It's almost pointless to write about a film that literally changed movies forever without repeating what others have said for almost half s century now, but I'll try. Star Wars-A New Hope is a perfect blockbuster; a beautiful near disaster that seems almost impossible when you consider the context of the times in which it was made. Over budget, the studio breathing down his neck, technical problems everywhere, and inexperience plaguing him, George Lucas pulled off a cinematic miracle by doing something he should have done in the prequels- rely on the talents of other people, or more specifically his ex-wife Marcia Lucas, his editor. What this rewatch proves to me is that what really makes this film great is the economy of storytelling which is directly driven by the engine of editing.Simply put, George Lucas had the imagination, Marcia Lucas knew how to control it, and refine it.
The Good:
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that the whole review could fit in this section. There's not a wrong character beat, action sequence, or effect in the whole thing. What really struck me watching it this time is how insane it must have been to see it in 1977 in terms of world building. If you think about it, we watch Star Wars now in 2019 through the lens of almost universal knowledge about Star Wars. Everyone knows Darth Vader is Luke's father, the force, Han Solo, etc. in 1977, that wasn't the case, and yet, due to the economy of the storytelling, all of these things,(minus the Vader reveal), are perfectly illustrated in a film that was originally a shade under two hours long. This entire universe was revealed in a film that was pretty light on exposition, featured several space battles, characters moments, without a dull moment. I know we're in the golden age of TV, and I hear and read that TV is now the superior storytelling medium because it allows long form character development over years- something that film supposedly can't do. Star Wars-A New Hope is direct proof of the contrary. As good as something like Breaking Bad was, you know just as much about Luke as you do about Walter Whitein seven season of Breaking Bad in one film. You see his desire to leave tattooine, his frustration but begrudging respect for his aunt and uncle, his emotional loss for his family and Obi Won, his desire to save Leia, his conflict with Han, in one film, that also perfectly illustrated other characters and ideas, and then does it in under two hours. It's a miracle of s film in that regard.
The Bad:
Really nothing in the original. The 1997 rerelease version were stuck with has the redundant Jabba the Hut scene that just repeats the geeedo scene from like ten minutes earlier. It's things like this that kind of illustrate how finely tuned original was and kind of foreshadowed the mistakes Lucas would make in the prequels- sacrifices ing story for stupid special effects gags and toy sells.
The Ugly:
*****, please.
In the end, I've seen this film probably hundreds of times, and it only gets better with every viewing. It's an absolute classic.
