Star Wars Episode 4: Movie Review

Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope captured the worlds imaginations in 1977. At the time, new special effects and unique camera tricks made this film the most technologically advanced movie ever. But, as technology has advanced, is the original episode of Star Wars still as good as it was in 1977? In 1995 the first computer genorated movie ever emerged from Pixar. This set off a chain movie revolutions. Today, one can not tell the difference between computer generated images and reality. In episode 4, it is clear that R2D2 and C3PO are on a sound stage with hand painted backdrops. One can easily make that distinction that the sets are cardboard. But, does that make it cheesy or not a good movie by todays standards?

I recently re-watched Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope and review the plot. The evil empire is chasing Princess Leia Organa across the galaxy when they finally intercept her ship which is allegedly carrying the secret blueprints of the death star. The death star is the empires ultimate weapon that is capable of destroying entire planets. Princess Leia immediately stores the plans in an astro-droid known as R2D2 and sends him down to the planate of Tatooine in an escape pod with a protocol-droid known as C3P0 before she herself is captured by Darth Vader. They end up in the hands of Luke Skywalker, a farm boy who lives with his aunt and uncle. Luke discovers a message intended for one Obi-Wan Kenobi. R2D2 is intent on finding Obi-Wan and ventures out on his own to find him. Obi-Wan finds them when they are attacked by sandmen and takes them in. He tells Luke that his father was a Jedi who served in the Clone Wars against the empire and convinces Luke to join the rebellion. They now must see R2D2 safely to the planate Alderaan so that the rebellion may be able to find a weakness in the death stars plans. At a bar in the nearby port Luke and Obi-Wan meet Captain Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca of the Millennium Falcon. They hire them for the trip to Alderaan. But, there is just one problem: the empire has destroyed Alderaan and when they arrive where the planet should be they just encounter astroids. They head for what appears to be a small moon. It turns out to be the death star and when they try to fly away, the tractor beam pulls the ship in. Obi-Wan goes on a mission to disable the tractor beam so that they may escape. Luke, Han, and Chewy head to rescue the princess who is a prisoner on board. They encounter many stormtroopers but in the end they escape. But, unfortunatly Obi-Wan is struck and killed by Darth Vader. Eventually the gang arrives at a hidden rebel base. There they plan there attack on the death star. They discover a design flaw and when a certain target is hit, it will blow up the entire station. But, the empire has discover the rebel base and is ready to attack. In the end Luke blows up the death star. and the good guys win.

I found that this is still one of the most entertaining movies ever made. If you compare it to other 70's films, it is so ahead of its time. The quality, both in sound and picture are still perfect. George Lukas is a true genius. Even in todays high-tech world, it does not matter that the one can tell that Tatooine is in a sound stage. It is the story. It is the acting. It is the adventure. It is a true masterpiece of the ages.

This may explain the fan base. Looking back to the late 70's and 80's we see a huge increase in space movies and TV shows. It changed our very culture. http://www.space.com/8917-star-wars-changed-world.html has more information on this.