Fan Film - The Distant Echo (Review)

  Taking place after the Force Awakens, Distant Echo tells an alternative story of Rey's test in the cave. Of course there she meets Kylo Ren, who claims her lightsaber belongs to him. What follows is a pretty intense fight, but both Rey and Kylo change forms into several familiar figures. Characters we loved from Legends: Jaina, Jacen and even Mara Jade all alternate with Rey and Kylo. The actors who embody Jacen and Jaina both also played in Legacy of the Force, which I reviewed last time, which I liked a lot.

  It's a very symbolic and interesting scenario to put Rey in. What's more; there are a couple similarities that happened to align with the Last Jedi; the mirror scene at the end features a glass wall, and Rey tells Jaina she's nobody. Considering they had no idea what Johnson was doing and how these coincidences actually strengthen the intent of this fanfilm, that's pretty amazing.

  The fight is also really well done. There are a couple very powerful strikes in there, and because it doesn't feature high-end choreography it connected very well with me. High-end choreography is very cool to watch, but I often can't help but feel that there are openings left unexploited because of the dancing. So fights like this, where strikes are aimed with full strength, and fighters take a couple seconds to recapture their breath seem more real in that sense.

  To be honest, I'm not completely ready to trade in Legends for Disney EU yet. To me the new movies pale in comparison. But I can appreciate the message of this fanfilm: the new movies and expanded universe taking over from Legends is like a torch being handed from one guy to the next.

Article by: Joel "Mith" Storms