Don't ever say it's just a film! It's not just a film!" So rages one super-size fanboy in the documentary "The People vs. George Lucas," which delves into "Star Wars," its huge impact on popular culture and the rabid fans it has spawned like so many clone troopers from a Kamino lab. Beyond the movies themselves, this is a fantastically revealing look at the relationship between a creator and his audience, and hardcore fanboy subculture in general.
Who knew that there were such things as "nerdlebrities" or nerdcore hip-hop? Who knew that people cared — red-in-the-face and close to having an aneurysm cared — that Han Solo no longer shoots Greedo first in the restored version of "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope"? Who knew that the French critics actually liked Jar-Jar Binks?
The documentary, by Alexandre O. Philippe, traces the "Star Wars" phenomenon, with a heavy emphasis on fan fiction and DIY films and the fans' sense of ownership of the works. The meat of the film comes when we get to the 1999 release of the "Star Wars" prequel "The Phantom Menace," which led to a schism between director and fans on a par with that of Martin Luther and the Pope.