Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Final Trailer Analysis

Thomas discovers what lies beyond the stunning visuals of Gareth Edwards’ standalone film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The final trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released last Thursday. The teaser and first trailer were already impressive, but this trailer is even better! It gave us a better look at this movie, revealing a lot more, so there’s a lot to talk about!

DIRECTOR KRENNIC

The very first shot is Krennic’s shuttle arriving on a planet with an ocean; it’s a wide shot, and you immediately feel the immensity of this set. The first few seconds showed scenes shot in Iceland. It’s a new planet with a very different environment than we had seen before; that’s precisely what we expect in Star Wars: seeing planets that are all different.

To quote Ryan Church, the concept design supervisor on Revenge of the Sith:

“George rules are that each planet are completely distinct from one another, distinct details, colors, architecture, places …”

Here we have water, a dark green land, and big mountains. Galen Erso’s (Jyn’s father) house seems to be a farm, as we recognize some moisture vaporator. It’s also our first look at Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen), as before we only had seen a picture of him during Star Wars Celebration Europe. What we have here is a flashback to Jyn’s younger years, so, in terms of the timeline, we’re close to ROTS. There’s a dark sky; it’s probably foreshadowing what’s happening — bad things for the Ersos. Krennic is coming with his squad of Death Troopers to capture Galen.

The way it’s filmed, we can feel the threat coming; the Deathtroopers are very menacing. They created an excellent design for them. When we see Krennic, there’s the word villain written on his face. Right from the trailers, we can figure out he is going to be a frightening villain.

IMPERIAL PRISONER

The next shot shows us Jyn Erso waking up in an Imperial cell. On her right, a new alien with a lot of tentacles on its face. Rogue One introduces us to many new aliens, all with great designs that fit the universe.

Then we have a shot of Jedha: you can see an AT-ST in the streets, two new yellow aliens, Tie Fighters passing overhead, and an imposing Star Destroyer. Jedha is supposed to be a holy place for the Jedi. And when we look at this planet, we can see Jerusalem, a holy place for many religions, inspires it. It has this very sacred look. And I think Onderon also draws inspiration from The Clone Wars; there are some similarities. Then we have other shots that send us back to the Imperial prison, where rebels arrive to free Jyn.

We return to Jedha again. We can see the U-Wing passing above a fallen statue of a Jedi. I think we’re going to be mind-blown by this planet. It has an entirely new design and carries much of the Jedi’s history.

It’s going to be interesting to see this planet at a time when the Empire is ruling over the Galaxy, because we’re not going to be a shining and lively planet. Still, we’re going to see ruins, remnants of history, and a sense of ancient times. It’s going to give a lot of room for Prequels references, which is excellent!

“Our Rebellion is all that remains to push back the Empire.” — Mon Mothma

YAVIN IV

The trailer takes us to Yavin IV, the rebel base. It explains why Jyn is chosen: she is the daughter of Galen, who plays a critical role in the Death Star’s development. What they need is for her to find him. This reminds me of the plot from The Man From UNCLE — where the CIA and the KGB hire Gaby to work with Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin to find her father, who is creating a nuclear bomb for the Nazis. It’s the same kind of situation, except that UNCLE was a comedy and Rogue One is a war movie.

As we hear Mon Mothma talk, we get another flashback sequence on Eadu featuring Galen Erso and Krennic, who has always given the bad-guy look.

THE DEATH STAR

There’s this beautiful shot of the Death Star behind the clouds. It gives the impression of a threat coming towards us.

It goes on to show us each human member of Jyn’s team — Cassian Andor, Base Malbus, Bodhi Rook, and Chirrût Imwe, and then the U-Wing leaving Yavin IV, probably going on the mission. We’ve been wondering for quite some time why the movie is called Rogue One. The trailer gave us the answer: it’s a call sign that they’ve made. “It’s Rogue … Rogue One.”

We get another look at Vader in the trailer: his reflection on the Death Star floor and Krennic talking to him. Just seeing a little of him gives me shivers; it’s Darth Vader! As we saw that and the Death Star again, we hear these words: “The power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable.” If you don’t pay attention, it seems that it’s just Krennic talking, but if you listen very carefully, it doesn’t seem like it’s just Krennic. The end of the phrase definitely seems like it’s him talking, but the “that we are dealing with here” seems like it’s Vader talking; it’s incredibly similar to his voice!

There’s an intriguing rumour making its way across the internet. It is this guy, seen from the back, who is Tarkin. Honestly, I’m not sure. He seems way too young to be Tarkin. However, I think there’s a chance we see him in the movie; it would make sense, but not in this shot. We’ll see! One thing that is more likely in this shot is that they are preparing to use the Death Star on Jedha!

THE REBEL ALLIANCE

With the next shots, we have a rebel meeting with Mon Mothma, Jyn Erso, officers, and what seems to be senators from different planets, including one who appears afraid of the Death Star. On the very right, we see a man with white hair and a beard, wearing a white coat. I’m just speculating here, but it could be General Jan Dodonna. It’s the same haircut, the same outfit he wears at the end of A New Hope.

We have a scene of revolt on Jedha with stormtroopers and an AT-ST attacking people (rebels? or other insurgents?). We can spot Moroff, a new alien who seems to be leaving the battlefield … We can spot Cassian and Jyn during the sequence, but we’re not sure if it’s part of that same scene.

SAW GERRERA

Saw Gerrera’s introduction in the trailer is powerful. We saw his feet first, the tension is building, and then they show us his face. What we see is a man in decline. We understand that the suit he is wearing helps him to survive; he has a robotic leg, and a mask is attached to his chest, probably to help him breathe when he has trouble. He has changed a great deal since The Clone Wars. Having such an entrance for this character in the trailer is a beautiful tribute to George Lucas and his Prequels. Lucas created Saw. Throughout the trailer, we see a style of filming that Lucas used in the Prequels. Rogue One appears to be similar to the Prequel Trilogy in so many ways.

Visually, it’s all like the Prequels; it’s the same level of visual creativity, and it follows Lucas’s rules of planets. It’s beautiful, with wide shots and shots of vehicles that show them, not just parts of them. The movie is filmed digitally, as were Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. It gives the movie a better quality, obviously. You have this feeling of immensity, this feeling that it’s a vast galaxy, and like the Prequels, Rogue One is bringing the word War into Star Wars.

REBELLIONS ARE BUILT ON HOPE!

At the same time, we are introduced to Saw in the trailer, and we hear an inspirational quote from Jyn. That reminds me of Star Wars Rebels and what Hera once said to Ezra, “We have hope, hope that things can get better, and they will.” The theme of Hope always comes back because that’s what keeps the Rebellion together.

Just look at this shot of Scarif, it’s breathtaking! It’s an entirely new planet. It’s a jungle/sea planet, very exotic, lots of palm trees. We didn’t see a planet like this before! It’s of true beauty. The Imperial facility, too, has a great design; it’s a massive complex!

ALL OUT WAR

Rogue One is said to be a war movie, and this shot reminds me of the kinds of shots we see in Vietnam War movies.

It looks like we’re going to have a sequence similar to ANH when Luke and Han are disguised as stormtroopers, here Cassian and Jyn disguise themselves as Imperial officers and Imperial Ground Crew to get into the Scarif Imperial facility. This shot can be linked with what he had seen before when Jyn was wearing this outfit without the helmet in the first teaser.

We move to a sequence on Eadu with Chirrût and Base as X-Wings are arriving. This gives us our second clue to the battles in this movie: we’re gonna have the revolt on Jedha, the battle on Scarif, the fight on Eadu, and a space battle probably happening above Scarif (my guess). With Eadu, too, we have a new planet; it’s rainy like Kamino, but rocky —it seems like a planet made of canyons.

ALIENS & CREATURES

We saw the costume for Edrio Two Tubes at SDCC, and the trailer gives us a proper look at the character. We can notice there are two characters like him. Then we have some badass moments with Chirrût and Base, who kick some stormtroopers’ ass. They’re going to bring great action in the movie! Chirrût being blind and believing in the Force is going to be very interesting to see.

“Make ten men feel like a hundred.” — Cassian Andor.

After Jyn, we have an inspirational quote from Cassian and other shots of the battle on Eadu —it’s going to be intense, for sure! Lots of explosions and fighters coming in — Y-Wings and X-Wings.

We then see some action on Scarif, Chirrût using his bo-riffle and an army of Shoretroopers and Stormtroopers.

This is pure speculation, but putting the trailers together, it seems Bodhi Rook could die. This shot of him looks like he’s thinking about doing the ultimate sacrifice for the mission, just after we see him getting into a shuttle.

In other trailers, we see a shuttle on Scarif blowing up. I think it could be the same shuttle. At least, Rook is definitely thoughtful in this shot and doesn’t seem like he’s going to survive.

The huge surprise is, of course, the space battle, which I’m so happy to see! And it looks like there’s the whole Rebel fleet participating. We have X-Wings attacking this space station.

There’s the blue pilot, who is a general. And when we look at the rebel fleet behind, we can spot two medical frigates and another surprise on the top right near the second X-Wing, you can see the Hammerhead corvette from Star Wars Rebels! Rogue One is really using all the tools around it — Prequels, Originals, and animation!

EADU – GALEN ERSO’S FACILITY

Then we go back on Eadu for some explosion, K-2SO in a ship, and an imperial shuttle attacking two people. These two people, if you pay attention, are Cassian Andor on the left and on the right, Jyn Erso, we recognize her outfit from the Celebration Reel. So looks like they’re going to be in a lot of trouble there!

We have another look at Jedha being destroyed here. We can see pillars that probably belong to a Jedi temple! And we see someone standing in front of the camera, watching as this part of Jedha is destroyed. It’s hard to say who it is really. Right now, I have no idea and no guess about the identity of this person, but I’d say this person is gonna die, most likely.

DARTH VADER

AND DARTH VADER IS HERE! We see him coming out of the smoke, heading towards Krennic, and it gives me shivers! The way Vader walks towards him is not a good sign for the Imperial officer. I’m speculating, but I think it’s a possibility that Vader force-chokes him after his defeat on Eadu and Scarif. We also have a shot of Galen on the ground, looking angry. He is probably not in a good situation, facing Vader, maybe? Or Krennic? Moments before his death?

“Save the Rebellion ! Save your dream !” — Saw Gerrera

We’re probably going to have an emotional scene with Saw, based on the way he says these words —most likely to Jyn. I think, considering what he says, he might go and sacrifice himself for Jyn to accomplish something.

The last shots are on Scarif with the U-Wing on the battlefield surrounded by AT-ACT, and then Chirrût and Base, who are trying to avoid being smashed by one of these walkers. Once again, with these shots, we have the war-movie feels: it’s intense, lots of action!

The Rogue One final trailer is truly epic; words can’t describe how awesome it is! I’ve watched it many times, and I’ll watch it many more times in the coming weeks, waiting for the movie’s release!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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