About that Episode IX trailer

Everything I wrote here stands, but man alive is that a beautiful trailer.

It's a reminder of what Abrams gets: emotion, character, rapport, scale, energy, world-building, and—as this trailer not-misleadingly reminds us—composition and cinematography.

What we will see here in just 8 weeks is whether he delivers on everything he has always failed to accomplish, at least in full, not least those crucial modifiers of popular storytelling: original (not derivative), creative (not nostalgic), and conveniens (not mystery-box surprising).

I'm not optimistic, but it's not hopeless just yet. No matter what, it will be an experience. The only question is whether he'll be able to stick the landing.

A few comments and predictions while we're at it.

1. I genuinely appreciate how much Abrams has withheld from us. I only wish he'd kept that shot of faux-dark Rey from us.

2. Rey will not "go dark." That brief glimpse is a Force vision (false or future), a clone, her under control, or her under cover. No other alternatives.

3. I appreciate that Abrams is giving us—at least suggesting he is giving us—some follow-up and resolution to the Finn–Rey relationship. Given their separation in VIII, it will be interesting to see how immediate and intimate the quality of their rapport is in IX.

4. The movie will be beautiful, epic, and capital-F Fun.

5. I've stayed away from spoilers (I know nothing but what's in the three trailers), but my guess is that Rey and Ren team up for some reason or purpose for at least part of the film, and that during that team-up Rey submits to being trained by Ren. One idea: they both realize the Emperor's plan and/or learn of some MacGuffin that is crucial to it and agree that it is better to join against him/it than lose divided. Perhaps either she or he deceives the other to induce the alliance; perhaps not.

6. I'm left wondering how Abrams will fit the preexisting footage of Leia into the narrative. If VII was Han's goodbye and VIII was Luke's, IX was going to be Leia's: first the father, then the uncle, then the mother. (Perhaps that is how Rey persuades Ren to join her? To follow her to the ruins of the second Death Star to discover what she sought there?)

7. A final prediction: The climactic scene of Rey before Palpatine will feature a sort of Jedi cloud of witnesses: Force ghosts from all the previous 8 movies combined, present and bearing witness to Rey and/or Ren's final showdown with the Great Sith Evil who has haunted all nine movies—the Skywalker Saga from start to finish. That means Qui-Gonn, (Mace?), Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, (Han?), Luke, Leia: I bet we see all of them, and a few more. Perhaps them in front, and hosts upon hosts behind them. Take it to the bank, y'all.

8. A final final prediction: The make-or-break derivative-or-break-the-cycle question is whether Abrams will have Ren break good right at the end, exactly the way his father did. I'm more concerned with the story playing out beat for beat in imitation of VI than whether Abrams ret-cons Rey's identity or some such thing. I would say, "Surely he knows better," except he's the one who thought remaking IV with a new MOAR BIG Death Star was a great idea ... so who knows.

Just 56 days. Oh, and I'm bringing my oldest: his first Star Wars movie in the theater. Come on, J.J. old buddy, don't let me down: you're my only hope.