Trying to parse out the plot and character details of a movie based on a trailer – particularly a teaser trailer – is a ridiculous exercise. But – if only to give myself something to look back and laugh at after the movies come out – here are my thoughts on the buzzed-about trailers for “Jurassic World” (June 12, 2015) and “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” (Dec. 18, 2015). My thoughts are relatively spoiler-free, based only on the trailers and the most broadly known facts about the films.
At first glance, the 2-½ minute trailer makes “Jurassic World’s” plot look identical to “Jurassic Park,” except beefed up. This time, the park is open to the public, and the dinosaurs are bigger and easier to control. The film features a lab-created beast as the franchise continues to up the size ante from one T-Rex to two T-rexes to a spinosaurus to a D-rex. We see a water-based dinosaur, perhaps an ichthyosaurus, in a great SeaWorld riff. Water has been the most underused environment in the films, perhaps because it was hard to render with computer effects back in the ’90s. (The spinosaurus does star in a river battle in “Jurassic Park III,” though.) And velociraptors can be tamed or controlled, as Chris Pratt’s Owen calmly drives a motorcycle amid a pack of raptors.
Pratt’s character seems to be the skeptical Ian Malcolm blended with a touch of the first film’s raptor wrangler and Vince Vaughn’s “Lost World” character. Upon learning about the creation of a new dinosaur, Owen deadpans “Probably not a good idea.” Bryce Dallas Howard is perhaps what Ellie Sattler would’ve been had she chosen to work for a dinosaur-making corporation. And the trailer shows us a kid who is visiting the park without his parents, much like the kids from the first movie.
Of course, it’s easy to make broad assumptions from trailers, and theoretically “Jurassic World” could have more thematic depth than what is suggested in 2 ½ minutes. I think this Moviepilot article is spot-on when it suggests the new owner and operator of the park, the Masrani Corporation, is looking to weaponize dinosaurs.
However, trailers often inspire us to imagine a film that’s bigger and broader than it will end up being. I don’t think the dino-weapons angle will be heavily played up in the narrative, and unfortunately, I think the article is incorrect when it suggests the corporation will be shown to be responsible for the slaughtered folks on the T-rex-transporting ship in “The Lost World.” I suspect that is merely a plot hole that came about when Steven Spielberg opted for a rush-job final act (rewritten after filming had begun) where a T-rex and its baby run wild in San Diego. The logistics of the boat trip – where a T-rex allegedly kills everyone, but then inexplicably returns to its cage and closes it from the outside — weren’t totally worked out when shooting commenced.
I also don’t think “Jurassic World” will prominently bring dinosaurs to the mainland, something that has been loosely in the works throughout the saga. Michael Crichton actually did put dinosaurs on mainland Central America in the early chapters of both of his books as if teasing a third book, even though such a book was never even rumored – let alone plotted out — while Crichton was alive.
Then “The Lost World” concludes with an image of a pterodactyl flying freely; of course, a flying creature would not be constrained by an island. “Jurassic Park III” contradicts the free-flying pterodactyl but does ultimately espouse a hole in the aviary’s roof, suggesting another escape route. The “Lost World” boat plot hole also led me to theorize that velociraptors snuck onto the boat, killed the people, then jumped ship and swam to the mainland. (But again, that almost certainly will remain a plot hole.)
While I suspect “Jurassic World” will ignore all those previous possibilities for escaped dinosaurs, I think this fourth film could itself show dinosaurs escaping quite clearly in the final act. Throw in the idea of weaponized dinosaurs – and along this train of thought, I recall the huge military force lined up on the beach, ready to take on huge monsters, at the end of “Jurassic Park III” – and it’s possible that “Jurassic World” could be a lead-in to a fifth film that will indeed present a worldwide war involving dinosaurs.
Unlike the full-length “Jurassic World” trailer, “The Force Awakens” has only given us a 90-second teaser trailer so far. This teaser also initially struck me as all-too-familiar, in this case because it looked like a “Star Wars” video game more so than a movie. This is because it combines iconic “Star Wars” images – stormtrooper, average desert-dwelling person, X-wing and pilot, Sith warrior, Millennium Falcon and TIE fighters – but doesn’t show us any characters we know. The earliest “Episode I” trailers showed us Obi-Wan and Anakin, quickly connecting us to the new material, but “The Force Awakens” is truly just teasing us, eschewing scenes featuring Han, Leia and Luke, whom we know will be in “The Force Awakens,” played by the original actors.
I won’t go on another rant about how I wish “Episode VII” accounted for Expanded Universe stories rather than dismissing them, as that starship has sailed. But I do think Disney dropped the ball by not putting something in the teaser along the lines of “Based on an outline by George Lucas.” In Disney’s purchase announcement in November 2012, the company noted that Lucas’ outline for a sequel trilogy came with the deal, and I assume “Episode VII” still at least broadly adheres to Lucas’ outline. I think an acknowledgement of Lucas’ contribution – in addition to being a nice handing-of-the-baton moment — would have assuaged the hurt feelings of Expanded Universe fans. I always reconciled the changes in “Clone Wars” (Even Piell, Mandalore, the bounty hunters) by telling myself that at least they came from the saga’s creator.
The overriding mystery about “Episode VII” is “How and why was the Force asleep, and how and why does the Force awaken?” The prequels – which often throw around the phrase “balance of the Force” — and “The Clone Wars” show that as Sidious increases in power, the Jedi weaken. Maybe Luke’s killing of Sidious and Vader shifts the balance to the light side, and it takes a few decades for the dark side to awaken, as embodied by the Sith lord shown in the trailer. “Rebels” is also currently exploring the nature of Force powers – particularly how the dark side is quicker and easier — through the rapidly progressing Ezra and his in-over-his-head teacher, Kanan.
I’m sure it will make sense once I see the movie, but at first blush, I wonder if “Episode VII” is diminishing the accomplishments of Luke and the Rebel Alliance in “Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.” The teaser shows the Sith lord, which is fair enough based on my aforementioned theory, but also an Imperial stormtrooper, TIE fighters and Rebel pilots (the Rebel logo can be seen on the helmet). This suggests that the Battle of Endor did not mark a definitive defeat (or at least the beginning of the end) of the Empire, but rather that the battle continues three decades later. (I am presuming there are three decades between episodes based on the casting of the same actors three decades later, although it’s possible that de-aging computer technology was used. I highly doubt that, though.)
On the other hand, even if the Empire and Rebel Alliance are still clashing, that doesn’t mean the dynamic is the same as it used to be. Perhaps the Alliance has been the more powerful and influential group ever since Endor. In the Expanded Universe, the New Republic (which grew out of the Alliance) democratically governs most inhabited planets, but a small Imperial Remnant still exists (and, in fact, often teams up with the Republic against other threats). Perhaps the Rebel Alliance of “The Force Awakens” isn’t a government in the traditional sense, but rather a group that continues to fight the Empire’s oppression, allowing individual planets to practice self-determination and free trade.
The trailer features three actors whose faces we can see – John Boyega as a scared-looking stormtrooper; Daisy Ridley as a run-of-the-mill desert-dweller, piloting a one-person freight hauler; and an X-wing pilot. Perhaps Ridley is the owner of that soccer-ball-looking droid, similar to how Anakin and Luke had affinities for droids.
Last year, early in the scripting process, “Force Awakens” director J.J. Abrams and “Episode V” and “VI” veteran Lawrence Kasdan took over for the originally hired Michael Arndt as they decided to focus more on Han, Leia and Luke in “Episode VII” to give us one last blast with the old heroes. Still, I assume Boyega and Ridley will play substantial roles. Perhaps they are among the next generation of heroes that will come of age here. And perhaps Boyega isn’t an Imperial — Rebels have been known to disguise themselves from time to time.
That’s the fun of teaser trailers, I suppose: The actual story is only one of millions of possibilities that could spin off from these images. That having been said, we should keep in mind that films are only about 2 hours long and our imaginations tend to exceed the medium’s limits. I recall that the earliest “Episode I” teasers had me imagining events that couldn’t have possibly fit into that movie. I suspected Palpatine’s “Wipe them out, all of them” referred to the Jedi, not merely the citizens of a single planet in the first small step of his galactic takeover. The first chapter of the sequel trilogy is likely playing a long game, too. It’ll probably be a relatively small adventure that will raise as many questions about “Episode VIII” as this teaser trailer does about “VII.”
Based only on the titles and the trailers (no major spoilers please), what are your predictions for “Jurassic World” and “The Force Awakens?”