User reviews

This is Battle Star Wars, a mockbuster of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. What's a mockbuster? Well, sometimes when a big-budget, highly-anticipated movie is coming out, small studios will quickly and cheaply pump out their own ripoffs for a quick buck, hoping to trick people into buying them because of the similar titles and cover art. They are NOT parodies. They're just ripoffs. The most infamous studio that does this is The Asylum, who have made such masterpieces as Transmorphers, Atlantic Rim, Avengers Grimm and many, MANY more. I highly recommend looking up their filmography. It's pretty funny. They also make their own original giant monster movies, sleazy sex comedies, B-horror movies and Christian movies. Hmm. One of these things is not like the others. Anyway, normally I wouldn't bother with these damn mockbusters. I tried to watch Transmorphers once and was bored to tears. However, I'm a big Star Wars fan so I thought it might be fun to check this movie out. There are no new Star Wars movies coming out until 2022. Gotta fill the void somehow. I don't really know what I was expecting, but it's really bad. The effects are really bad, the cinematography has all the personality of a soap opera, the score is generic, the story is derivative and it's just boring. Everything is basically Star Wars but changed slightly. Instead of Jedi, you have Paladins. Instead of the Galactic Empire, you got the Coalition of Planets. Instead of the rebels, you get....still the rebels. They didn't even change the name! The movie even has expository text at the beginning! They even straight-up used some Aurebesh letters from Star Wars in the movie! It's very shameless. You know how Star Wars is fun and action-packed and is always taking you to new locations and moving the story along with great characters? Well, 99% of the scenes in this movie take place in the interior of ships. The other 1% is shot in some desert. And I swear, they used the same sets for every ship but only changed the colour of the lighting! That kind of thing might be acceptable for a stage play, but not a movie! And the characters are dull! And the action is boring! And the story is hard to follow because it hardly shows you ANYTHING! They just tell you everything, but even then they don't explain things. One of the bad guys, who's supposed to be Darth Vader or something, has Force powers out of nowhere, which was NOT established at all unless I missed something! And the costumes are bad! Half of the characters are just wearing regular clothes, and the ones who are wearing something Star Wars-y look like they're wearing Halloween costumes! My favourite was this one character that's supposed to be a Wookiee or something but it's just a tall guy with a beard! My second favourite were all the robots who all just looked like regular humans. Even the worst sci-fi B-movies from the 50s and 60s usually remembered to make their aliens look like aliens and their robots look like robots! There's only one actually properly costumed alien in this movie that shows up near the end out of nowhere! There are also technical issues everywhere. Some sound effects are just missing, there's some bad editing and half the actors can't even pronounce the name of the main character, who's supposed to be Poe Dameron or something, correctly! Speaking of the actors, they're clearly trying their best but the direction and the script are so bad they just don't have anything to work with. Overall, this movie could've worked if it were a fraction of the runtime and a Star Wars fan film on YouTube or something, but even some of those are better than this. Maybe the script could've been turned into one of those crappy self-published sci-fi novels on Amazon. It still wouldn't be good, but at least we might get a Jenny Nicholson video out of it! It would be better this! Anything is better than this! Don't watch it! It's not so bad it's good! It's not enjoyable at all! It's just bad! Even The Phantom Menace is better than this! No, you know what, even The Star Wars Holiday Special is better than this! No, you know what, even Turkish Star Wars is better than this! Avoid it like the plague! Oh, one last thing, there's a setup for a sequel. Ughhhhhhhhhh.....

In just the TITLE, this movie rips off two other, far superior franchises, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars. The opening exposition dump uses the Dragon Language from Skyrim with an odd transition into English. The ships at the beginning look surprisingly okay, but the explosions that quickly follow are reminiscent of the flower clouds from Spongebob. There are also Hyperspace(?) jumps that appear to use the same effect but blue. I have trouble describing events past this as it causes me actual pain to think about this movie.

Hahahahahah....lol!! Zero imagination went into this cheesy and horribly acted movie. That is all.

Typical Asylum turd, skirting copyright infringement hoping for people to accidentally buy this, as they mistake it for a movie of "some" quality.

Lets see if i can give this fest the 0 starts it deserves.

What clown thought it was a good idea to put THAT much pressure on their low budget mediocre at best film as to blatantly rip off titles of two powerhouse franchises??? Even if it was the boss they should fire themselves.

That's like a brand new barely can sing artist just trying to get on the scene and deciding to call themselves Mike L. Jackson. lmao FOH smh

Never in my life would I think cheaply made Bollywood film could look good until this assault on acting, writing, directing and production came along

For everyone involved in the creation of this movie... find another profession. Don't stress yourselves though. Do something challenging ... like pan handling

An Asylum film.

In this particular travesty to film making the big bad guy is called Zealous who looks like a biker dressed for The Matrix Con, and appears to have been tricked into looking down some of those eye-blackening joke binoculars.

Most of the ladies look like they didn't bother changing from the nightclub, and most of the guys look like they ran through a Halloween store and Army Surplus with 30 seconds to grab whatever they could, except one guy who is wearing half a Transformers suit he bought on Wish.

Another guy's costume is a big plastic chain wrapped around his naked chest in an X shape, with black jeans and a BFG, and at one point he has a fight in a desert that's so awkward you can see them both looking for each other to hit their mark before they do their next move.

There's a lot of sets made from ill-fitting plywood flats with gaps between them and stuff like cutlery drying trays and bottle crates glued on backwards with their bottoms sprayed grey, somebody bought an industrial quantity of fluorescent tubes, but this is the first time I've ever seen a cheap sci-fi interior set where the budget couldn't stretch to some flashing fairy lights pretending to be a computer panel.

There are no windows inside the spaceship interiors and at no point do we ever get to see what everybody is staring at behind the camera as they pilot them, only disconnected cuts to CGI exteriors, but they do have some lovely bucket seats.

The dialogue, oh god oh god the dialogue, the only slight interest is listening for rip-off lines like 'where is the location of the hidden (rebel) base' and 'watch your backs here they come' which might make for a drinking game, I guess.

So bad it's bad, I was hoping it would at least be funny but even a devout teetotaller would need a drink.

On the plus side... nope, I've got nothing.

I never thought that I would watch a movie like this! Horrible acting and plots. Such a disgrace to this Title. And yes you must be kidding, you used Battlestar and Star Wars titles?

There has been at least some money spent on VFX and sets etc. but the terrible script, laboured scenes and characters who we really don't care about made it a big, big mess.

Wow. Was this filmed in someone's garage? With the exception of Alyson Gorske, there wasn't a half-decent actor in the movie and the quality was bad even compared to Ice Pirates, a B film from way back in 1984. That movie was at least worthy of being called a cult classic, there's nothing redeeming about this piece of trash. I can't decide what the worst part of this movie was... the lousy acting, the terrible dialogue or the amateurish costumes, scenery and effects.

I would like to offer my services to the people from The Asylum, i think my input could make their movies have bigger rating, instead of the 2.1 it has right now, with my input it could have 2.5, assuming i could let go at least half of them and the remaining half will do what i say out of fear! but i doubt the budget of this movie could pay for that... the cgi is horrible, the acting is nonexistent, the story is a joke, the title says it all!

For those unfamiliar with the joy that is Asylum Mockbusters.... wait for a movie to come out, make a cheap video and slap a very similar title onto it, hope dumb people rent it before they realize what it is.

So, no sooner than you can say, "Hey, where's Luke Skywalker", you have this bit of cinematic larceny, where names have been changed to protect the copyright infringement.

The acting is marginal, the special effects are lame, but the plot actually is more coherent than the mess that was the last three Star Wars Sequels. Maybe they should have hired these guys instead of Jar-Jar Abrams and Ruin Johnson.

It dumb, it's fun, you can probably rent if for a lot less than the latest Star Wars Cash grab by the Mouse.

Y'all act like this is a ripoff of some lofty film franchises. Well, as far as Battlestar Galactica is concerned, you would be correct. But have you forgotten about that piece of sh%t Star Wars Episode VIII? At least Battle Star Wars didn't aspire to be a great movie. But it has a very rough around the edges charm. Sure, the story is super mediocre and the acting is forgettable, but I would be happy to entertain my 8 year old with this movie.

Clearly no Vulcan logic was involved in the making of this movie, it's not the stuff that makes careers, its the stuff that break them.

• Terrible post editing, loads of awkward pauses.

-Bad and missing sound effects. -Acting is all over the place, with some actors acting seriously, while others comedic over dramatize. -Costumes department has never seen a Star Wars movie.

1/5

Well, definitely a waste of time, or in three words: bad, very bad

Only occasionally does this waste of time lift its sleepy head above mediocrity. For the most part, the dialog is awful, the story line predictable, the acting atrocious-to-barely passable. The director needs to go back to school.

Cool title graphics. But everything was downhill after that.

I started waching the film, had nothing to do so i finished it. Should have gone to bed in stead .

Pretty much what the title says. You've got to be joking, right?

Generally I pride myself on being able to watch badly acted/directed films and see past the errors and mistakes, but not this time. This has to be one of the worst Sci-Fi films that I have seen, the acting was atrocious, the directing was laughable and the special effects, well, they were just plain cheap and nasty. About the only good thing I can say about it is, the opening credits were pretty good. That's the only reason I gave this film 2 stars. Overall don't waste your time with this one

You may hear many people comparing this to Star Wars, but be assured this is completely different.... Star Wars is called Star Wars - this is called battle Star Wars, that's completely different In Star Wars you get a Jedi padawan - in battle Star Wars you get a paladin, again completely different, some of those letter aren't even the same. In Star War the baddy posses as a good and is then revealed as bad, that person is played by a world class classical trained actor - in battle Star Wars that happens too, but the baddy is much younger and less threatening looking and is also very bad at acting, so completely different again In Star Wars the baddy turns out to be related to one of the main heros, again this does happen in battle Star Wars, but the hero is a girl, not a boy from tatooine, ah mean swamp rats ain't even mentioned in battle Star Wars.

Badly made and cheap starwars rip off evil Coalition threatens to destroy a Rebel planet will have no choice but to join the Rebel side and fight for what is right. Yes heard this story before and it was better then.

Despite their best efforts, The Asylum isn't the bottom of the barrel. They make a lot of awful schlock, yes, but I've genuinely enjoyed some of their pictures, and there are other production companies that are consistently even worse. Be that as it may, one must necessarily approach anything they make with the lowest of expectations, especially with regards to any "mockbuster." As soon as we begin watching 'Battle Star Wars,' released to ride on the coattails of 'Star Wars Episode IX,' it's readily apparent that it does not count among the studio's best work - but if nothing else, I also don't think it's the lowest of the low, either. This isn't good, yet if you're looking something light to pass the time, it's somewhat acceptable.

There are flubbed lines, a flat and bland tone accompanying mild, milquetoast direction, and wholesale overacting and chewing of scenery. We're given a bounty of dialogue in lieu of action sequences and special effects that require a budget, and just as we've seen in other genre fare like 'Supernatural,' where non-human races and monsters were often depicted taking human form, there is no special makeup on hand here, let alone prosthetics, fanciful costume design, or fabrications from a shop. (Well, okay - there is ONE non-human race depicted.) The lighting used to represent the rebels and "The Coalition" is more heavy-handed than latter-day 'Star Wars' or even M. Night Shyamalan would dream of, and writer Jeremy M. Inman lifts ideas from both George Lucas' flagship creation (such as Paladins, standing in for both Jedi and Sith) and other science fiction (e.g., HLPRs are holograms a la the EMH of 'Star Trek') in fashioning characters, dialogue, scene writing, and the narrative at large. Even the props master and costume designer follow the same path as Inman, the trio of composers take direct inspiration from John Williams, and the editing makes use of the same playful scene transitions as Lucas.

In fairness, all involved obviously knew what type of flick they were making. Whether it's a matter of James Thomas' direction or the cast's inability there is certainly some acting that's less than great, but in general one can't fault the actors for leaning into the nature of the production. The men were clearly instructed to be extra ham in their portrayals, and they do so heartily, not least Canyon Prince, Benedikt Sebastian, and Justin Berti; the women were given an opportunity to actually demonstrate their skills, insofar as The Asylum allows it, and Alyson Gorske, Alissa Filoramo, and Aimee Stolte come off better at some times more than others. The music is fairly unremarkable and often imitative, but not bad, and much the same could be said of the designs of visual elements (including CGI ships), the sets - yes, actual sets, and not just green-screen projections! - and the costume design, hair, and makeup, such as they are. Those special effects and action sequences that we do get are minimal as they present, less than completely robust, and don't specifically inspire, yet even in their modesty are decent enough. The story is generic, but suitable, even if some bits (especially dialogue) are questionable and poorly written. There is some intended humor herein that really did earn a laugh, and some genuine good ideas, not all of them lifted.

No, 'Battle Star Wars' isn't exactly good, but it's not terrible. I've seen far, far worse features than this, and even recognizing some instances of outright theft (e.g., a hologram like Leia's recorded message in 'A new hope') I don't think the utmost denigration it's received in the past four years is remotely deserved. It's possible I'm being overly generous, but there's a part of me that even sort of enjoyed this as the unabashedly low-grade romp that it is. Considering how rotten even big-budget, major studio releases can sometimes be, the very fact that The Asylum can churn out something that's not strictly abominable, let alone anything that can hold something approximating meaningful value, is kind of admirable. This is hardly a movie that one needs to make time to watch, but if you do come across it, and if you're receptive to the sort of cheesy, middling fare it calls kin, then it's passable for a lazy night.

Well, this being a movie from The Asylum, and given the title of the movie, you know that you are most likely in for something questionable. Why watch it then, you might ask. Well, once in a blue moon The Asylum does produce a movie that is worthwhile watching. So of course I sat down to watch "Battle Star Wars".

This was definitely not one of those moments where The Asylum had struck gold. Not by a long shot. This movie was laughable and just downright stupid actually. And while it was meant as a mockbuster on "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker", it was not even remotely close to being anything like "Star Wars". Well, except for the main character resembling Poe Dameron.

I am not even going to bother getting into details on the storyline, because it was just not worth it. You have to watch it yourself.

The acting in the movie was as expected for a movie of this type. So don't get your hopes up.

The special effects were actually adequate, although looking like something from the early 2000s. Again, don't get your hopes up, because the special effects and CGI will not salvage the movie.

I am rating "Battle Star Wars" a mere two out of ten stars. And this is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. I got through it the first time, and that was more than enough.