So we have gotten through the prequels and I think had a pretty good time doing it and now on to the cream of the crop! Yesterday my friends Abby and Jeremy and I discussed the original Star Wars movie. This is a film that I think is just about perfect. If I was going on a desert island it would be a film I would take with me. I love the characters, action, pacing, setting, lore, and everything else. Nevertheless, we aren’t just drooling fans but have a good discussion on the film I think you will enjoy.
Just as I have done in the past Star Wars reviews here is my summary of Episode 4.
PLOT:
The original Star Wars ep 4 starts 19 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The galaxy has split up into two groups, rebels and the larger Galactic Empire. At the opening a rebel Princess Leia has stolen plans to the Death Star in R2D2. Leia is captured but she sends R2 and C3PO to Tatooine to find Obi-Wan Kinobi.
Next we meet Luke Skywalker who is anxious to get out of his uncle’s simple farm life. Luke purchases the droids and see’s the message from Leia to Obi-Wan. They end up meeting Obi-Wan and Luke learns about the days of the Jedi, the force, and Darth Vader who studied under Obi-Wan and killed Luke’s father. Luke is also given his father’s light saber.
After viewing the message Obi-Wan decides to go to Alderaan and visit with Leia’s father. Luke decides to go with him only after he finds his uncle and aunt have been burned alive by Imperial storm troopers looking for the droids. To get to Alderaan they hire the cynical pilot Han Solo and Chewbacca who fly in the Millennium Falcon.
Meanwhile Grand Moff Tarkin decides to make a show of force to Leia and the other rebels and destroys the entire planet of Alderaan in one massive shot. The Millennium Falcon is caught by the Death Star and Han, Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids stage a rescue for Leia. However, things go wrong as they are caught and end up in a trash compactor where they narrowly escape being crushed alive. Then they escape but not before Obi-Wan and Vader duel with light sabers and Obi-Wan is killed. Luke is devastated but they must leave.
Using the plans for the Death Star the rebels discover a port that connects to the station’s main reactor. They decide if they can shoot a target directly in that port it will cause the entire Death Star to explode. Luke and a squadron join the mission and Vader is hot on their trails. Obi-Wan’s spirit helps counsel Luke to use the force and he is able to successfully get the shots into the port and destroy the Death Star. This kills Tarkin and weakens the Empire for the moment. Han and Luke receive medals for their bravery to end the film.
REVIEW:
This is pretty much how I feel about this movie:
I love Star Wars. I love the characters especially Han and Luke. I love the journey we go on with Luke as he learns about his father and the Jedi. I love Vader as an awesome villain with a strange attachment to his ‘old religion’. I love all the world building and the special effects. I love hyperspace and the droids. I love the humor especially from C3PO. I love what Star Wars did for movies and fandom. I think the music is perfect and by the end I want to cheer.
What George Lucas accomplished is truly remarkable and as much as the prequels aren’t my favorite I give full props to him for all he gave modern movies. I don’t know how it can be argued that Star Wars is not one of the top 10 most influential films of all time. Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, Star Wars to me belong in the same discussion as the greatest movies of all time and 99% of people I know agree with me on that. Most of all it is so entertaining for the entire family. That’s why most of us are excited for Force Awakens because it will hopefully be a chance to relive the Star Wars we were introduced to as kids. The Star Wars that made us want to cheer.
That’s all I really have to say about Star Wars. I love it and on to Empire Strikes Back next!
Overall Grade- A+
Reblogged this on Smilingldsgirl's Weblog and commented:
Our review and discussion of one of my favorite movies of all time- Star Wars Episode 4: New Hope. How it all got started. What a great film!
As you know, I didn’t like this and preferred Episode I to this. I disliked this one so much that I hesitated continuing on in the series. But maybe I should give this a rewatch.
Yeah we can’t be friends ;). I honestly don’t get not liking this movie. I really don’t. As far as I’m concerned it is one of the untouchables.
I think people just hyped it up so much for me that I was actually bored watching it and expected something more amazing than what it was.
But we’ve also learned over time that you and I have vastly different boredom scales which is cool. Luckily plenty of movies for all. Ha. 🙂
As much as I love the original Star Wars and everything to do with it, it always stood out to me as the one that felt the most self contained and the most dissimilar to it’s sequels. For instance, in this film Vader gets ordered around a lot by Tarkin and other members of the Imperial Council, but in the other two films he’s the Empire’s Supreme Commander, answering only to the Emperor, and even his voice got deeper and more robotic in the follow-up movies. It’s also weird to realize on reflection that Leia is held captive by her (unbeknownst) father and then rescued by her brother, even though the original script indicated that Luke, Leia and Vader were completely unrelated characters. These Skywalkers and their strange family reunions…
While the other films did get darker, I really liked that this film had more of that 30s-40s serials flavour to it. You can feel the spirit and whiz-bang sensibilities of the early sci-fi serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers in this one probably more than ‘Empire’ and ‘Jedi’. But the movies ultimately grew up with it’s creators and fans to become this all-encompassing space opera mythology that we know it is today. Even now the adventure serial aspect of it works because this was not considered a sure-fire hit at the time, not unlike Luke Skywalker and his lucky shot that destroyed the Death Star, wouldn’t you say? 😉
I agree. This film does feel the most self-contained. It was really quite gutsy of Lucas but he was able to combine all the pieces to make something so entertaining. It makes you want to cheer at the end and I love when a film does that. That is funny about the Skywalkers in this movie. They are quite the family!
On the flipside, many have argued that the magic of the original ‘Star Wars’ is reduced by going into the movie knowing that Luke and Leia’s father is Darth Vader because there isn’t as much suspense going into it and you don’t fear Vader as much as you should. I think that can be a real problem, as Darth Vader’s enigmatic terror is lost if you watched Episodes I to III.
I never had any issue with that. To me it just makes him a more complex character