Star Wars: Wrath of the Mandalorian (2008)

Can't properly review this without spoilers, so I'll just point out the flick's two primary flaws:1- Considerably violent, no-punches-pulled kiling by Boba Fett, including scalping a wookie. If it was the director's goal to bring Star Wars down to gansta level, succeeded. While it wasn't "gory" per se... the killings were too intense to consider this "Star Wars" fare.2- Without spoiling the why when and what happens... completely illogical conflict between Boba Fett and Vader. Simply made no sense, did it.One additional bit... if you're a group of five Jedi (yet again) walking through a forest trying to avoid capture, then according to this story line: have your multi-color light sabers drawn and ON. There's no way that's going to call attention to yourselves-- at least no more than Times Square at midnight.Beyond that I'll not discuss plot line or logic flaws. Suffice to say this is a typical low-key fan film.

I've seen a lot of bad fan films based on / inspired by Star Wars. Most are awful; cheap-looking with horrible acting and effects. This one is no different, but it commits the added offense of completely ignoring characterization. The Jedi, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader all have their own personality (yes, the Jedi as a whole have a characterization because, except for a few, they have no personality outside of the singularity of being a Jedi). It's one thing to have your own vision, but it's quite another to decide you're going to completely re-write who the characters are because it gets you from your Point A to your Point B more easily. The number one rule of adapting someone else's work is allow the characters to stay true to themselves. When people complain about actions being "out of character" that's what they're complaining about. For example, you don't have Indiana Jones suddenly decide he's religious or a wuss. Both would spit in the face of the character as they'd been written. That is the major offense of the fan film: the only-works-alone Fett leading a trooper unit to hunt Jedi, the highly emotional Vader telling Fett to stop being emotional, the stoic-in-the-face-of-death Jedi shown running scared from everything around them. These are all situations and scenes from this fan film written with a complete disregard for the characters and who they are. Whomever did this wanted to show Boba Fett fight Darth Vader; they got to do that which appears was the only thing that matter to them, characterization be damned.

I may have a biased opinion, I am a fan the Star Wars World, not to the point of being a "Fan"addict, and feel fans need a representative review. Fearful Jedi on the Offensive, a Sith saying to an opponent, "Let go of your emotions" and a bounty hunter grabbing the business end of an elite guards weapon like a stick were just a few of the things that stood out prominently for this film short that pulled it down for me. I could continue on but I want to minimize the spoilers. I was slightly entertained and it is evident that there was thought put into the story, and I feel the fans should put in the effort to express their interpretation of a piece of the puzzle that is the Star Wars World.

The story was interesting seeing Boba Fett work for Darth Vader after the events of clone wars and I wouldn't mind seeing that story as a animated movie or TV show or even a stand alone Star Wars movie. The problem with Star Wars: Wrath of the Mandalorian was just the acting and the effects.When the characters started talking I started breaking into laughter seeing how bad they were and the effects were not on point. For a fan made short film, Star Wars: Wrath of the Mandalorian had pretty good effects such as the light savers but the back grounds and walkers were not good. Overall I wouldn't mind watching a animated version of this because the idea itself was great and I really like Boba Fett so this wasn't a terrible thing.