Star Wars: Revelations

Well, first off I would just like to say that it was a very good effort. I hope they continue and improve. Things look very promising.

First, the good.

I loved the special effects. Not quite Lucas, but very few professionals ever are! Light saber duels looked convincing enough, though not as fast as in the professional movies.

Declan's ship. Nice design. It was a cool looking space vessel, even Lucas should take notes on this one.

The city, party scenes, storm troopers, all well done. Some quick clips obviously borrowed from the movies, with the tie fighters and pilots, but the whole layout had the look and feel of a professional movie. The sets, backdrops, and locations all looked professional.

The plot, I thought, was also well written. The names nicely thought out. The sophistication was there and the ideas interesting.

Very well done.

Now the bad.

The first thing I noticed was the actors. Now, I am no actor, and I am no Harrison Ford or Ewan Mcgreggor, but the actors and actresses just did not look convincing or anywhere close to professional. Now, don't get me wrong, I know this is an amateur production, but if they spent all that effort with the set designs, CGI, artwork, and realistic light saber duels and ship to ship combat, they should have also perhaps thought about better actors.

OK, I know I'll get flamed for this, but the actors were a little pudgy and not as attractive. The first scene cuts to Taryn in her ship. I am sorry, and I apologize to the actress, but she is just not visually stimulating. In fact, she looks so amateur in appearance that I shut off the clip and came back to it later after deciding to give it another chance. The make-up looked amateur, and she was just not .... charismatic. Yeah, I know, they are amateurs. But surely in the Stars Wars fan base there are better looking people and better actors who would jump at the chance for recognition. Of course, if it were just a garage project for fun, I could understand casting friends and neighbors, and I could accept that ... but, then there are those awesome special effects, CGI, space battles, space ships, so to even it out, they really needed attractive and charismatic actors. Maybe I am asking too much, but I thought that was what it lacked. There were extras who certainly looked more attractive.

Also, the main actors all looked a little flabby or less muscular than I believe a Jedi would look. I envision Jedi knights, or warriors, to be in a little more shape. Declan's beer gut was bulging, but then again perhaps this was realistic for a space smuggler type, though Harrison Ford was certainly the opposite.

The acting, at times was fair, and could pass as a low budget movie, but I have seen better acting in college plays and acting school productions.

I don't want to be two harsh, but what I see is a great effort with the look and feel, but a let down with the main characters due to their visibly amateurish abilities.

I compare this to Troops and IMPS where I thought the acting was definitely a step up, but then again they all wore armor and helmets! But, with better trained actors, this could turn into something! Looking forward to more from these people.

I thought the cast and crew did a brilliant job and achieved exactly what they've stated was their intent (From their official web site): "The goal has always been to push the limit of independent film making and show what can be done with a dedicated cast/crew... and the affordable solutions in today's market in terms of film and video." Bravo to the whole production.

The story was well thought through and drove the action. Acting was somewhat uneven, but much higher quality by far over most films in a similar budget range. It does support the theory that a film is like a chain and only as strong as its weakest link (e.g. the extras in the delegates party scene? brought the energy down for a short time), but the final analysis is that this is a good short film. Don't miss it.

I'm trying real hard to judge this movie based on the fact that's it's fan-film and had virtually no budget, but it's tough.

Impressive special effects, the story is OK i guess, and plenty of cool costumes. But trying to watch this movie amidst the horrible acting and dialogue is definitely a test of patience. If I were making a film like this, I wouldn't be in it - because I know i suck at acting. I would find some friend or family member who at least semi-decent and cast them. I'm sure the fame and fortune would be enough to make up for the non-existent salary ;) But seriously, I appreciate the film for what it is - but I can't give it more than 5/10 stars.....

The advent of readily available CGI technology now allows many people to produce, with some effort and some expense still, I might add films/ videos of the calibre of big budget films.

The most interesting aspect, aside from the film itself (on which I shall comment further) is the question it raises about the huge amounts of finance that 'need' to be poured into Hollywood films. On the strength of this work by a relatively few dedicated people working for NOTHING and with a budget (insofar as I know) of AROUND $24000, the glaring disparity becomes clear, how much money is simply being poured down the toilet? how many millions? where is it all going? can actors still be justified in receiving pay packages of millions per film? No, not really, and a production such as this one will make people more aware of this fact. So well done for that.

To the film- Bad points: Cheesy props ( the holocron), some awful attempts at voice impressions ( the emperor )- when will people learn that an American cannot dub the voice of an Englishman?! Especially with villains such as grand moff tarkin, count dooku and any sith with the exception of Darth vader , but then again James earl jones accent is very correct anyway and the voice is distorted. But an American 'drawl' Doesn't work! it's about as evil as a rubber chicken.

TIE fighter pilots in awful choreography.

Peoples hair is much too clean and well cared for (Declan) in fact most things could have done with being a bit more worn looking.

Otherwise, Good points: Great costumes, amazing CGI, as good as a 'Proper' cinematic release, Costumes are great, nice park lightsabres popping out and going zummmmm, and the MUSIC is, well GREAT!!! Lightsabre fighting isn't that amazing however.

It doesn't really rise much above the standard of TV series such as 'xena' and 'hercules' but for a fan film, thats amazing.

Since I don't believe it is possible or fair to consider this film without at least an introduction to the Fan Film Universe, I decided to visit the many Fan Films sites and view as many of the hundreds of fan films as was bearable. In the surprisingly large catalog of this genre, Star Wars Revelations is among the best. One has to cite what most others already have: good costumes, good CG, good sets, a decent core plot idea (unless you are a canonical Star Wars fan) and a very good score by Chris Bouchard. Bouchard uses a few of the standard Star Wars pieces as jumping off points to some fine musical work of his own that nicely weaves known themes throughout in addition to adding excellent new character leitmotifs. One of the things overlooked in some of the other comments is that the director did quite a decent job staging shots, especially in staging the crowd scenes, which is unusual in the Fan Film World, though the fight scenes near the end are weak and the pacing was slow. I do have to agree that the acting is the weak point, but I think one has to be at least a bit forgiving of that, due to this being a production done gratis by a group of Star Wars fans, likely acting in front of a green screen for the first time in their lives. Take a look at Gwyneth Paltrow attempting to act in front of an effects screen in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" to see how difficult or impossible that can be, even for seasoned performers. Far from being a good movie, one should still consider this a good fan film and applaud all involved for their effort. I would also encourage people to view some of the other fan films out there. As has been noted already, there are some very good ones available (look for "Grayson" as one example).