Have we ever been given reason to care about the Empire's Stormtroopers before Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Not really. For the most part they've been depicted as inept automatons who couldn't blast the broad side of a Death Star. But with the introduction of Finn (John Boyega), and I would add the character work done on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, we're seeing that these guys aren't just a bunch of soulless clones, and that's where the awesome new short film Jakku: First Wave comes in.
The 3-minute movie is the brainchild of Benjamin Eck, centering on a trio of Stormtroopers just as they are about to land on the planet Jakku, which was a major battle in 'The Force Awakens' took place. What I like about this is that it feels like a scene out of a war movie, and perhaps could serve as a tonal bridge to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which is definitely a war film.
While it was clearly shot on a shoestring budget, the visuals are impressive, made even more so by the fact that Eck and his team built the set based on layouts from the inside of an AT-AT Walker. Very cool. Star Wars fan movies are a dime a dozen but this is the best I've seen in some time. Check out the film for yourself below.
