Star Wars (1977) Review – THEATRICAL EDITION

Star Wars (later to be known as A New Hope) was released in 1977 after a particularly difficult production directed and written by George Lucas and staring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Alec Guinness. It is the first film in the Star Wars trilogy (fourth if you count the prequels which we’re not) which went on to be a huge unexpected success. To this day Star Wars and its successors are considered some of the greatest and most influential sci-fi films ever made, changing the way films were made and revolutionizing special effects.

I think Star Wars is fully deserving of its mass amounts of praise because it really is an excellent film, right from the beginning I was impressed. The amazing and now iconic score by John Williams booming while brilliant models (which aren’t even noticeable as so) soar across the screen, a small Rebel Alliance ship and a huge Imperial Star Destroyer offer as some great visual storytelling, showing us where each side stands in this massive conflict. The good guys are heavily outnumbered and you feel this immediately as the suspense of watching the Rebel soldiers fear for their lives as the ship is attacked and quickly overrun by hoards of Storm Troopers during an exciting and thrilling action sequence.

While the action is superb throughout, it’s not the only thing that the film has to offer. One reason these films are as timeless and memorable as they are is because of the brilliant characters that are all for the most part well acted, even if Mark Hamill does show that this is his first major role, often coming off as annoying and poorly performed (something he greatly improved upon in the sequels). The dialogue was well written and felt very natural with great humorous moments which are just a delight to watch. That being said I felt the interactions between characters was something greatly improved on in the sequels.

I mentioned before that the special and practical effects were seamless and stunning and the same goes with the costumes, make up and sets. All felt stunningly real considering the fact it was mainly strange aliens and far away worlds. You become immersed immediately in this huge expansive world.

A huge player in what makes this film so entertaining is how mysterious all of it is, you are introduced to more names and places you want to learn more about and when you do even more questions arise, some mentions you don’t even get a resolution for until Return of the Jedi. It all added to the excitement and tension of the film which put a huge childish grin on my face.

Overall Star Wars is a brilliant film, it’s exciting, it’s epic in scale yet manages to be so close to the characters and emotions that drive the film and make it so classic. The effects are to this day excellent and the score is simply amazing. If you have not seen this film yet (how?), I highly recommend it, something as universal as this will be enjoyed by pretty much anyone.

7/10