*Caution! This review contains spoilers for not only A New Hope, but the entire original Star Wars trilogy. But seriously, if you don’t know the plot of Star Wars, particularly THIS Star Wars, I don’t know what to tell you.*

Star Wars – retroactively known as ‘Episode IV – A New Hope’ is the most famous movie ever made. That may sound hyperbolic, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that statement. Sure, there are other iconic films like The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca or Gone with the Wind that put up their own arguments to the claim. But I think, in the end, the very first Star Wars feature wins out. It has as indelible place in movie history as any of those films, plus it has had an additional impact on pop culture (and just culture in general) that the others couldn’t hope to attain. Ever since its release in 1977, Star Wars has changed the way movies are made (much to the chagrin of more prudish types who seem to take offense at the idea of people wanting movies to be fun). By combining fantasies and fairy tales with a science-fiction setting, and adding elements of classic movie genres like westerns and samurai films, George Lucas created a movie that ended up being more than a movie. Between the impact it made on filmmakers and audiences, the influence it’s had on pop culture and media, the dedication its created towards its mythology, and the longevity it has had in all the above categories, Star Wars is in a league all its own. While many of the edits and alterations George Lucas has made to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope since its original release may remain polarizing, the film itself has held up incredibly well all these years later.

Taking place “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” Star Wars weaved a rich mythology into a coming-of-age hero’s journey. The story centers around a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who lives on the desert planet Tatooine with his aunt and uncle.

Meanwhile, a great conflict rages across the galaxy. The tyrannical Galactic Empire has constructed the Death Star, a space station with the power to destroy entire planets. The Rebel Alliance has managed to retrieve the plans for the Empire’s new super weapon, which are in the hands of Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). But Leia’s ship is quickly boarded by Imperial Stormtroopers – lead by the wicked cyborg Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones) – so the princess entrusts the plans to a little droid named R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). R2, along with the panicked and uptight protocol droid C3-P0 (Anthony Daniels) evacuate the ship via an escape pod, while Vader and his forces take Leia hostage to uncover what happened to their stolen Death Star plans.

The duo of droids end up on the planet of Tatooine where they are taken by hooded scavengers called Jawas, who ultimately sell the droids to the uncle of Luke Skywalker. When Luke uncovers a hidden message from Princess Leia within R2-D2 requesting the aid of an ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’, Luke begins to suspect there’s something more to these droids than meets the eye.

R2-D2 soon runs away in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Luke and C3-P0 in pursuit. During their search for the droid, Luke is attacked by Tusken Raiders, who are then scared off by a hooded figure before they can do any more harm. When Luke comes to, this figure is revealed to be Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness), who then tells Luke about his history with Luke’s father (though he may leave out a few key details).

Obi-Wan tells Luke that his father, Anakin Skywalker, was once a great Jedi Knight. Under Obi-Wan’s tutelage, Anakin became powerful in the ways of the Force (“a mysterious energy field created by all living things”). But another pupil of Obi-Wan’s, Darth Vader, was seduced by the dark side of the Force, betrayed and murdered Luke’s father, and has become a servant of the Emperor.

Luke soon discovers in horror that during his absence, Imperial troopers – searching for the droids and the stolen Death Star plans – have murdered his aunt and uncle. With no family left, Luke decides to accompany Obi-Wan on his quest to save Princess Leia and learn the ways of the Force to become a Jedi Knight like his father.

Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids search for a pilot to take them to their destination in one of the film’s most iconic scenes (the Mos Eisley Cantina, whose many alien patrons made it the best “look at all these wild creature designs” moment in movie history up until Hayao Miyazaki took us into the bathhouse of Spirited Away). They find such a pilot in a smuggler by the name of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his co-pilot, a ‘Wookie’ named Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). The group then departs for Leia’s home planet of Alderaan, only to make the horrifying discovery that the entire planet has been destroyed by the Empire. Their quest then takes them aboard the Death Star itself, where Princess Leia is being held captive by Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing).

Honestly, the storyline needs no introduction. Star Wars (more specifically, A New Hope) has become so iconic in pop culture and the public conscious, that even on the off chance you somehow haven’t actually seen it, you still know it.

When it was released in 1977, Star Wars completely changed the game. Audiences had seen nothing like it. From its revolutionary visual effects, original take on mythology, sweeping score, and refreshingly innocent imagination (films of the 1960s and most of the ’70s were predominantly grim and defeatist), it was an entertainment spectacle like no other.

A number of critics, cinephiles, and even filmmakers often ridicule Star Wars for “ruining” the movies. In actuality, the exact opposite is true. The ‘New Hollywood’ generation had their day in the sun, and though George Lucas was a product of that generation, it was his creation that allowed cinema to move forward and branch out. While there’s nothing wrong with artsy and auteur films, one can’t help but deduce that the reason the ‘arthouse’ crowd deride Star Wars and its ilk (other than to give themselves a false sense of superiority for going against the mainstream) is because their preferred style of cinema lost its dominant power because of it. They had their time on top, but couldn’t accept when times changed.

Indeed, Star Wars was that change. Perhaps most interesting of all in this scenario is that, despite the fact that Star Wars singlehandedly created the tent-pole film and made merchandizing movies a thing, Star Wars was still very much created with an auteurist approach. Star Wars was the product of George Lucas’s imagination, and with the visual designs fleshed out by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, the film was built from the ground-up from the filmmaker’s vision. But, y’know, it’s fun and it’s in space and there’s magic, so I guess it doesn’t count as art. It’s just timeless for no reason, evidently.

In all seriousness, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope has earned its iconic status. Again, its critics say it’s all about the visual effects, but while it’s true that said visual effects were the most revolutionary in all of cinema up to that point (perhaps they still are), that’s a narrow-minded view of things. The real reason Star Wars has endured is because of its aforementioned innocents.

By combining mythology and fairy tales with science fiction, cowboys and samurai, George Lucas created a fantasy world that not only appealed to children, but to people in general. Like any great work of fantasy, Star Wars bypasses age and cultural barriers, and touches on human emotion in simple but powerful ways through the imagination. The more prudish side of cinema would do well for itself to wizen up and accept that just because something “isn’t realistic” doesn’t mean it can’t be affecting on a very real level. Star Wars is as inspiring as it is entertaining.

That’s not to say that A New Hope is perfect, however, Some of the acting can be kind of cheesy, particularly by the three leads. While it’s commendable that George Lucas sought to hire ‘unknowns’ for his main characters (Hamill and Fisher were brand new, while Ford had worked with Lucas previously on American Graffiti, though he was still a newer talent at the time), the inexperience of the leads is more than a little noticeable at times. That may sound harsh today, given how everyone involved became a household name because of the film. But it’s also no secret that very few people involved with Star Wars’s production had any real high hopes for this ‘kids’ sci-fi movie,’ and that included its actors.

Whether it was the inexperience of the actors, their lack of faith in the material, or a combination thereof, there are more than a few moments where their acting is a little – shall we say – “lacking.” Thankfully, by the time The Empire Strikes Back came around, the actors had found their footing, and the unprecedented success of Star Wars meant those involved took things a lot more seriously.

That’s not to say that the acting is utterly horrible in A New Hope (this isn’t the prequels), with Alec Guiness serving as an anchor that helps keep the film grounded (Guiness being the only well-established actor among the heroes of the film, which is appropriate given the character). James Earl Jones’s voice work needs no explanation for its commanding presence, and Peter Cushing easily makes Govenor Tarkin an unflinchingly evil villain. Perhaps the most under appreciated of the lot is Anthony Daniels, who from the get-go made C3-P0 one of cinema’s great comic foils.

If there’s any other source of fault with A New Hope it’s – somewhat uniquely – not anything to do with how the film was made, but in the many unnecessary ways its been edited over the years.

In 1997, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the franchise, George Lucas released the ‘Special Editions’ of the trilogy, which featured added computer-generated effects into the films. Lucas claims that the technology that came about in the years since A New Hope’s original release gave him the opportunity to “fully realize his vision” for the films. But in execution, most of these edits feel like needless bloat that exist for the hell of it. And these edits didn’t stop in 1997, but have continued through subsequent DVD and blu-ray releases. Even now on Disney+, the film has received a minor new edit to an already heavily-edited scene (an edit that Lucas had originally planned for the film’s 3D theatrical release, before the plans for such releases were scrapped).

The scene in question is of course the notorious “Han shot first” moment. For those unfamiliar, the scene sees Han Solo held at gunpoint by the Rodian bounty hunter Greedo. In the film’s original cut, Han Solo shoots Greedo before the latter has a chance to pull his trigger. But in the many re-edits, the film has been altered to have Greedo shoot first (thus making Han shoot in self-defense), and later having both shoot at the same time. Because reasons.

It sounds like a minor issue, but it does have repercussions for Han Solo’s overall story arc in the original trilogy. Lucas claims having Han shoot first makes him look like a cold-blooded killer (which wouldn’t necessarily be true, considering Greedo definitely intends to kill him). But at this point, Han Solo is a smuggler on the run from mobsters. He’s a rogue. He isn’t supposed to be a true blue hero (if Luke were put in this situation, we’d have an entirely different story). That’s why as the series progresses and Han does become more heroic, it shows a great sense of character growth.

That’s not to mention that George Lucas contradicted his own reasoning when he made the prequel trilogy. Naturally, the prequels told the story of Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader, turning him into a more tragic figure and ultimately making his redemption in Return of the Jedi more impactful.

The problem is, in the prequels, there are at least two instances when Anakin commits an unforgivable evil by murdering children. I don’t care if Vader’s last act in life is killing an evil sorcerer-dictator to save his son, if he killed children, that’s unforgivable. Meanwhile, Han shoots a guy who had the full intent on shooting him. It may not be heroic, but Han’s path towards enlightenment is a lot easier to swallow than Vader’s. So who knows why the edits have persisted after all these years.

I’m rambling a bit. The point is many of these ‘Special Edition’ edits have retroactively cheapened certain aspects of the series. Another instance is a previously deleted scene involving Jabba the Hut. When the scene was filmed, a human actor was portraying Jabba, but after the scene was cut and Return of the Jedi eventually established Jabba as a grotesque slug monster, the scene was re-inserted into the film with the original actor replaced by a CG Jabba. I can understand why Lucas may have wanted to experiment with the scene for the 1997 release, but it is kind of a shame it’s now just become a permanent part of the film, as it robs Jabba’s character of his mystique. Originally, the character was only mentioned in A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, before Return of the Jedi finally revealed him as the loathsome mess of a creature that he is. It’s kind of sad knowing that generations of Star Wars fans haven’t experienced that build-up, instead being introduced to the character with his abrupt and unceremonious entrance in the largely unnecessary scene here (or in his equally unnecessary role in The Phantom Menace).

I suppose those are the majorly disappointing edits, with the rest mostly just being needless special effects (“Dewbacks! A rock in front of R2-D2! CG background droids!”). Though perhaps another example – and possibly one last middle finger by George Lucas before the Disney buyout – was the altered sound Obi-Wan makes to scare away Tusken Raiders. It’s intended to be the roar of a creature called a ‘Krayt Dragon,’ and in the original cut it indeed sounded like a roar. But ever since the 2011 blu-ray release, it sounds more akin to Ric Flair being sucked into a vortex. It’s just goofy.

Still, even with the most egregious of these edits, none of them truly take away from what a special film A New Hope is. The original special effects that are still present have held up shockingly well, the story is timeless, the characters – though archetypal – are given well-defined personalities and remain iconic. But it’s probably the sheer imagination of it all – from its mythology that so effortlessly weaves together so many different elements, to its childlike sense of wonderment – that has probably made Star Wars endure above anything else.

There are timeless movies, but only a handful of them can be so confidently described as such without a second thought. In many ways, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope may be at the very top of that shortlist.

 

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