BEER WARS
Web site

review written 2/22/2003

When people talk about what fan films have the best special effects, somehow they always forget Beer Wars, and I'm not sure why.

The structure for this mock trailer was handed down by a beer commercial contest. So we've got a beer commercial on our hands. Normally this would hurt a film, but in the hands of these competent filmmakers, the requirement to keep coming back to the beer bottle is an asset and strength. Beer bottles as lightsaber hilts, as Y-wing parts, as battle droid heads, as speeder bikes, as gun parts (I want a gun like that!), as the Roman numerals in "Episode II".

Good enough.

Plus we've got an exciting trailer, to boot. Stuff blows up! Battle droids march! Cool stuff happens! And all made from scratch, mind you.

The colors are gorgeous. The mise-en-scene shows a lot of detail which thankfully the Web compression does not kill. Stuff blows up. This is the kind of fan film Michael Bay would make, and I mean that as a compliment. Unencumbered by having to tell a story other than "sell the beer", this trailer is a visual treat.

I've still never seen better visual effects than this. It's not just the relative realism that works for me. It's the style.

Oh, yeah... before I forget...

Hey, red-blooded guys who drink beer appreciate women. And maybe I'm just a lonely sci-fi dork, but two beautiful women fighting with lightsabers = your key to quality filmmaking.

I'm not sure which one's Chrissy and which one's Ammoree. I'm going to guess that the blonde is Chrissy. But I'm too lazy to change my image above to reflect that.

Anyway.

I have two gripes. The first is that in the otherwise awesome speeder bike scene at 1:04, when the man goes under the underpass, no shadow crosses him. Should it? I honestly don't know. The second is the MPAA screen at the beginning. It is bad enough to put in an actual MPAA green screen rather than a creative spoof... but to have it be a poor-quality recording of one is just insulting to this feast of eye candy.

Nonetheless, great stuff. I would have loved to see these guys do a more "standard" fan film, y'know, with a plot. As it stands, Beer Wars is a must-see and a keeper. There's more to special effects than lightsabers, and here's your proof.