STAR WARS XXX - A PORN PARODY
DVD. Vivid.

With the porn parody remaining the dominant force in adult entertainment, it was inevitable that someone would tackle fan boy favourite Star Wars, and perhaps equally inevitable that it would be Axel Braun, who has already pornified Spider-Man, Batman and others in glossy productions. This latest film, much anticipated thanks to a rather excellent trailer, is one of the most expensive productions the industry has seen, and you can bet it’ll be cleaning up in the awards next year.

I’ll confess right now that I’m not a big Star Wars fan, though like most kids at the time, I was caught up in the original hype, buying the toys, the comics and whatever else came along until the sequels finally slapped some sense into me. But the films are such a part of our collective experience now that you probably don’t even need to have seen them to recognise the story, the dialogue and the imagery – and Braun recreates all those with remarkable precision here. The effects and the sets – a mix of decent CGI and impressive physical props – are all spot-on, and the characters are pretty decent recreations. If Rocco Reed looks more like Chevy Chase than Harrison Ford and Darth Vader seems a little skinny, that’s okay, because Tom Byron is remarkably authentic as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Seth Gamble is suitably naïve and dopey as Luke Skywalker and Allie Haze is both cute and feisty as Princess Leia.

This is a parody that lives up to the name – it’s as much a send-up of Star Wars as a tribute. Here, it inevitably suffers in comparison to excellent Star Wars spoofs by Family Guy and Robot Chicken – the screenplay by Braun and Mark Logan can’t really match the wit of those shows. But taken on its own level, there are a few laughs to be had – Obi Wan Kenobi being a lecherous drunk, Darth Vader a sulky brat and Luke a bit of a dick.

The sex scenes come in lengthy bursts between the storyline scenes – 90 minutes of the 150 minute movie are sex scenes, but the scenes between them are surprisingly long, so it’s unsurprising that when the sex scenes do appear, they are pretty thorough. And yes, before you ask – Princess Leia does have sex with Darth Vader and Luke (the latter in a three-way with Han), which is all sorts of wrong if you think about the wider story arc! As with other Axel Braun films, the DVD includes a non-sex version, which runs just under and hour and in many ways works better as a film.

I’d still like to see this amount of time, effort and money being lavished on an original story instead of a parody – but I understand the economics of the industry right now. And if we have to have these parodies – and we do – then we should hope that they are all this well mounted. Star Wars fans – you need this movie!

The 2-disc set also includes a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary that’s pretty good, as well as Vivid extras and trailers.

DAVID FLINT

BUY IT NOW (USA)