Gadgetopia

I’m late to this party, but let me say that Star Wars Revelations is an awfully cool little film. For those that haven’t seen it, it’s a Star Wars fan film, produced by someone who’s name is not George.

Given that the real Star Wars films have budgets the size of small countries, you’d think it would be lame, but it’s not. Production values are fantastic. The acting is a bit spotty, but there’s actually a story and the special effects are insanely good. On my monitor, they rivaled what I’ve seen in the theater.

(And you have to love the cast list on IMDb, which explains that some guy named Errol was “Emporer Palpatine / Biker Scout / Pilot Tie #3.” Now that’s efficiency.)

Here’s now I knew this film had the Star Wars vibe right: I didn’t understand a minute of it. I didn’t understand “The Phantom Menace” or “Attack of Clones” either. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not that smart.

(But why have things gotten so complicated anyway? Somewhere over the course of the six “official” films, we went from Greedo getting capped under a table to people standing around talking about politics. Dude, if I wanted C-Span, I have it on cable.)

Revelations has something to do with mind-reading and a little “Jedi artifact,” but that’s about all I got. There’s a long lost sister, a shaggy-haired Han Solo wanna-be, a bunch of holograms, and even the tender scene with the climactic music — there are moments when you think you’re watching one of the real films.

There’s a strong emphasis on women here. The bad guy is a girl, and so is the hero. And when two chicks face off with lightsabers in both hands, well, that’s just cool.

But then it ended, and I still didn’t know what the hell was going on. But Not George must have gotten it right, because I walked away from my computer thinking I was the stupid one, and that’s the hallmark of any good director.