October 19, 2015 will be a day long remembered…
Wowee-wow-wow! Here it is, at long last! The official poster for The Force Awakens, and in perfect Star Wars fashion, it is everything I wanted and nothing I expected.
Let’s dig in here. First off, it’s clear to the trained eye that this isn’t Drew Struzan, but it’s pretty awesome. We have the characteristic “head mountain” style of movie poster, with layers of scenery and action building to the largest and most important characters at the top and center.
Second, I notice that there are four distinct color quadrants: red, blue, purple, and orange, clockwise.Is this merely aesthetic, or is it symbolic of four factions in the film?
Moving from the bottom to the top, a few things stand out.
- Disney is the least prominent logo, Lucasfilm is the largest, and rightfully so.
- Adam Driver is the first person billed of the new cast, making it to the top line of credits. These things actually matter.
- I didn’t realize Bryan Burk was so prominently involved in this production.
- The logo is the same logo we’ve seen for the past year.
Ok, at first I looked quickly and immediately thought, “Ok, we have the bad guys on the left and good guys on the right.” I’ve been trained to see red lightsabers and see bad and then find the Millennium Falcon and see good.
But WTF?! Is that ANOTHER DEATH STAR?! ON THE GOOD SIDE? I’LL REPEAT: ?!
But no, the more I look at it, there is no good an bad side. Stormtroopers line the bottom, and X-Wings and the Falcon fly above them. Star destroyers and TIE fighters adorn space near John Boyega, who we know is in stormtrooper gear at some point in this movie. However, on the poster he’s holding the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker. Yes, it’s the lightsaber that Luke wielded for years, but it’s also the saber that killed Jedi children. Above him, a moon.
Wait…that’s no moon…it’s a space station! (Nailed it.) Is this the fabled Starkiller base? If so, its name is apropos. But who built it? Either way, there is nothing on the Blue/purple side that indicates good.
On the left side, Kylo Ren DOMINATES everything. His fiery broadsaber cuts a swath across the poster almost synonymously with Daisy Ridley’s staff. And, where the two meet, a blinding flare. What does this suggest about Daisy and Kylo’s relationship?
Damn it Abrams, you got your lens flare on my poster. Nice touch though. It looks great.
The center of this poster is Rey, and it would be silly to think this is a coincidence. Rey is THE central figure in this movie. She’s the focal point of Star Wars going forward, the new new hope, if you will.
Underneath her, we have the rest of the cast in the center, straddling the line between both sides. The usual suspects are there, as well as a tiny fellow near Artoo I can only deduce must be Maz Kanata; it looks like the alien that hands the lightsaber to Leia.
Also, Leia looks beautiful.
Yes, Luke is not featured, but we knew that was going to be that way. He is an important part to this movie, but his reveal is the most mysterious part of the story, as well. I can’t wait to see what we have in store for Luke.
Oh wait, I can wait. I’m fine waiting until the movie to see the awesomeness.
So, here we go. We’re two months away and things are really starting to kick into high gear. I think that after tomorrow night, we’ll have a LOT more to discuss.
Joseph Tavano is the owner and editor in chief of RetroZap. Born just months before Luke found out who his father was, he has been fortunate to have had Star Wars in his life as long as he can remember. Growing up just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, he can remember substituting sticks for lightsabers and BMX bikes for speeders. He loves comics, retro games, vintage sci-fi paperbacks, and maps. Though an accomplished drummer, he doesn’t crave adventure (as much) any more, and prefers his old haunts north of Boston, Massachusetts, where he resides with his family. Buy him a glass of whiskey and he’ll return it in kind.