Review of Makazie One

SPOILER ALERT: This review assumes you have either seen Makazie One, or do not care to know things about the film.

For a long time now I’ve wanted someone to do a serious, well done, Star Wars fan film that focused on stormtroopers.  Makazie One has delivered this with flying colors of blood red, blue armor marks, and white TKs! In fact, Makazie One is so outstanding, I wanted to take the first part of this review and talk about the things I didn’t like about it. “Nitpick” in other words.

First off, and mainly, why didn’t they take the time to get more accurate armor? Using the FX armor for the “background” troopers is one thing, but having the main character in a “bobble head” FX bucket and armor was almost unforgivable. (Of course, it was forgivable because the quality of everything else was there.)

There were other things… like why, at 2 minutes 33 seconds, would a stormtrooper “cup” his mouth to yell orders at other stormtroopers? Aren’t they on com-links?

Finally, a stormtrooper with a light saber… really? Isn’t this simply the ultimate fan-boy dream for a Star Wars movie? Couldn’t they figure out a different way of making Makazie One “cool?”

But… that’s about it as far as what I didn’t like. I tried hard to find things I didn’t like… and really, honestly I couldn’t do it. This film hit on all cylinders!

So, what was so amazingly good about the film?

For starters it was well made. Great music, sound effects, cinematography, visual effects, everything was spot on. It looked like Star Wars meets Battlestar Galactica! Then there were the stormtroopers.

Like I said to begin with, I’ve always wanted a serious fan film that was well done, and that focuses on stormtroopers.  Besides getting to see a squad of troopers in action we got to see Mandalorians giving it their best as well.  We’re also blessed to see a thermal detonator finally being used, as well as a Lewis 21 blaster.

The “trick” they pulled near the end, with the stormtrooper Makazie One having his thermal detonator be a light saber instead, was actually a nice little touch.  In fact, why not?  The original Ralph McQuarrie artwork had the trooper knights wielding light sabers and shields… so why not allow some troopers to have sabers?  A very nice touch I think indeed.

All I can say is that I sincerely hope Lucasfilm Ltd. does this good with the Star Wars live action show.  I hope they listen to us, their fans, and do things that focus on not just the “rebellion” side of things, but the “Imperial” side too.  I hope they have main characters who are stormtroopers, tie-fighter pilots, and the like.  I hope they have missions on dirty planets and fight hidden Jedi and Mandalorians.  I even hope the Star Wars live action show has the same “feel” Makazie One has… gritty and real.  SW meets BSG.

So, if you’ve NOT seen this film yet… go and watch it now! It is well worth your time.  In fact, it’s well worth my time to watch it a few more times yet I’m sure!

Thanks Clutch, and everyone else who made it.
It really inspires me to make one myself! *grin*

One other interesting factoid. While typing this review I had to have my computer “learn” the word Makazie… the word it wanted to use? “Mercenary.” Ironic… and appropriate indeed.