Star Wars: A New Hope

[inglourious basterd]

I, a self-proclaimed movie fan, hereby admit that before today, I had not seen Star Wars film in its entirety. I understand the severity of my heretic admission; however, I admit this fact because I have finally been able to see what the fuss was all about.

Why did I wait so long to see this film? Well the answer is simple. As a young teen, I simply thought that it was boring and that it had sub par special effects. I simply watched movies to be entertained and, frankly, this movie (for some reason) did not really entertain me.

Perhaps the years of curiosity that has passed since then have softened my eye toward it. Perhaps I was simply prejudiced in my original viewing. All I know is that today, dated effects or not, I had a great time watching this film! Its use of suspense, action, and storytelling proved to be timeless and its themes of revenge, love, and rising up to the occasion have proven to be universally appealing to all audiences. What was also interesting to me was how much this movie has inspired the modern day action film. I couldn’t help but notice a little bit of Indy in the young Harrison, a lot of ID4 in the action scenes, the rise and fall stories popularized in the typical hero film (think Gladiator), and the revolutionary graphics (which has continued to evolve since its release in 1977). Based on what I saw today, I definitely saw that this movie was probably the most influential film to modern-day Hollywood.

I am excited to see the rest of the series. **Gasp** (I haven’t seen them yet). However, what I am worried about what I will be sacrificing when I do so (I have finals in less than a week!). This is a great film and I was surprised to see that this film has never been reviewed on this message board. Hopefully this will serve as a tribute to a great film. 9/10

[Jacker]

Just wait until you see "Empire Strikes Back." You're going to shit youself.

[inglourious basterd]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jacker:
Just wait until you see "Empire Strikes Back." You're going to shit youself.</font>

Its funny but I didnt need the movie for that one.

[thingsgoinon]

Just wait till you see The Phantom Menace, you'll projectile vomit http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[BakeTheMooCow]

I'm going to consider this movie independent from the sequels/prequels and also there are spoilers ahead so you are warned.
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Star Wars : A New Hope

Rating : 4/10

Review : I can understand how this movie works as an action/adventure movie but it fails on so many other levels.

Everything seems to be rushed to fit into the running time. There's no real character development. Consider the scene where Luke Skywalker returns to his uncle's home after meeting Ben and finds it destroyed. You'd think this would be a big moment in his life but he seems to wipe it from his mind about 10 minutes later. His guardians have been killed and he's so nonchalant, I was shocked. It was just a contrived plot point so that the story could move in the direction that it does. Lame.

The romance between Luke and Princess Leia also seems rushed. They don't know each other very well, they don't talk much but somehow they fall for each other.

My final problem with the movie is that the 'good guys' NEVER get hit. Sure, in the end, the fighter planes are shot down but we didn't know those pilots so well. The ones we know well...Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo, Princess Leia and those two annoying droids seem to have some kind of invisible shield over them and the bullets just bounce off. I can think of atleast three occasions where the enemies had a clear shot at them but do they get hit. No, of course not. They're the good guys. Its just ridiculous.

Also, could the ending BE any more predictable? The only reason I gave this movie 4 out of 10 is because I was kind of excited in the middle and the special effects were pretty good.

[Kim_EZ]

We watched this in English for archetypes and stuff. It was all right. A good time was had, but I dunno, it didn't really excite me. The acting was average and the special effects were... special. ^_^; But it is a classic.

Rating: 6.5/10

I assume the sequels are better.

[Fergus]

While I don't hate it as much as you do BakeTheMooCow. I still think it is the lesser of the first trilogy, being a longtime fan. I have always been drawn to 'Empire', the best of the series, IMO. But this one just didn't work a whole lot for me. Yes, it was revolutionary at the time of its release, but it remains just a decent sci-fi adventure, that made more money than it deserved, but thats just me. Some of the effects are cheesier than I would like them to be and it feels very DRY, and nothing of much interest going on. But it still isn't as bad as The Phantom Menace. I'll watch it from time to time if I'm looking for a SW fix, and if I'm not interested in watching Return of the Jedi or Empire. (7/10)