Monday, August 10, 2015

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Reveals New Footage In South Korean TV Spot


Still a few months out, we’re hungry for anything related to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We’ll probably get one breadcrumb or another this weekend at D23, a new South Korean TV spot for J.J. Abrams journey into that far, far away galaxy has brief taste to tide us over. Maybe it’s more akin to a faint aroma wafting on a breeze; it’s not much, but it’s something.


There may be minor SPOILERS beyond this point if you’re avoiding everything before hand, but it’s not much.

This 30-second spot is primarily footage we’ve already seen before, in one of the trailers or the reel from San Diego Comic-Con, but we get at least one new shot. We know the new version of the Empire is called The First Order, which sounds like the name of a white supremacist group, and the new footage shows off the scale of their military might. The fact that their name sounds like a racist sect is actually very appropriate, as this shot is reminiscent of the films of Leni Riefenstahl, who made gorgeous, not to mention effective, propaganda films for Hitler and the Third Reich. This shot could have come straight out of one of her films, like Triumph of the Will. It’s not particularly original, as this has been used in Star Wars before to equate the Empire with fascism, but it also feels very fitting for a Star Wars movie.

From what we know thanks to some of the new canon additions, after Return of the Jedi, the Empire doesn’t crumble, but various individuals and factions vie to fill the power vacuum left in the wake of Emperor Palpatine’s death. It’s looking more likely that The First Order is the one that emerges—or perhaps one of the groups that rises from the ashes, there could be more. This isn’t much, but it does give us a good idea of their true military strength. If nothing else, we can be sure that this isn’t just a ragtag group of upstarts. They have a fair number of troops and some serious hardware.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens everywhere on December 18. It stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and more. Check out the new footage below.


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