The excitement leading up to Star Wars: Episode III is building, and the fan film, Star Wars: Revelations really whets the appetite. This is a non-profit film produced by Panic Struck Productions which can only be found for free download at their website (Note: I had trouble downloading the movie, which is over 250 MB, at first until I installed a download manager. The one I used is called LeechGet and it worked great.).
Directed by and starring Shane Felux, this movie runs 40 minutes and is surprisingly very well done. The story takes place between Episodes III and IV and involves a handful of remaining Jedi, including "Seers" who are Jedi with special gifts for seeing the future. One such seer is Taryn Anwar (Gina Hernandez) whose quest for redemption after being tricked into betraying her fellow Jedi forms the central theme of the film. These Seers are being hunted down by the Emperor's Hand, Zhanna (Karen Hammang), a ruthless female Sith who does some of the Empire's dirty work. The film features several such characters which are unique to this fan film but it also features Stormtroopers, The Emperor, and the infamous Darth Vader, himself, from Lucas' blockbuster movies.
I loved the plot which begins with some fast-paced action including an exciting escape/space-battle sequence and a climactic showdown complete with lightsabers and all. For the latter scene, this film features a Star Wars first: a lightsaber duel featuring 2 females, 4 hands, and 4 lightsabers!
What is so remarkable about this indy film is its rather advanced and well-done special effects. The lightsabers, spaceships, blasters, and backdrops were very believable and fit right in to the Star Wars genre. According to their website, they were able to get such studio-quality CG effects with the help of many volunteers who contributed to the project, much in the same way that the open-source operating system, Linux, came about. The FX renderings were actually done on many different software platforms around the world and pieced together for the final movie. A remarkable achievement!
The movie opens with the familiar silent shot of outer space followed by the sudden appearance of the "Star Wars" logo and the blasting of the opening Star Wars theme, which really sets the stage for fun and excitement. For the rest of the film, Chris Bouchard's musical score offers much original content intermixed with many of the familiar themes from the popular movies. The music and sound effects (which George Lucas himself refers to as fifty percent of the motion picture experience) are surprisingly good as well.
I was very entertained by this movie and only wish that it was longer than the 40 minutes. To Shane Felux and the rest of the crew at Panic Struck Productions, I thank you and wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. May the Force be with you.
Any Star Wars fan is going to love this and any indy-film connoisseur is going to be blown away by the production quality.
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