Star Wars Retrospective: Episode 4

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages! It's time for the next entry on my Star Wars retrospective that was originally on my livejournal!

Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope.  The one that started the entire Star Wars Saga.  But, is it as good as people make it out to be?

As you might have guessed, I've been going through the Star Wars saga over the last week or so.  And I'm going to say right now that the only version I have of the original Trilogy is the 2004 special edition.  So, I know the version I watch has a shit load of changes over the 1977 version, but that's okay.

Any, in the internal chronology, this one takes place 19 years after ROtS, and kick-starts the saga of Anakin's children.  And what a saga they have.  The first thing we see after the opening crawl is a chase scene, followed by a short battle.  And we're introduced to important characters in the movie in short order; C3PO, R2-D2, Leia Organa, and Darth Vader.  And, a few more minutes into the movie, we get Luke Skywalker, then Old Ben Kenobi, and then Han and Chewie.

This movie establishes the conventions we see in all other forms of Star Wars media; lightsabers, blasters, hyperdrives, space battles, and the Force.

Ah, the Force.  Old Ben described the Force as an energy field that surrounded and penetrated them, and gave a Jedi it's power.  Mystical, but not overly so.  And that's all we needed to establish 30+ years of awesomeness.  But then George Lucas had to go and ruin it with Episode 1 and "midiclorians", but I already ranted on that.

Anyway, the actors.  Harrison Ford does Han Solo very well; snarky, world weary, but still very altruistic.  Mark Hamill does an awesome Luke; bright eyed and innocent, but still extremely capable.  Leia's appropriately imperious, but good, capable young woman.  And Luke's attraction to her is very funny, considering what we know about them now.  I don't see it as incestuous, because they don't know they are twins. 

David Prowse was awesome as the body of Darth Vader.  Tall, big and strong, he was the perfect man to be put in the costume.  The only problem was his voice; his thick scottish accent did not fit the Dark Lord of the Sith.  That's where James Earl Jones came in.  His voice gave Darth Vader the menace he needed to be the villain for this movie.

Next up is Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin.  He seemed like every sleazy politician you can think of, but Cushing makes makes Tarkin have an air of menace that a politician just doesn't have.  And did you know that Cushing played opposite Christopher Lee in the 1958 Hammer Films (Horror of) Dracula?  Strange links between actors, huh?

And finally, Sir Alec Guinness.  A legend in the film industry long before Star Wars, Guinness brought legimitacy to what would be a low budget, independent film.  Guinness' portrayal of Ben Kenobi MADE the movie.  Like Ian McDiarmid's performance as Palpatine does in the prequels, Sir Alec Guinness' Ben Kenobi was awesome.   By the way, I call Alec Guinness' performance "Old Ben" to differentiate it from Ewen McGregor's performance.  Same guy, but completely different character.

Now, for some of the important moments in the movie.  Most importantly, the lightsaber duel.  In 1977, this was nothing more a moment of coolness that forced Luke to grow and learn.  But today, after seeing Episode 3, we can see the history between Vader and Obi-Wan.  We know why Vader says what he says to Ben, and we understand what is going on inside their heads when they fight.

Finally, the final battle; the Rebel fighters against the Death Star.  We first see just how awesome Luke is as a pilot, and a hint at what a Jedi can do with the Force.  And, of course, we get to see how awesome Vader is as a fighter pilot.

Now, since I have the 2004 special edition, I hate to deal with the "Han shot first" controversy.  First off, the event.  Greedo threatens Han, and then, in the special edition, Greedo shoots at Han, Han does a very badly edited dodge, and returns fire.  However, in the 1977 version, Han takes the only shot.  He kills Greedo before he gets a chance to take a shot.  Now, I think this was a stupid change, but I'm not going to let myself lose any sleep over it, or even bother ranting about it.

Second, the phrase.  "Han shot first" implies that Greedo got a shot off.  In 1977, he doesn't.  So, "Han Shot First" is a grave misnomer.  But, "Han Shoots Only" doesn't roll off the tongue like "Han Shot First."

So, Episode does a very good job at not only starting off the saga, but it also goes a great job at creating a phenomenon.  No matter what George Lucas says about his movies being about Anakin, this and its sequels are what people who aren't fans think of when someone says Star Wars.

Either tomorrow or the day after I will be reviewing The Empire Strikes Back.  Look forward to it!

I cleaned up a LOT of spelling and grammar errors in my repost.  Tomorrow brings us to Empire, and I'll wrap up the movies on Saturday, with a brand new retrospective to the series on Sunday.