Review of Vader: A Star Wars Theory Fan Film
Photo Credit: [Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith] LucasfilmOverall, I thoroughly enjoyed Star Wars Theory’s film. As far as Star Wars fan films go, I can very confidently say, this was one of, if not the best one ever made.
Just to quickly recap what I’ve already touched upon, the action in this fan film, although limited to just the start of the fan film, was quite entertaining, and was very reminiscent of Vader’s fight against the rebels at the end of Rogue One.
The biggest issue I had with the film was that it had some spotty effects at times, such as the force lightning. However, seeing as it’s a fan film, and since other CGI effects out performed by expectations at certain times, this can easily be forgiven. Even for what it is, it didn’t take away from the story of the film, or Vader and the Emperor’s relationship.
Of all of Vader’s inner thoughts and conflict, the relationship shown in this film that stuck out the most was that of Vader and his master, and not Padme.
While she was shown as one of the main focuses of his feelings and the source of his overwhelming grief, his interactions and relationship with the Emperor were much more interesting.
The way the two of them share such a mutual hatred for each other, and the fact that Vader constantly dreams about killing him but cannot bring himself to do it. This is all the while his master is constantly baiting him to do it in order to force him to embrace his hatred is all very interesting, especially because it’s never really been shown in a live-action film in such detail before.
Additionally, I must say, the casting was excellent.
While the Darth Vader suit appears to border on movie quality, Dupree Jones is the right body type and really helps to make the character feel genuine to his other appearences, which the voice of Vader, Jesse Gomez, is just about as close to James Earl Jones as you can get.
Steven T. Bartlett, who plays the Emperor also does a fine job at capturing the mannerism’s of Ian McDiarmid’s original portrayal of the character, while Bradley Klein, who voices the character, does a convincing job of replicating the emperor’s voice. His laugh in particular felt very accurate to that of McDiarmid’s from the other movies.
Overall, I thought that this was an excellent fan film and one that every true Star Wars fan should check out.
Star Wars Theory definitely went the extra mile to give us a Darth Vader film that lived up to the fandom behind the character, and did it all not for profit, but out of sheer love of the character and for Star Wars on the whole.
On behalf of the Star Wars fanbase, I would like to congratulate Star Wars Theory on creating such an excellent fan film, and we all eagerly await the release of Vader Episode II.