Star Wars: Smuggler's Run

When rating a film like this, one has to remember it's a fan-film. One can't rate such against professional films any more than we can compare a hamburger to filet-Mignon. Hamburgers need be compared with hamburgers: is it a great hamburger or a greaseburger? Is it unusual enough to be a good ratburger?

The script in this is so-so... neither good nor bad. The choreographed fight scenes are decent (for a fan film). The filming, directing and CGI are excellent. The amount of work put into the film, the number of locations and the extremely low budget with which it's made can't be ignored. To focus on the flaws is counter-productive in a fan film of this quality.

In general I don't like fan films. I tend to give shorts poor ratings because they so often have absolutely no plot or resolution. I question the "canon" of this film and that's why I only give it 8 stars. A story line can be completely new, set off on a far-off planet and completely unrelated to what has gone before... but if one is going to make a Star Wars film it should at least not contradict the main films. That bit of story-writing liberty cost this 2 stars. But it was well worth watching, the production higher-than-average, and despite the weak (but at least existent) plot... a very good effort.