High-Budget Fan Film Fuses Star Wars With The Running Man

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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High-Budget Fan Film Fuses Star Wars With The Running Man


They say that Man is the deadlier prey of all. This is doubly true when the men in question have lightsabers.

Lightsaber battle fan films are always fun to watch. Unfortunately, they're kind of dime a dozen these mdays, so it's hard to be really impressed by them anymore. But Three Minutes, a short action/thriller from newbie director Ross Ching, puts just enough of a spin on the idea to make it interesting again.

Three Minutes' premise is pretty simple, people run each other down with a very strict time limit for the amusement of an old man with a seemingly endless supply of people and guns. The film opens with the Old Man rolling up a shutter, handing the first hunter - played by Glee star Harry Shum Jr. - and telling him he has three minutes to hunt down his prey. A brief shot also shows a lightsaber in his back pocket.

The film then cuts to the hunter's target - played by Emmy nominated dancer Stephen "Twitch" Boss - who is unarmed and in a heck of a lot of trouble. He catches a lucky break, however, when he stumbles upon corpse of a previous runner and scores a lightsaber of his own. He ambushes the hunter, destroying his gun, and forcing him into a duel. After a short, but well choreographed, battle, the hunter emerges victorious. When he returns to the Old Man, however, he discovers that he went over his time and now he is the prey. Keep your eyes peeled for a special guest star at the end - not that she's especially hard to spot.

Three Minutes manages to be fairly serious, and delightfully silly at the same time. The production values are pretty high, and I love the little comments that speak to a much larger world. You can read more about the cast and crew on the film's official web site [http://3minutes-film.com/].

Source: via Twitter [http://twitter.com/#!/ncroal/status/25587759842336768]


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TheRightToArmBears

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Dec 13, 2008
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A) What the fuck?

B) Badass. Really well done too, shame the dancer-bloke had to die.
I want to see Lara Croft with a lightsaber!
 

Gildan Bladeborn

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Aug 11, 2009
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My father showed that to us last night, and it positively drove my mother and sister crazy... because they wanted to know why. I watch something like that and I think "That was pretty cool and random" but they're left wondering what the point was, why the actors were fighting, why the film exists at all, why Twitch didn't break out dancing and turn the whole thing into comedy (that was just my sister)... because for them it can't just be a neat little short film, it has to mean something. They therefore found the general lack of information about the 'meaning' of the short to be maddening.
 

BabySinclair

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Apr 15, 2009
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Good effects, enough hinting at a repeat series, good choreography... hope to see another or a longer version in the not too distant future.
 

Baldry

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Feb 11, 2009
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That was rather epic, very impressed! Would not mind watching a longer ligthsaber battle with this guy filming it etc.!
 

Kross

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Sep 27, 2004
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Looked cool, but if some jerk tells me "haha you're next to die" while I'm standing in front of him with a light saber, I'd be an awful lot more stabby. :/
 

Alar

The Stormbringer
Dec 1, 2009
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Kross said:
Looked cool, but if some jerk tells me "haha you're next to die" while I'm standing in front of him with a light saber, I'd be an awful lot more stabby. :/
I have to agree. Why didn't he just shoot the guy in the face a few times?
 

EnigmaticSevens

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Sep 18, 2009
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At first I was very much in line with thought "turn the old man into so many chunks of slightly wrinkled shashimi (although they would be a bit charred)". But I suppose the Old Man is more a referee, than the actual antagonist. I doubt he controls much, just playing a role like the others....

Very nice fight choreography as well, with surprisingly good pacing for such a short work.
 

TimeLord

For the Emperor!
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Aug 15, 2008
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Kross said:
Looked cool, but if some jerk tells me "haha you're next to die" while I'm standing in front of him with a light saber, I'd be an awful lot more stabby. :/
I was thinking this too... Just take the old man's head off and run for it!
 

nin_ninja

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Nov 12, 2009
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I wish this guy would get a lightsabre and use it on New Directions.

Really though, even though this was well done, I'm surprised they got these people to do something like this.
 

Swaki

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Apr 15, 2009
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what small comments made in this movie spoke to a large world? the "one of us has to die" ? that was probably the only line vague enough for someone to morph into having a deep meaning.
 

Analogy

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Jan 12, 2010
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I was just left wondering "why the fuck do they have lightsabers?" Seriously, why do all these fan films feel the need to transpose the light saber into jarringly non-Star-Warsian settings? And why do all these fan films inevitably focus on one of the most superficial aspects of Star Wars?

It seriously would have been a better film without the light sabers and with more traditional hand-to-hand combat with found objects.

...But then we wouldn't be reading about it on The Escapist.
 

Mr. Socky

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Apr 22, 2009
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I've got no idea what the hell I just watched, but it was cool. I'm guessing that was the point.
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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Kross said:
Looked cool, but if some jerk tells me "haha you're next to die" while I'm standing in front of him with a light saber, I'd be an awful lot more stabby. :/
They took out to many skillpoints from "common-sense" to buff up their "well choreographed dueling" stats.
 

Kenjitsuka

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Sep 10, 2009
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Why doesn't he take out the old guy?
Revenge is a dish best served when you can still serve it... :)
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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They said "you'll know what the Old Guy will do to us" so I'm guessing he's strong and proved he's strong and he'd torture the person who attacked him
 

sms_117b

Keeper of Brannigan's Law
Oct 4, 2007
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That was way better than I thought it would be, really wanting to see some kind on continuation