ORDER OF THE SITH
Web site

review written 2/6/2004

I could have sworn I'd seen a film by this title before. And what does it mean for an Empire to be in Ascendance?
I liked the Rodian's voice, and the CGI was very impressive. B-wings are nifty things.

The breakup effect on the pilot when whatever happens to him happens... it seemed kind of canned.

Liked the addition of chorals to the Imperial march. It's rare that we hear anything in the way of music editing of this sort in a fan film. Speaking of sound, Vader's voice is strange. And we hear the beginnings of an Earthy profane word, not good.

So this is the Order of the Sith. Vader seems kind of purple. And why is Darth Maul hanging out with him? Or someone who looks an awful lot like Maul?

The choreography is slow (to say the least) and the way Maul goes down is ludicrous. (I don't think this qualifies as a major spoiler.) I am now wondering if this is a comedy. But don't worry, there's another Darth Maul to pick the fight back up again. "This has gotten out of hand. Now there are two of them."

Vader is clearly bored and has way too many Maul clones on his hands if he can just be expendable like this with them. And apparently he's taught them to do Ryu and Ken's "Ha dou ken" from Street Fighter II. If he was able to make Darth Maul clones appear out of nowhere, why didn't he do this from day 1 and take over the galaxy?

Then another very neat space scene. Pretty things. Liked the design of the three-winged space station.
A dialogue is exchanged in which the bearded character sums up my position on things (utter confusion). And then the flick just sort of ends.

What, precisely, have I just watched? I'm unsure. The filmmakers don't even seem to be sure. Individually these scenes occasionally succeed but not often; the problem is that there is nothing that makes it hang together, not even a consistent tone. While this film has some impressive technical achievements given the non-existent budget, there needs to be something that resembles a story, or, failing that, the at least semi-organized haphazardness of everyday life.