'Star Wars (1977)' REVIEW: The First Step into a Larger Blockbuster Universe

Welcome to the first of my 'Back to the Review' reviews! These are reviews of mainly older films or films that I've missed out in theaters and didn't get the chance to review. Plus, the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise is right around the corner and I want to get my thoughts on the previous Star Wars films out there for people to read. I'm mostly likely going to review these films in full detail which definitely means that there are major heavy spoilers to be had with these reviews, so be warned. Let's not waste any time and get on with the review of 'Star Wars', the one that started it all.

Before I proceed I just want to say firstly is that the film's title is called 'Star Wars' and not 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'. George Lucas and everybody in the world should accept the fact that when it was first released it was called 'Star Wars'. I also want to say is that prior to writing these reviews I managed to get hold and watched the original unaltered versions of the original Star Wars trilogy. In other words, I can say that I have actually seen Star Wars at its original state as if it came out the theaters in the year 1977.

The film starts out with an opening crawl which a throwback to the old Republic serials of the 30's explaining that the galaxy is at civil war between the Rebel Alliance and The Galactic Empire and it immediately sucks you into this wider and dense world of mythology. You see this smaller spaceship being overpowered by this larger space station which instantly tells how much more power and command they have over the rebels. Within those first 10 minutes we are introduced to who will not only be considered of of the best Star Wars characters of all time, but one of the best movie characters of all time: Darth Vader. The design of him as well as the Storm Trooper who's helmets closely resemble Nazi's is all instantly memorable and has shown to be since it came out. James Earl Jones' voice for Darth Vader is super intimidating and shows that he is not one to be messed with as he can wield a Lightsaber as well as use his Force Choke abilities on you.

The story here is that Princess Leia (played by Carrie Fisher) has hidden plans to the Death Star into her droid R2-D2 along with its companion C-3PO and lets them flee to a desert planet called Tatooine. Carrie Fisher manages to play this character with a fierce attitude as she is a member of the Imperial Senate and leader of the Rebel Alliance, so she is also not to be fucked with even though she's later held prisoner by Darth Vader. The British accent she does is unnecessary and it does come and go. Even some of the dialogue she's given is also kind of clunky with lines like "...I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board." and "...I should have known. Only you could be so bold...", but Carrie Fisher is most surely committed to her role for most of the whole picture. She's great and we'll get to the rest of the cast soon enough.

Back to the droid on the dessert planet of Tatooine, the film takes its time using the dialogue between R2-D2 and C-3PO to build up the world of Star Wars by throwing out lines with the words "Clone Wars" and call onto your curiosity as to think what that was like and builds a rich universe. The droids soon come across Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill), our naive protagonist who will soon learn the way of The Force. He finds the message inside R2-D2 saying that Princess Leia needs the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi, an older Jedi who lives on the same dessert planet as Luke's. Luke sets out to find Obi-Wan Kenobi and find out how he's involved with the aid of the Rebel Alliance. So far into this perceived action space-opera blockbuster franchise, there isn't that much action. Well that's what makes these films that more special. They build the characters as well as the universe around them, so that in the third act we root for them the most. Luke finds Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) and he tells Luke all about The Force and that his father fought alongside him a long time ago until Darth Vader killed his father and Obi-Wan had to be in exile in order to not be found again by the Galactic Empire.

Alec Guinness in one of his last few roles is very strong here. He's as wise as you would imagine him to be. He has seen and been through a lot and now wants to help Luke Skywalker on his quest to becoming a fully formed Jedi. This trope of a old wise master mentoring a young wide-eyed youth has now been a cliche since this film came out with films like Men in Black (1997), Eragon (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) and Gods of Egypt (2016) having borrowed aspects of the plot for better and for worse (I'm talking about you Eragon and Gods of Egypt). At first Luke refused to accept Obi Wan's teachings until he rushes home to see that his aunt and uncle have been killed by Storm Troopers in search of the droids. A brief, but powerful moment where initially he looked away from the dead bodies, but he lifts his head again and accepts his fate and goes with Obi-Wan along with R2-D2 and C-3PO to learn the ways of The Force. From the message they've received they need to go to the planet of Alderaan to help out with the Rebel Alliance and head out to a town of Mos Eisley, where they find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

In the Mos Eisley Catina they meet Han Solo (played by Harrison Ford) and his Wookie side-kick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), the sneakiest smugglers of the galaxy. This is the film that made Harrison Ford a superstar. Han Solo is an arrogant, but likable and soon will be added with even more depth in the next few films. Here, he's just a lot of fun to watch and be around with his interactions with Chewbacca as well as his initial refusal to believe in The Force and thinks that only a good blaster at his side will get him out of trouble. By the way, it's no argument that Han did shoot first. He most definitely did. It adds to the fact that Han Solo is someone who's not hesitant to kill and is only in it for the money. Han Solo agrees to take Luke, Obi-Wan and the rest of the droids on the Millennium Falcon, the most iconic ship/vehicle in film history. I laugh every time Luke says his first line upon seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time: "What a piece of Junk!". They go into hyper-drive towards the system with Alderaan which has been destroyed by the Death Star unbeknownst to them.

Inside the Millennium Falcon our heroes find out that Alderaan has been eliminated and soon come across the Death Star and one of them has a bad feeling about it. They aboard the Death Star and learns that Princess Leia is in it, so Luke and Han Solo try to save her while Obi-Wan confronts Darth Vader who was once his Padawan or his Jedi student. They rescue Princess Leia and Obi-Wan sacrifices himself to buy them time to get off the Death Star. Their escape is not over and they have an exciting blaster battle which at the time had special effects that were spectacular that they even hold up until this day. They manage their escape and the plans to the Death Star have been given to the Rebel Alliance in Yavin V to examine what the weakness of this ultimate weapon might be. And yes, the placement and openness of the weakness at the time of this film's release was quite clumsy and became one of the most massive plot holes on film history which was soon fixed by another film, but we will get to that later. Han takes off selfishly with his reward and Luke prepares for the final assault on the Death Star. At this point we are so invested with the characters that the final sequence in the Death Star is all the more gripping to watch.

In the final action sequence of the final act all other fighter pilots have been defeated by the Galactic Empire and Luke is the only one left to fire missiles into the Death Star's weakness. Han solo has a change of heart and comes back to help out. The voice of Obi-Wan tells him that The Force is with him and manages to shoot the missile into the Death Star's weakness without the use of his targeting computer. Darth Vader spins off into space and escapes the destruction of the Death Star. Our heroes make it home and have a celebration for temporarily defeating the Galactic Empire.

'Star Wars' is not a mindless action film with sequences of cool spaceships and lightsabers fighting each other, but it's a film that's an old-fashioned hero-rises story with great themes and characters. The film introduces The Force as a philosophical concept that can be interpreted as anything like religion, mind over matter or as a way of life in general. This film holds up so well because of the well drawn characters, not the action sequences. The lightsabers, Jedi power and action sequences are what gives these films their identity. The special effects which includes both digital and practical still look fantastically realistic and don't look fake at all in today's standards. I love Star Wars and these films are why I love movies in general and why I'm excited for blockbusters and hope they can be as groundbreaking as Star Wars.

'Star Wars (1977)' is without a doubt an A+