On Thursday, Disney and Lucasfilm released the second trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, December’s hotly-anticipated first standalone movie set in the galaxy far, far away [check out the trailer here if you want to watch it again]. Our writing team was overwhelmingly blown away by the first teaser, but has that excitement carried over to the main trailer? Here’s our reaction…
Chris Cooper: This really gives me the feeling that it’s Star Wars made by people who grew up with it. We get all the props and the right look, but with a new style. A style that at several points here looks stunning. Jyn facing down a TIE. The eclipse. How the Star Destroyers are shot. Beautiful. Really looking forward to this.
Thomas O’Connor: The Star Destroyers remind me of physical models in the best way, though they’re almost certainly CGI. It must be said, though, Felicity Jones doesn’t look like she’s going to steal this one.
Chris Cooper: They do feel like models! I was struggling to put my finger on it. They look great. I’d say Jones not stealing it testament to the quality we’ve seen so far.
Thomas O’Connor: I think it’s the shadows. Normally Star Wars doesn’t use this kind of lighting scheme when it comes to ships. Ships and whatnot are typically fully visible at all times. Shadows don’t seem to exist in space, at least not in any significant way, when it comes to Star Wars.
But here the play of light and shadow across the Destroyer’s surface (rendered very, very well by the film’s digital lighting artists) lends the object a kind of verisimilitude. It gives it more depth and makes it feel very three dimensional while still being a flat image.
Helen Murdoch: Really looking forward to this. I like that they’re not revealing too much about Ben Mendelsohn’s character at the moment. Action looks great!
Chris Haydon: The shot with Jyn facing the TIE is just tremendous, and this trailer really showcases the military vibe that’ll be surging through Rogue One. There are so many subtle shots on offer which highlight the David and Goliath feel of the film. I’m so pleased that the trailer is DIFFERENT to the one I saw at the Rogue One panel at Star Wars Celebration too!
Gary Collinson: Calling it now. Riz Ahmed is flying that TIE.
Andy Naylor: Roll on December. It still has enough of a darker, adult tone to it for it to be unique. Is it sad that I got tingles from Vader?
Kirsty Capes: There’s much less of a focus on Jyn on this one, much less narrative driven, which is kind of the opposite of what I expected from Disney’s influence. I still love Jyn although it seems there’s deliberately less of her here to make way for general atmosphere. Jyn facing off the TIE is sublime. I also LOVE what we’ve heard so far of Alexandre Desplat’s score, it is distinctively Star Wars but there are plenty of unique elements which play off John Williams’ score, interpret it but still do justice to it. Not as hyped as I was for TFA but I feel like Rogue One is going to be incredible, and surprise a lot of the naysayers.
Eric Bay-Andersen: Some absolutely beautiful shots. Lacking in humour, although that could just mean this story is being taken particularly seriously. Not really won over by Felicity Jones but fascinated about Donnie Yen’s character
Luke Owen: Amidst all of its rumoured production issues, there looks to be a cracking looking movie coming out the back of it. Some amazing shots in there, and I loved the use of the Imperial March. Donnie Yen is going to steal this show hand over fist, as likely will Ben Mendelsohn. Not sold on Felicity Jones though – this is now two trailers where she’s looked incredibly wooden and very “Mannequin Skywalker”.
Scott Watson: All about the tone… and I’m loving the serious vibes this is giving off. It feels a dark fight. That being said, that final shot of Vader immediately made me think of Dark Helmet. I’m thinking it was perhaps because he was positioned so low in that final shot. Made him feel short. That aside this is looking to be a better film than The Force Awakens.
Villordsutch: Everything is looking utterly fantastic, except (I really don’t want this to be the case) Felicity Jones is coming over in both trailers as an actor void of any talent. This could all be down to the fault of the trailer editor who is just cramming in as much “cool shit” as possible, they they’re finding it difficult to make her look good beside a Star Destroyer at the surface of a planet!
Martin Carr: Eclipse Death Star. Rocket Launcher AT-AT…
Tony Black: Not blown away like I was The Force Awakens, but I enjoyed it. Looks gorgeous, a really nice take on the Imperial March I hope is from Alexandre Desplat’s score, and it doesn’t look like it’s trying to copy the episodic stories while still having an important flavour of Star Wars humour. Good trailer, still excited for this.
Gary Collinson: There are certainly some incredible visuals on display, but for some reason I was not as excited by the trailer as I was the anticipation of actually waiting for it to arrive. I can’t quite put my finger on why. It’s Original Trilogy era, it looks action-packed, there are going to be very few lightsabers on display (something which I’m very happy about), it’s got Darth Vader in it… I’m certainly not saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”, but that trailer did less for me than the first teaser, which I loved. I’m surprised and disappointed by my reaction. It has tempered my expectations. Hopefully that will be a good thing and I’ll be blown away by the final product.
So, what do you make of the trailer? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set for release on December 16th 2016, with a cast that includes Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), Diego Luna (Milk), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), Donnie Yen (Ip Man), Jiang Wen (Let the Bullets Fly), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland), Alan Tudyk (Con Man), Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler), Genevieve O’Reilly (Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith), Jimmy Smits (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Jonathan Aris (Sherlock).
