Saving 'Star Wars'

Good Lord! This movie needed a cinematographer. Nearly a third of the shots are out of focus! I like the concept, and for a low-budget Indie, it wasn't bad. Had some real laugh-out-loud moments, too. The Matrix allusions wore thin, but the Star Wars and convention gags were dead on.

George Starkey's Lucas was as dead on as I'd expect from a Hollywood film.

Ultimately, Jim Peterson's Hank steals the movie with his "comic relief" character that hits the nail on the head.

Director Wood's choice to play the lightsabers straight (as plastic toys and not roto-scoped light sabers) was a stroke of genius.

Unfortunately the film suffered technically. The sound and photography left much to be desired.

Worth the rent.

i saw this movie at the reshowing on Friday before fantasy in Chesapeake, VA. it needs editing, but Gary wood said he's still editing, so hopefully it will get tightened up. it's a relatively disjointed story of a man (woody) who's son (Taylor) is mortally ill and the son only wants star wars to go on, so his father will always have something to remember him (Taylor) by. the majority of the movie takes place at the star wars celebration, where woody and his childhood friend, hank (my favorite character) want to meet George Lucas to give Lucas a letter from Taylor. the ensuing situations make up the bulk of the movie.there are such weird characters as Dennis badder (a Vader wannabe)agent smith (one of Lucas' guard) Salvatore (a minion of Lucas') Lisa (a great tribute to padme and Leia) i went into it expecting to be more depressed than tickled, but i was wrong. when the movie is funny, it's VERY funny.there are many tips of the hat to such diverse movies as the godfather, airplane, and even star trek (watch for it) it was great to see Dave prowse looking healthy and he has a good ear for comedy and a wonderful deadpan delivery. i recommend this movie to movie buffs, star wars buffs in particular. even most people in fandom should enjoy it.

If you take this little gem for what it is: A low budget film by a first time director, with a volunteer cast & crew filmed on location at Celebration II (a Star Wars convention), it's a masterpiece.

I had the pleasure of attending a screening with with director Gary Wood and star David Prowse (who plays himself) in attendance. I enjoyed it enough to buy the DVD after the screening, and have enjoyed repeated viewings. The cast is very good and has a lot of fun with this touching and very funny script. Lee Ann Millen makes this film well worth watching. The actor playing Gearge Lucas does a great job. The director gave a copy to Mr. Lucas himself. I would love to read his review of it.

Pop some popcorn and sit back and enjoy.

I saw the premier June 9th. I went having no idea of what to expect except that it must have something to do with Star Wars. I must say I was impressed. Its loaded with Star Wars quotes, references and jokes that fans will appreciate, but the story is truly about the crazy things people will do for their loved ones. It also tries to examine what Star Wars means to people.

The movies takes place during the Star Wars Celebration II that took place in Indianapolis in 2002 when the main character (Woody) attends to find and talk to George Lucas. After several failed attempts he accidentally knocks Lucas out and ends up "kidnapping" him. Of course things get crazier from there.

All-in-all I thought it was a great movie. Some of the dialog seemed dry and the various Matrix references, while funny, seemed out of place. The cinematography was good and the characters of Woody and Hank had great chemistry. I expect it will be shown at Celebration III, but I hope Gary Wood can do more with it.

Starwars mockumentaries are as abundant as they are poorly made, unfortunately. Saving Star Wars is no exception. Sandwiched between lack luster cinematography is a meandering plot, amateur acting and just plain goofy dialog (even for a Starwars knockoff). This film is a text book case of a producer with money throwing it at a group of amateurs to make a film. The byproduct is not funny, cannot be taken seriously (even when it wants to) and is not entertaining even to the most rabid Starwars fan (like myself). The film fails technically as well, with poor editing and poor camera work resulting in many out of focus shots, seamed panning and lots of camera bounce. It looks like most of the work was done with a Canon XL-1 or possibly mended together with GL-1 shots as well. Scenes inside the convention center were cast in the dreaded "green" from fluorescent lights, further evidence of poor camera work and lack of gel use. No true "tone" of the film was ever established or maintained.

The occasional bright spots were performances by Jim Peterson as Hank, who becomes more annoying than funny over time, George Starkey as George Lucas, who bears a striking resemblance to Lucas, a confident Lee Ann Millen as Lisa (Princess Lea/Padme) who combined slightly odd/cuteness with toughness (every Starwars fan dream girl) and Scott Sendelweck as Dennis Bayder, who is actually quite capable of better performances. Apollo Bacala is hilarious and effortless as Melvin Lucas and provides the only true belly laughs of the entire film.

Being able to point to the many locales I know of personally and smile and say "hey, they're at so and so..." doesn't make up for the fact that this film falls flat on its face and furthers the notion that the Indy film scene is as pathetic as it is amateur.