Rrrrrright this is where its get a bit more ambitious and I've finally decided to tackle the holy trilogy, or as its better known, the Star Wars trilogy. And this means I will review all three "proper" Star Wars films, i.e. episodes 4, 5 and 6, but don't worry I shall still review the prequels aswell and why not?? Anyway but since this is the film that kicked it all off I will start with Episode IV: A New Hope....
Sooo I will do a bit of a plot summary but we all know the story anyway but as a reminder the story is set during a civial war between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. And the story starts with an attack on a ship belonging to the Rebell Alliance, which has Princess Lea (Carrie Fisher) on board, who happens to have stolen plans of a new technological weapon called the Death Star, built by the Galactic Empire. Imperial stromtroopers board and kills many of the rebel troops and the evil lord Darth Vader (Dave Prowse in physical form and James Earl Jones in voice) captures Princess Lea. However before Lea is captured she manages to conceal the stolen plans inside a droid named R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) along with a hologramatic recording of herself. R2 escapes the ship with fellow droid C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and they land on the surface of the planet Tatooine.
On the surface of the planet the two droids argue and split up as a result R2 is captured as is Threepio by Jawa traders. The Jawas then sell the two droids to a family of moisture farmers, Owen and Beru Lars (Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser respectively) who also have their nephew, Luke Sykwalker (Mark Hamill) stay with them. Luke however is bored of his normal chores and longs to join the rebels and fight for them against the Empire and while Luke tries to clean R2, he accidentally triggers part of Leia's mesasge which says "Help me Obi-wan Kenobi you're my only help". Luke says he doesn't know anyone named Obi-wan Kenobi, but he does know a Ben Kenobi, who is an old hermit that lives on the planet. The next morning, R2 goes missing as the droid is intent on finding Obi-Wan, and Luke and Threepio go out and find the R2, but Luke is attacked by sand people, native of Tatooine, but he is rescued by Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) who then reveals himself to indeed be Obi-wan Kenobi. Ben takes Luke back to his home and tells him about his father, who was murdered by a young Jedi who turned to the Dark side of the force, named Darth Vader. Then all of a sudden R2-D2 plays Leia's ful message for Ben, revealing that she wants Ben to help take the Death star plans to her father on the planet Alderaan. Ben asks Luke to come with him to Alderaan, but Luke declines at first, but soon after realises he must when he goes back to his home and finds it has been destroyed and his aunt and uncle both killed.
And from here Luke makes that crucial journey with Ben, R2 and Threepio to Mos Eisley spaceport where they meet a smuggler, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his first mate, Chewbacca, a wookie, and they agree to take them to Alderaan. However the imperial stormtroopers are on the lookout for the droids and they narrowly escape and flee in Han's ship, the Millenium Falcon. Meanwhile Leia is interrogated onboard the Death star by the callous Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) to try and find the location of the rebel base, and Tarkin demonstrates the Death star's power on her home planet of Alderaan, which is totally destroyed as a result. As a result of this the Falcon, having made a jump into light speed, comes out of it to arrive at Alderaan's location, where there is nothing but debris from the destroyed planet and Han notices a imperial fighter ship pass them, and he decides to follow it only to eventually find the Death star. Han tries to turn the ship around but is unable to as it is drawn in by a tractor beam and they are forced to dock on the Death star. The crew then hide in Falcon's compartments, while the stormtroopers search for them and they manage to infiltrate the station by diguising themselves in stormtrooper outfits. Luke, Han, and Chewie soon manage to locate Leia and they rescue her only to fight off the imperial troops in the process. Meanwhile Ben splits up and goes to locate the tractor beam which he disables so the Falcon can escape and then has a showdown with Darth Vader, at the cost of his own life, it allows Luke and the others to escape the Death star, as Darth Vader cuts down Ben.
Onboard the Falcon they are followed by four imperial fighter ships, which Han and Luke manage to destroy and they make their way to the rebel base on the planet Yavin IV. However the Empire had placed a tracking device oboard the Falcon which let's them know where the base is. On the planet Yavin, Luke, Han, Chewie, Leia and the droids join up with the Alliance where they reveal their attack plans to destroy the Death star, once the plans have been analysed. And from here Luke plays his part in the rebels aerial attack on the Death star by flying in rebel fighter as part of a squadron who are set to try and destroy the Death star and strike a blow for victory....
There is no denying that Star Wars is an exceptional film and its influence has been so huge over the years that it also remains one of the most important films in cinematic history. It also saw a big step forward in the visual effects industry as prior to this film there weren't really any films up to this point like this, with the exception of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but here Star Wars took it to another level. George Lucas also was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese filmmaker, and especially the film, The Hidden Fortress and also Yojimbo, where it shows the basis for the hero, Luke, and the smuggler, Han Solo. And like all great films, Star Wars was made under incredible adversity from 20th Century Fox, who put Lucas under alot of pressure as he was forced to meet deadlines for the production and also the British crew were often scornful of the film itself and deemed it would be a failure. And even some of the cast themselves had doubts about how it would turn out, such as Kenny Baker and Harrison Ford was also outspoken about Lucas's writing, as he famously said "Well you can type this shit but you can't say it!" (well actually he did!). But despite all that once the film came together and was completed it was absolutely incredible how big a success Star Wars actually became. And it also rejuvanted an almost ailing industry at the time, where cinema had become about social commentary and grimy reality in the 1970s and Star Wars succeded brilliantly in bringing a fun experience back to the big screen.
Getting onto the performances well this is where Star Wars actually does very well, despite Lucas's corny dialogue, the cast do a wonderful job in their memorable roles. Starting with Mark Hamill, who does a fine job as Luke Skywalker, the plucky youngster, who is desparate to join the rebels and fight against the empire. Hamill has plenty of good moments in the film, such as his scenes with Ben Kenobi, and their first scene together at Ben's home where he tells Luke about his father and asks that he learn about the force and join the rebels. And Luke says "I can't get involved. I've got work to do! Its not that I like the empire, I hate it! But there's nothing I can about it right now. Its all a long way from here!". And also one of the film's more powerful moments is the scene Luke desparately goes back to his aunt and uncle's film only to find it burnt out and that they have both been killed, and we get a strong graphic image of their smouldering charred bodies, and Luke looks down sadly and then up again with anger. And he heads back to Ben and says that immortal line "There's nothing here for me now. I wanna learn the ways of the force and become a jedi like my father". Hamill also has some nice moments of course with Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, as they all shared a natural chemistry with one another. Hamill also has some fun moments in the film, such as where he rescues Leia from her prison cell and she says to him "Are you a little short for a stormtrooper?" and he says "Oh the uniform! I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you!". And later when they are all trapped into the garbage compactor together, Luke is pulled down by some of sort of underwater beast, and he comes back up covered in tentacles and he yells at Han saying "Blast it will you? My gun's down!" and Han shouts "Where???" and Luke yells "Anywhere!!". Another good moment Hamill has is in the scene where he goes up to Han near the end of the film, when they are on Yavin and Han is taking his payment and getting ready to leave, as he doesn't want to get involved in the fight. So Luke says to Han "Alright, take care of yourself, Han. I guess that's what you're best at, isn't it?!". It also rather bizarre and interesting in a kind of peverse way that Luke is attracted to Leia as when he first sees her on the hologramatic image he says "Who is she? She's beautiful!" and he even later asks Han "What do you think of her" and he answers flatly "Tryin not to, kid" and Luke replies "Good!". And this is followed by Han saying "So what d'ya think? Do you think a princess and a guy like me..." and Luke quickly says "No" and Han smiles as he registers Luke's jealousy, although he obviously doesn't know at that point that he's related to her!
Harrison Ford is also great in his role as Han Solo, and it was an early role in his career and in many ways one of his very best. Ford since has played parts almost too close to his own real life persona, in a very dry way with little in the way of real zeal, passion or enthusiasm (not to say that is how Harry is in real life!). But here Ford has alot of fun with Han as he plays him with the perfect amount of charisma, bravado and humour. Ford pretty much get's all the film's best dialogue and there quite a few examples which I can mention. And the first is the scene where Luke practices his ligthsabre skils on the Falcon, and Han mocks Luke and says "Hokey religions and old weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid!" and when Luke asks Han if he doesn't believe in the force Han says "Kid, I've been all over the galaxy and I've seen alot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there is one all powerful force controlling everything! There is no mystical force field controlling my destiny. Its all alot of simple tricks and nonsense!". And in one of Ford's funniest moments in the film, after a shootout on a Death star detention block, Han answers the com controls and explains "Everything is under control, the situation is normal. We had a slight weapons malfunction, but everything is fine now, how are you?!" and he later shoots the speaker when the trooper on the other end asks who he is and Han says "A boring conversation anyway!" all of which was ad-libbed by Ford himself. Ford also has a great scene in the proper and original version of the film with the alien smuggler, Greedo, where they share an exchange over a table in the saloon at Mos Eisley, where Greedo says "I've been looking forward to this for a long time" and Han says "Yes, I bet you have!" and he shoots Greedo in cold blood and as he leaves he throws some money to the bartender and says "Sorry about the mess!". Ford has some great chemistry with Fisher and they share some good moments, especially when they try and escape from the Death Star, and as Han and Luke try and fight off the stormtroopers on the detention block, Han yells "Wonderful girl! Either I'm gonna kill her or I'm beginning to like her!". And in his first scene where Han meets with Luke and Ben, he says to Ben "You mean you've never heard of the Millenium Falcon? Its the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs". And also in the scene where R2-D2 defeats Chewbecca a holographic game of chess with monsters, Han says "Let him have it. Its not wise to upset a wookie." and Threepio replies "But nobody worries about upsetting a droid" and Han says "That's because droids don't pull people arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies tend to do that!". And in the scene where Han and the others are trapped in the garbage compactor, he has another good line as it closes in around them Han looks worriedly up and says "Well one thing is for sure we're all gonna be alot thinner!". And lastly another favourite line of mine of Han's is during the dogfight onboard the Falcon when Han and Luke engage the TIE fighters and Luke celebrates when he destroys one and Han says "Great, kid. Don't get cocky!" which is again an ad-lib by Harrison.
Carrie Fisher is also great as Princess Leia as she appears in her career defining role as the small, feisty princess with two hairy buns attached to the side of her head, as a hairdo. Fisher also has some great scenes and dialogue, such as the scene where she is interrogated by Grand Moff Tarkin onboard the Death Star, and she says to him when they meet "Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognised your foul stench when I was brought onboard!". Carrie also has a great moment with Harrison when Han and Leia argue on the Falcon and she says the fight isn't over yet, but for Han it is and he says "I'm in this for money!" and she says sharply "You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that is what you will receive!" and as she goes out of the cockpit she says to Luke "Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he cares about anything, or anybody!". And as Leia she also shows her plucky resourcefulness when she grabs a blaster during their fight onboard the Death star and blasts a whole in the wall and says "Somebody has to save our skins" and to Han "Into the garbage shoot, fly boy!". And later after they escape the garbage compactor, Leia huffily walks past Chewbacca and says "Would someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?!" and followed by the line when she looks down below and sees the Falcon and says to Han "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!".
Next is up Alec Guinness who is excellent in his role as the aged Ben "Obi-wan" Kenobi who brings a sense of old fashioned heroism and moral deceny to the film and also portrays Ben as a wily old fella who can still outwit his enemies and is handy with a light sabre. Guiness's introduction in the film is great, as he wears the hood of his cloak over his head and he makes strange noises to scare away the sand people who attacked Luke, and he feels Luke's pulse and takes his hood off. And Luke tells him that R2 is looking someone named Obi-wan Kenobi, and Ben "Obi-wan.... now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time, a long time" and Luke asks if he knows him and Ben says "of course I know him! He's me! I haven't been known as Obi-wan since, oh before you were born". Guinness also get's some good lines such as in the scene where he gives Luke his father's light sabre and he says "It is the weapon of a jedi knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. But a weapon of a more civilised age". Also the moment where they arrive at Mos Eisley spaceport and they look over it from a hilltop above and Ben says "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious!". And when they arrive they are stopped by imperial troops and Ben uses his jedi mind trick to hypnotise the trooper who questions them "You don't need to see our indentification. These are not the droids your looking for. He can about his business. Move along" and the stormtrooper repeats his every word and let's them go. And when the Millenium Falcon arrives at the destination of the destroyed planet of Alderaan and they follow the TIE fighter and see the Death star, Han thinks it is a small moon, and Ben says "That's no moon. That's a space station!". And of course perhaps Guinness's most famous line in the film when he fights with Vader "You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!".
Peter Cushing is also excellent as the cold and villainous Governor Tarkin who operates onboard the Death Star. And his best scene is where he interrogates Princess Leia and when she arrives and says he "recognised his foul stench when I was brought onboard" he smiles faintly and says "Charming to the last!". And as he questions Leia he moves close to her and says "I grow tired of asking this, so it will be the last time, where is the rebel base??" and Leia unbeknownst to them lies and says it is on another planet, Dantooine, and Tarkin says "There we are, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable. You may fire when ready!" (on her home planet) "You are far too trusting! Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration, but don't worry, we shall deal with your rebel friends soon enough!". And later when its revealed that she had lied when the imperial troops did a sweep of Dantooine, Tarkin is outraged and says "She lied! She lied to us! Terminate her, immediately!".
David Prowse and James Earls Jones also collectively do a terrific job as perhaps the single most memorable villain in sci-fi fantasy cinema, Darth Vader. George Lucas apparently cast David Prowse in the role after seeing him playing the part of a bodyguard in A Clockwork Orange and his physical presence lends immeasurably towards making Vader such an intimidating figure. James Earl Jones also provides a wonderful voice for Vader, with his deep rich booming tones, he also delivers some great dialogue in the film. Such examples include, the first scene Vader appears, where he makes one of the great entrances in cinema, and he later grabs one of the rebels by the throat and lifts him off his feet and interrogates the rebel who struggles to speak and says "This is a diplomatic ship!" and Vader sharply says "If this is a dioplmatic ship then where is the consolate?!" and breaks the rebel's neck and throws him aside. And he angrily turns to his troops and says "Commander tear this ship apart until you've found those plans! And bring me the passengers, I want them alive!!". Another great scene with Vader is where Governor Tarkin convenes a meeting with some of his officers and Darth Vader says to one of the officers "Don't be so proud of this technological terror you have constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force". And the officer then mocks Vader by saying "Don't try and frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader!" and Vader uses the forces to choke the man and he says "I find your lack of faith disturbing!". Also later, Vader his famous light sabre duel with Ben Kenobi and as they draw their blades, Vader says "I've been waiting for your, Obi-wan. At last the circle is complete. When I left you I was but the learner and now I am the master!". Also prior to this when the Death star has just pulled in the Falcon with the tractor beam, Vader senses that Ben might be onboard and he says "I sense something.... a presence I've not felt since..." and he walks off. And perhaps one of Vader's most memorables lines comes later on during the assault on the Death star by the rebels and he goes out in his own TIE fighter and takes down some of the rebel X-wing fighters, and as he tries to target Luke's fighter, he says "The force is strong with this one!" and as he finally get's a lock on him he says "I have you now!!".
As for the actors playing the most famous robotic duo in cinema, R2-D2 and C-3PO, Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels both do a grand job in their own right. Baker himself was a stage comedian, and at a mere three foot five inches in height, he was handed the part of his career, even if we don't get to see him and he is placed in a motorised bin that makes bleeping noises! Anthony Daniels also does great as Threepio, the haughty and neurotic sounding droid, who is a protocol droid who can translate into several million different languages. Daniels has plenty of amusing dialogue in the film, such as in the scene where Luke accidentally triggers off part of Leia's message implanted into R2, and he removes a restraining bolt from R2 which turns the hologram image off, and Luke angrily tells R2 to replay the message, and R2 beeps, and Threepio bangs him on the head "What message??! The message you've just been playing! The one you have been carrying around inside your busty innards!". Also later on when R2 takes off, Threepio and Luke have a quick look outside and they can't find him and Luke says "You know that little droid is gonna cost me alot of trouble" and Threepio says "Oh he excels at that, sir!". And one of the film's funniest moments is where on the Death star, Threepio and R2 desparately try to act fast to try and shut down the garbage compactor that Han, Luke, Leia and Chewie are trapped in, and R2 finally succeeds. And Luke yells with joy as do the others, but Threepio thinks they are screaming in pain and says "Oh listen to them R2, they're dying! They're dying! Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!". And when Chewie plays a game of hologramatic chess with R2, and Han tells him its wise to let the wookie have the game because they tend to pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose, Threepio says to R2 "I suggest a new strategy, R2. Let the wookie win!".
And lastly I will mention a few other cast members starting Peter Mayhew as the large Wookie, Chewbacca, who at first is quite intimidating in his size and temper, but soon becomes an old softy for Luke and the others. Mayhew as Chewbacca has some funny moments, such as the scene where Chewie barks loudly at Luke when he tries to put some handcuffs on him when they are on the Death star. And later when they pretend to escort Chewie as a prisoner, a small robotic droid wheels its way around the corridors, beeing away it runs up to them and Chewie barks angrily at it and it scuttles away, and Chewie shrugs at Luke. And yet later Chewie turns out to be a big scardie cat when some creature from the garbage compactor screams out after they have escaped, and the wookie runs away as Han says "Come here ya big coward! Chewie come here!" and Chewie shakes his head cowering. Mayhew, who is 7ft 3 inches in size, apparently was the easiest member to cast as at the audition he merely stood up to greet George Lucas and Lucas instantly thought he was right for the part.
And finally I will quickly mention Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser as Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, as they only have a small screen time in the film. However they do have a good scene with Luke where Owen is reluctant to let Luke go to the academy to join the alliance and Owen insists that he stay with them for another year. And Beru says to Owen "Luke's not a farmer, Owen. He's got too much of his of father in him" and Owen says "That's what I'm afraid of!" (come to think of it that is a rather dodgy sounding line!). And finally last of all there is Denis Lawson who appears briefly in the film as Wedge Antilles, a rebel pilot, and he was the only actor to have appeared in all three films of the original trilogy aside the regular cast.
Moving finally onto George Lucas well as a director he done a tremendous job with Star Wars, especially given the logistical nightmares of the production alone as well as the time he took to develop the story which had been in inception ever since the early 1970s just around the time he made THX1138. Lucas also directed the film with the perfect amount of thrills, fun, danger, drama and the pacing of the film is also perfect as it clocks in at two hours, there is not one moment where it drags and the action sequences are also spectacular as are the visual effects which as I previously mentioned were groudbreaking for their time. And then there is John Williams marvellous score, which has to go down as one of the greatest scores in the modern era of cinema, as the main theme remains as memorable as ever. The score also has plenty of other highlights and its worth even owning it to give it a listen and it thoroughly deserves the Academy Award it won back in 1978. And in addition to the wonderful orchestral passages it also features that funky wee track played by the Cantina band during the Mos Eisley sequence. Also special note also deserves to go out to the sound designer, Ben Burtt, who did a superb job with the sound effects of the film, and he created some truly unique sounds which suit the film perfectly. Such examples of the sounds Burtt utilised where the sounds of steel cable being struck under tension for the blasters, and a mixture of different animals for Chewbacca's growls, and he breathed through a scuba dive mask regulator with a microphone attached to get the sound of Darth Vader's deep breathing.
As for the film's flaws???? Well Star Wars is so good you can forgive them, but if you want to nitpick then yeah OK there are one or two. For starters one of the film's silliest plot points, which was actually highlighted in the Family Guy remake of Star Wars where the Death Star has one vulnerable exhaust port, which you think if that could lead to the entire destruction of the space station, why didn't they just close it up! Also why is there only one of them??? Given the massive size and scale of the Death Star it seems bizarre that it would have one on its own! Another troubling thing about the destruction of the Death Star is that it makes Luke a mass murderer and guilty of genocide, even if they are all bad, they might not have been, as there could have been some civilians onboard as it was a gigantic space station after all. This of course was hinted at in Kevin Smith's debut comedy, Clerks, about Return of the Jedi when any of the contractors working on the incomplete Death star were victims of the rebels when it was destroyed. But hey, it is a Hollywood film and genocide on any scale doesn't really matter, good or bad guys aside! The dialogue is also very corny in places which was something Lucas is guilty of in his films anyway, especially in the prequels. And one prime example is when Han is about to leave Yavin he says to Luke, "Hey Luke. May the force be with you". Also the lines where after Luke is attacked by the sand people he comes around and looks up at Ben and says "Ben?? Ben Kenobi?? Boy, am I glad to see you!" and of course when Luke finds Leia's prison cell on the Death star and enters he says "I'm Luke Skywalker and I'm here to rescue you!". Also Lucas is guilty of writing in some pretty daftly named characters in his time and the first one is here, Porkins (played by William Hootkins) who just so happens to be overweight! Not only that but he buys it in the first two minutes of the attack on the Death star! But given the standard of his ridiculously naff screenplays for the prequels its not anywhere near as bad in comparison. And yep then there is that incredibly cheesy happy ending where Luke and Han get their medals from Leia infornt of a large crow of the rebel alliance. Gawwwwddd!!
Another issue isn't so much with the film itself, or not the original anyway, but its with the unnecessary tampering that Lucas did with the film since then, as he has remastered it so many times and re-released it with new scenes and effects. The 1997 release wasn't too bad in itself but it was guilty of including that ridiculous scene where Greedo shoots first to make Han appear not so cold blooded! And there was naturally a big revolt over the idea from the fans at the time, rightly so, and for the DVD release, Lucas re-did again except THIS time he had Han and Greedo shoot at each other at the same time, which hardly makes it any better! This version also had a couple of naff scenes in it such as the scene where Han meets with Jabba the Hut, who in the original was played by an actor, and also the scene where Luke is rejoined with his buddies on Yavin, where one of the superior officers looks accusingly at him, but then Luke's friend tells him who he is, and the officer changes his tune and says lamely "You'll do alright!". And with all this tampering it hardly helped make Star Wars a better film as it was clearly already a close to perfect one without it!
Anyway all that aside Star Wars remains one of the most entertaining and historically influential and importants films in modern cinema, and one of those films which you could watch again and again and it would still never lose its appeal.
So with that I shall leave it there and I will be back sometime soon with Epsiode 5 but will be busy for a few days ahead for me so I will see how it goes.
Bye for now!
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