Review: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

     Star Wars is perhaps the most iconic film in the history of cinema. In 1977 it was nominated for Best Picture and lost (in my opinion rightfully) to Woody Allen's Annie Hall. However to this day it is a cultural touchstone that is referenced almost constantly. It spawned two excellent sequels and IT DID NOT SPAWN THREE SEQUELS. THEY NEVER HAPPENED. DON'T BELIEVE THE LIES. The original Star Wars is such a well crafted piece of art that it remains to this day one of the best science fiction films ever made. However, this is not the film I watched. The movie I saw was the 1997 rerelease that George Lucas decided to make some slight changes to because now he had the money and technology to fulfill his original vision. What in fact happened was that Lucas tarnished an other wise near perfect film. While the 1997 version is still very good, because Lucas couldn't change that much (in fact there is at least one change that I prefer to the original film), it just isn't as good as the original movie.

Imagine how much better the world be without him

     In case you just woke up from a 35 year coma, I'll do a quick explanation of the basic plot. A young farmer named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) buys a couple of robots from some traders. Luke soon finds a message in one of the robot's memory from his previous owner, Princess Leia (Carrie Fischer), a leader in the rebellion against the evil galactic empire. The message is a call for help from a man called Obi Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who Luke thinks might be related to an old man named Ben Kenobi that he happens to know. It turns out (Spoiler) that Ben Kenobi is Obi Wan and the two of them hire a rough and tumble pilot named Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and leave their desert planet of Tatooine. Their mission is to deliver the plans of the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, a battle station the size of a small moon capable of destroying whole planets, to the rebellion in hopes that they might find a weakness so that they may destroy it. Along the way they rescue the princess from the Death Star and it's commander in chief Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones).

     The story is the classic heroes journey as we watch Luke learn the ways of The Force, a mystical power which binds the universe together, and then use it to fight evil. The cinematography is top notch with single frames conveying as much about the story as full scenes of dialogue are able. The score by John Williams is to this day one of the best ever and always manages to give me chills. The special effects, which originally were done entirely in camera, including the iconic opening title crawl, hold up remarkably well. The alien costumes don't hold up quite as well with only Chewbacca remaining convincing, and the acting is a little spotty. Harrison Ford plays Han Solo very well as the selfish, aloof, tough guy. Alec Guinness gives a wonderful performace as always. However, Hamill often comes across as whiny and Carrie Fischer is a little over the top, but enjoyable.

     Star Wars is inarguably a great movie, but I should discuss the changes Lucas made to the 1997 rerelease, both those that hurt the film (most of them) as well as the few that improve it. The most notable change that has caused the greatest amount of uproar from the fans is changing the scene in the catina on Tatooine between Han Solo and Greedo, an alien bounty hunter, to make Greedo shoot his blaster first and miss before he is shot by Han. In the original, having Han shoot first illustrates to the audience how tough, uncaring, and self-centered Han is that he shoots Greedo not out of self defense but so that he can continue running around the galaxy as a free man. Furthermore, it doesn't make sense that Greedo, a trained bounty hunter would miss a shot from point blank range. Also on Tatooine, Lucas added a bunch of CGI creatures to the city of Mos Eisley to make it look busier, but the CGI of 1997 isn't very good and it only serves to distract the viewer. This is especially evident in the exchange between Han and Jabba the Hutt before they leave Tatooine. In the original, Jabba was a human in a furry vest but the scene was cut from the final version, but in 1997 the scene was put back in, but he was replaced by a CGI abomination to match the version of Jabba we had come to know in 1983's Return of the Jedi which had been done with animatronic puppetry.

Look at it. LOOK AT IT.

     There are a couple changes which I think are better than the original version. While chasing after some stormtroopers on the Death Star, Han runs into a room filled with scores of stormtroopers and abruptly retreats. In the original version, there are less than a dozen stormtroopers in the room. It's makes the scene funnier at no cost to the original movie. There is also a some CGI that is used while the rebels are making their approach to attack the Death Star that, unlike the creatures on Tatooine, is visually stunning that simply could not have been done in the 70s. Star Wars is still a great film that maintains huge cultural significance. I highly recommend that if you haven't seen this film yet, you check it out, even if science fiction isn't your thing.