'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' teaser shows possible changes for new trilogy

With the final shot of the Millennium Falcon doing a loop de loop J.J. Abrams officially puts his stamp on the Star Wars reboot. That shot is the microcosm of not only what The Force Awakens will be but, really, what Abrams’s movie career is all about ( take a look at the movies he has directed” ). He is the Bob Vila of movie franchises, recognizing what made the original Spielbergian blockbusters so lovable and updating them for today. Yup, there the Falcon is being chased by Tie Fighters – but look! – the camera will follow the Falcon through its evasive barrel roll instead of watching from afar. Oscar Issac receives the all too familiar “straight on shot from the cockpit” but his X-wing is now zooming within a setting that feels real and almost lived in, unlike the blacks of space or whites of Hoth. The unfurling of the red lightsaber, the split second of familiarity before Abrams winks at you with the hilt.

Abrams has a job simpler said than done. Kick-off the new Star Wars Trilogy by making us feel like we are watching A New Hope all over again but make sure it’s different enough that it doesn’t seem like a copy. Imbuing a movie with so much beloved nostalgia baggage as Star Wars is a tough feat but Abrams is certainly the best man for the job.

• While the Millennium Falcon shot will get most of the pub, it’s really the shots of the X-wings that has me excited. We haven’t really seen X-wing as the main attacking force of an air to ground attack but it looks like that’s what we may be getting with that shot. Will the X-wing perform differently due to planetary gravity or will it be just as nimble as it is in space? Not to mention it looks like a completely different world we’ve never been to before. My favorite shot of the trailer.
• The most interesting shot might just be the one of the stormtroopers about to disembark from a transport ship. The shaky cam and physicality of the shot is not something accustomed to the Star Wars movies, which normally feature steady cameras and smooth moves. This shot, more than any other, could hint at significant changes in the looks of the film.
• Will there be more of a focus on the “everyman” in the universe? Star Wars is not known for its characters being ordinary and unexceptional. Previously the most ordinary character might have been junk shop owner Watto, who was still a weird buglike alien. Han doesn’t count because he is an incredible pilot and his life is anything but normal. But in the teaser we have a non-clone human in full stormtrooper regalia and, from what we’ve seen, an X-wing pilot. We don’t know if these characters are, in fact, somehow greater through either force ability or having some sort of “royal” status because of who may be their parents. They probably won’t just be a 9-5 stormtrooper and X-wing pilot but it sure would be interesting to see a different perspective of the ongoing conflict between Empire and Rebels as well as how normal people view Jedi.