Star Wars: Crimson Empire (film)

Star Wars: Crimson Empire is a 1999 American 2D-animated epic space opera film based on the, originally published by. The film was directed by, written by and , produced by , Lucasfilm Feature Animation,  and  in association with , and distributed by. Richardson also served as executive producer. stars as Kir Kanos, alongside, , , , , , and in supporting roles. In this film, beginning about seven years after the events of, it follows Kir Kanos, one of the last ’s Imperial Guard, is out to kill Carnor Jax, a guard who betrayed the Emperor, coming close to New Republic Intelligence agent Mirith Sinn in the process. The film introduces Nom Anor, who served as the model for the Yuuzhan Vong in  series, which he also appears in.

The animation of the film combines 2D hand-drawn animation with the extensive use of computer-generated imagery, and it was done in California, Orlando, and Paris, with the pioneering computer animation software system Deep Canvas being predominantly used to create three-dimensional backgrounds. The understaffed crew of the film completed it with half of the time and budget of other animated features.

Crimson Empire was released in the United States on June 3, 1999. It received positive reviews from critics and Star Wars fans, who praised its voice performances, music, and animation (particularly its action sequences). Against a production budget of $130 million, the film grossed $419 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 1999, the second-highest-grossing animated film worldwide and in North America (behind Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance), and the highest-grossing Star Wars film at the time since. The film was nominated for several awards, winning nine out of 15 nominations.

Plot
On the planet of Zaddja in the Trilon sector, General Wessel's men have tracked down former Imperial Royal Guardsman Kir Kanos. Upon the closer inspection, the dwelling is revealed to be empty except for a time bomb that Kanos left behind, which detonates, killing every troop in the strike team. Kir Kanos finds himself on a remote Imperial planet called Phaeda. After a group of drunk off-duty stormtroopers start a cantina brawl, Kanos is forced to violence, killing the entire group and revealing his presence. A man named Merkon offers him a place to hide and rest before reinforcements arrive.

While he waits, Kanos recounts his first experiences as a royal guardsman. He is fighting on a faraway world alongside his onetime ally Carnor Jax. Their fighting skills impress their commanding officer, who transfers them to Yinchorr, the secret training grounds for the Emperor's red guard. Time jumps forward several years to his first meeting with the Emperor and Darth Vader during one of their inspections of the guardsmen-to-be. Darth Vader challenges the most talented recruit, Burr Danid, to a duel in the Squall, a terrifying arena suspended over a bottomless pit. Vader crushes him mercilessly in combat and kicks him into the abyss. Kanos recalls this as the moment he realizes that mere perfection is not enough in the service of the Emperor. Meanwhile, in present day, Colonel Shev, the corrupt bureaucratic ruler of Phaeda, investigates the cantina murders. He seeks to capture Kanos and turn him in before the murders bring undue attention to his corrupt activities.

Merkon brings Sadeet and Mirith Sinn to Kanos's hiding place. After a tense incident in which Kanos threatens Mirith and Sadeet with a blaster, Mirith offers him a place among the Phaeda rebels. As they leave, Merkon promises to sidetrack Shev's investigation. The cantina incident has attracted the attention of General Wessel and the reigning Imperial lord, Carnor Jax. They are en route to Phaeda and order Colonel Shev to stand down. Shev disobeys the order and continues the search. He is aided in his search by his informant, Tem Merkon, the man who hid Kanos. Merkon gives him the location of the rebel base. Shev orders an assault on the Rebel base in the remote mountains around the spaceport. Upon arriving at the rebel base, Kanos wastes no time in making Sadeet and Massimo feel threatened. Unaware that Kanos is a former royal guardsman, the rebels set him up in temporary quarters and offer him shelter. Over a meal, Mirith tells Kanos about her past on Nez Peron and her motives in rebelling against the empire. Mirith leaves Kanos alone, and Kanos continues recounting his past into his recording device. This time, he recalls the final day of his training on Yinchorr. After killing Lemmet Tauk, his training partner, during a forced duel for a place in the Royal Guard, Kanos graduates and joins the Royal Guard. Darth Vader strikes him across the face with his lightsaber and gives him his scar.

After a poor command decision by Mirith Sinn, one squad of rebel troops ends up surrounded by Shev's troops and without reinforcements. As Massimo is about to be captured, a mysterious royal guard begins single-handedly eliminating Shev's army. As Mirith confronts him, a TIE Interceptor strafes the group. The guardsman takes a hand blaster and shoots the pilot through the viewport, killing him and causing the ship to careen out of control and crash into the remote command post, winning the battle. After the battle, the guardsman reveals himself as Kir Kanos. The rebels, their base discovered, begin evacuations.

Mirith, looking for Kanos, finds his recorder lying around in his room. She listens to his third recorded entry, which recounts the events following the battle of Onderon. Kyle Hannad, who barely survived the battle, returns to Yinchorr to tell the other guardsmen what he has learned: Carnor Jax was not killed when Byss was destroyed; Jax is alive, he had paid the Emperor's physician to create faulty clones for the Emperor, and he had gained control of two divisions of stormtroopers. He orders the troops into the guardsmen's stronghold on Yinchorr. Though the former Royal Guards killed hundreds of stormtroopers in the battle, sheer numbers overwhelmed even immeasurable talent, and all of the guardsmen died that day, save Kanos, who escaped, and Jax, his sworn enemy.

In the present day, Kanos plans to leave the planet. In the aftermath of the battle, Merkon goes once more to Colonel Shev to offer him the location of Kanos's ship, just before Jax and Wessel drop out of hyperspace. Merkon returns to the rebel base once more to rendezvous with Mirith and Sadeet. Sadeet has already begun to suspect Merkon at this point and tries to mislead him about where the rebels are going, but Mirith corrects Sadeet and tells Merkon about the fallback point at Collo Fauale.

Jax scolds Colonel Shev and receives information from Merkon about the location of the rebel base and Kanos's ship. The rebels discover Merkon's treachery and kill him. To save Kanos, Mirith disguises herself and goes to Kanos's ship to be captured in Kanos's place. Jax tortures her (to no avail) to find out Kanos's location. She talks when he threatens to destroy the rebel base using the turbolasers aboard his orbiting star destroyer, the Emperor's Revenge. Jax does not keep his promise, ordering the Steadfast to bombard the rebel base even though Mirith talked. However he does allow Mirith to leave safely. Jax leaves for Yinchorr, where Kir Kanos is waiting for him. The Steadfast is left alone in orbit over Phaeda, where Rogue Squadron delays them until General Wedge Antilles and the captured Imperial Super Star Destroyer Lusankya drop out of hyperspace and capture the Steadfast. Mirith and Sadeet commandeer Kir Kanos's old ship in the Phaeda spaceport and leave for Yinchorr.

In orbit around Yinchorr, the Emperor's Revenge boards a lone Scimitar-class fighter. The ship is found empty but for a pilot droid and another of Kanos's bombs, which detonates, destroying the Emperor's Revenge. Carnor Jax has already taken 6 stormtroopers and left for the planet's surface, having predicted Kanos's move. Upon arrival on the planet's surface, Jax tells the troops that they are the best in the Empire and that if anyone can beat Kanos, it will be them. Kanos eliminates them quickly and efficiently, leaving him alone with Jax in the Squall. Jax offers him a place at his side, ruling the Empire. Kanos refuses, reminding Jax that he murdered the emperor, and attacks.

Kanos and Jax fight their final battle in the Squall on Yinchorr. Jax is confident in his victory, reminding Kanos that in the squall, he always wins. Kanos disarms and nearly defeats Jax, but Jax has been fostering his newfound dark force powers and uses them to knock Kanos back and regain his weapon. Mirith's and Sadeet's arrival on Yinchorr provide enough of a distraction for Kanos to regain his feet. He renews his attack on Jax, disarming him and knocking him to the ground.

Mirith realizes that Jax has information that would enable the rebels to swiftly and efficiently destroy the Empire. She cries out for Kanos to stop, but Kanos ignores her and executes Jax anyway. Sadeet is drawn into a murderous rage and charges Kanos. Kanos, left with no choice, kills him in self-defense. Angry and grief-stricken, Mirith asks Kanos what he will do now that Jax is dead. Kanos swears to eliminate the rest of the Imperial ruling council, and leaves the planet. Some time later, Massimo arrives on the planet to find Mirith alone. Mirith swears to find and someday kill Kir Kanos for what he has done.

After Tav arrived, Kanos left the planet in an X-wing, leaving his Skipray to a young mechanic on the world. Kanos had decided to learn how to fly the fighter craft so that he could understand the skills possessed by Luke Skywalker, as he saw him as the true enemy, having believed he killed Palpatine. After making several stops, Kanos decided to use his new persona as Kenix Kil to disappear into the underworld. He had his identity erased to keep anyone from learning of his true identity and took careful precautions that no one would see his face under his helmet. Hearing that a Hutt named Grappa was in need of bounty hunters, Kanos decided to take him up on employment. Kanos flew his X-wing to Grappa's base on Genon, and after meeting with the Hutt, he took up a commission to capture customs officer Tarrant Snil.

Snil was located on the planet G'wenee in the city of Lay Pa-Sidian, and Kanos left immediately to apprehend his quarry. After arriving, he was immediately accosted by men loyal to Snil. Several other hunters had failed to capture the customs officer, and he was confident that Kanos would have the same difficulty. However, Kanos's skill with his double-bladed vibroblade was too much for Snil's men, and he quickly killed the entire band. Kanos took Snil hostage and presented him to Grappa, much to the Hutt's delight. Grappa declared a party in Kanos favor, but it was soon interrupted by a mysterious call over the HoloNet. As Grappa quickly departed the celebration, Kanos got a quick glimpse at the mysterious visage of Nom Anor, one of Grappa the Hutt's mysterious associates.

While working for Grappa, Kanos noticed that Mirith Sinn and Massimo were also under the Hutt's employ. He sent Tav to keep watch on Mirith to make sure that she had not discovered his secret. Updates from Tav eventually confirmed that Sinn had probably called off her vendetta against him, as she was certainly not spending her time searching for the killer of her friend. However, Kanos decided that he had overstayed his welcome at Grappa's. Someone familiar with the battle language of the guard had deciphered the anagram of Kenix Kil and traced it to Kanos. As soon as Grappa had received word of the new information, Kanos was long gone.

At the same time, Mirith Sinn had been betrayed by Massimo and turned over to members of the Zanibar race by Grappa. Although Kanos had said that he held no remorse for killing the Rebel commander's friend, he felt that he deserved to repay her for causing her such grief. Commandeering an A-wing from Grappa's base, Kanos set out for Xo, the Zanibar homeworld, to rescue Sinn. Kanos followed the Zanibar transport ship carrying Sinn, and landed on the planet, stashing the ship in the dense underbrush outlying the main Zanibar city. Kanos then infiltrated the city and incapacitated a Zanibar priest, taking his place in one of their archaic ceremonies.

The Zanibar were known to capture organics and submit them to barbaric rituals, which seemed to consist of cutting up the person and flaying them while they were tied to a large metal hoop. As Kanos arrived at the ceremony, the Zanibar were about to cut up Lieutenant Massimo, the man who had betrayed Sinn to Grappa, but had been betrayed in turn. While the Zanibar were busy with Massimo, Kanos made his way deep into the ceremony building, finally finding Sinn and freeing her. However, the Zanibar quickly realized that their other sacrifice had been released, and they raised the alarm. Kanos opened fire on the Zanibar priests, killing one of them, and inadvertently freeing Massimo from the ceremonial hoop in the process.

Sinn and Kanos ran from the Zanibar village and back to the ship, with the Zanibar in hot pursuit. Since the A-wing was only a one-seater ship, Kanos was forced to stand on the wing of the craft while Sinn flew the craft through the atmosphere. Unfortunately the atmospheric flight slowed down the craft, and the Zanibar's own craft quickly caught up with the A-wing, crippling it and forcing Sinn to crash-land the ship into a tree. Although the two remained unharmed, they were trapped in the dangerous Xo wilderness with no means of escape.

Kanos and Sinn trekked across the dangerous wilderness together. The pair had to constantly work together to keep from being eaten by the hostile wildlife. They were able to survive the day by constantly watching each other's backs, eventually reaching an ancient temple in the center of the wilderness by nightfall. Settling down to spend the night, the attraction that Kanos and Sinn had begun back on Phaeda began to blossom again. Sinn tried to convince Kanos once again that the Empire was evil, telling the story of how her peaceful husband was killed by the Empire. Kanos began to slowly show a change of heart, finally thinking for himself for the first time in many years.

After spending the night together, Kanos and Sinn awoke to see a Zanibar raiding party that had come to recapture the Humans for their ceremony. Trapped and outnumbered, Kanos tried to hold off the Zanibar, using the ancient temple as cover. Luckily for Kanos and Sinn, Tav Kennede arrived in Kanos's X-wing to save the day. Unfortunately, as soon as Sinn had climbed aboard, Kanos was wounded by a stray blaster shot and was unable to get to the ship. Kanos ordered Kennede to leave him and get Sinn away, and despite Sinn's protests, Kennede followed orders. Kanos was taken captive by the closing Zanibar as Kennede took Sinn off-world.

Luckily for Kanos, even the barbaric Zanibar had heard of the massive bounty on the Imperial Guard's head, and decided to turn him in for the reward. The Zanibar brought Kanos back to Grappa and arranged for Grappa to deal with turning over Kanos to the Imperials. Kanos remained in a cell as the Hutt negotiated with the Imperials. However, as Kanos prepared himself in incarceration, a New Republic taskforce led by Mirith Sinn infiltrated Grappa's headquarters and rescued Kanos. The Royal Guard was brought back with the Sinn to New Republic space in time to witness the Battle of Ord Cantrell.

The Battle of Ord Cantrell was a conflict between ex-Imperial Baron Ragez D'Asta and self-proclaimed Galactic Emperor Xandel Carivus, precipitated when Carivus ordered the arrest of D'Asta's daughter Feena for treason.With much of the Imperial Starfleet dispatched across the galaxy in the hunt for Kir Kanos, Ord Cantrell was left poorly defended and vulnerable to Baron D'Asta's large private fleet. The Imperial forces were soundly defeated in space, losing at least one Imperial-class Star Destroyer, and D'Asta's fighters began strafing Carivus's estate. Seeing that defeat was imminent, Carivus offered to release Feena D'Asta. The Baron was loath to call off the attack when victory was in sight, but he valued his daughter's life over his own pride and agreed to the ceasefire.

Kanos followed Sinn to a meeting with Baron Ragez D'Asta, where she revealed to him that his daughter, Feena D'Asta, had been replaced with a clone. Although D'Asta was shocked with the revelation, Kanos reacted immediately. He declared Feena's clone a traitor to the Empire for being involved on the Imperial Interim Ruling Council and prepared to execute her. However, Sinn convinced Kanos to spare her life, as she had been forced to participate in the plot by Black Sun. Although he decided to spare the woman, Kanos still resolved to execute the rest of the council.

The newly proclaimed Emperor, Xandel Carivus had holed up inside his throne room on Ord Cantrell, and with the help of Sinn, Tav Kennede, and Baron D'Asta, Kanos infiltrated the throne room and engaged Xandel Carivus's Private Guard. They were no match for Kanos's skill, and although they were able to wound Tav, Kanos quickly dispatched all of them. Carivus tried to make an escape out the back door, but Kanos cut him off, smashing his face into a bulkhead before accusing him of betrayal to his Emperor. Although Carivus tried to plead for his life, Kanos would hear nothing of it, and he coldly executed the next would-be Emperor.

Although Carivus was dead, the rest of the Imperial Ruling Council members had been locked in cells by Carivus. Sinn commented on the fact that they would be easy pickings if Kanos wished to have them killed as well. However, Kanos remarked that there had been enough killing for one day, implying that he would leave the judging of the council up to the New Republic. Kanos's change of heart had left him confused, and he prepared to leave New Republic space and Sinn behind. Although Sinn declared her love for him and pleaded with him to stay, Kanos realized that his devotion was still to the Emperor, and he left the scene in his X-wing.

Voice cast

 * as Kir Kanos
 * as Carnor Jax
 * as Mirith Sinn
 * as Sish Sadeet
 * as Redd Wessel
 * as Xexus Shev
 * as Tem Merkon
 * as Massimo
 * as Grappa the Hutt
 * as Xandel Carivus
 * as Feena D'Asta
 * as Zzzanmxl
 * as Nom Anor
 * as Taskmaster
 * as
 * as