematical visual and auditory equation, employed to avoid trying to think of a new idea between the release of the trailer for The Force Awakens and this past Friday's release of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer. The videos, which you can take a look at below, clearly lay out how every cut and every cue in the Last Jedi trailer has been timed to evince the same exact reaction as the Force Awakens trailer did in 2015. It's actually kind of fascinating until you realize just how depressing it is that arguably the most influential and inspiring franchise in the history of the American cinema, one built on a galvanizing sense of creation and imagination, can't even think of a fresh way to roll out a teaser. As a noted idiot would say: Sad.
My very real hope is that this is not a bad omen for The Last Jedi, which looks visually spectacular and promises plenty of high stakes drama under director Rian Johnson. I'm not indifferent to the nostalgia that these films represent but both Rogue One and The Force Awakens were problematic specifically because they felt the need to constantly remind people that they were watching a Star Wars movie. Whether or not they'll be able to give Johnson a bit more breathing room will not be known until Christmas Day.
Here's the video:
Here's a different version via The Playlist:
