Star Wars: A New Hope Review

This review is for the theatrical cut of the movie released on the 2003 limited edition DVD set of the trilogy, which I happen to own. I may review the special edition contained on that DVD at a later date, but for now, here's my review of the original theatrical cut, which comes from my Letterboxd profile.

I've had a love/hate relationship with this movie and the entire Star Wars franchise for a while now. For a long time, I refused to see Star Wars in general. Even as recently as the end of May, I had not seen the fifth or sixth episodes of the series. I've seen the fourth episode, A New Hope, twice before, the special edition the first time and the theatrical edition the second time (I may have seen the theatrical edition a second time before this, I have no idea).

Before Thursday, when I watched this movie again, I didn't really enjoy it that much. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't understand what was so special about it. The second time, I understood it more, but I saw it because I was considering going to the theater to see The Last Jedi with my parents and I wanted to see all of the movies leading up to it. I didn't want to see the rest of the trilogy, so I just skipped to the seventh episode, The Force Awakens. About thirty minutes to the end of the movie (you probably know which scene I'm talking about if you've seen it, but no spoilers here), it suddenly clicked with me why people loved these characters so much, and I loved the rest of the seventh episode from there. I watched The Last Jedi and really enjoyed it, so I was motivated to go back and watch the original trilogy (I will give updated thoughts on episodes seven and eight in the near future, by the way). I never did, until my friend finally bugged me into watching the movies because he wanted to talk about them with me.

Now, seeing it for the third time, I finally understood why people loved this movie so much. Star Wars: A New Hope is a fantastic sci-fi epic with incredibly likable and relatable characters, beautiful cinematography, scenery and special effects that for the most part still hold up to this day, and fantastic set pieces that are simply a marvel to look at. I mean, sure, the cuts that you see when the characters activated their lightsabers are definitely more noticeable than they should be if this movie was made today, but since this movie was released in 1977, the cuts are actually pretty seamless overall. The shot of Luke looking out at the two suns of Tatooine still stands out to me to this day as one of my favorite moments of the entire trilogy, and I have absolutely no idea how they pulled that shot off.

Luke feels like a completely relatable teen, Leia gets the audience to cheer when she convinces everyone around her that she is capable of holding her own, Han's brilliant one-liners give the movie its funniest moments (with his intercom conversation still being the funniest Star Wars moment ever in my opinion), and Obi-Wan's incredible knowledge is always a marvel to see unfold. The chemistry between R2-D2 and C-3PO is also a delight to see, with R2 being the adventurous optimist and 3PO being the more cautious realist. The world building of this series is fantastic, and the planets and multiple races of aliens the characters encounter are incredibly original and fun. George Lucas' script is actually really good here, with every line coming across as completely organic. These people feel like real people despite being people from other planets in the distant future. The chemistry between Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the rest of the characters feels genuine and earned.

What I especially appreciate is how this movie isn't afraid to hold back. It isn't afraid to show charred bodies after a village burning, it isn't afraid to show beloved characters being killed right in front of us, and I frankly think it's ridiculous that a PG-rated sci-fi epic is perfectly willing to show an alien arm bleeding profusely after being cut off by Obi-Wan's lightsaber while an R-rated Ted Bundy movie (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile) can only give us one slightly disturbing kill. This movie doesn't hold back within the limits of its rating and it doesn't cut away from what it feels is too dark for the audience, which makes the situation feel more intense than it would if they kept it completely family-friendly.

There's really no flaws I have with the craft and filmmaking on display here (the acting is also great, by the way), the only thing being overall that I wish I was sucked into the story just a little bit more to truly feel like I was there with these characters. However, if that's the only flaw I have with this sci-fi masterpiece, that's gotta be a testament to how long this movie has held up. Star Wars: A New Hope (along with the rest of the original trilogy) is a beautiful-looking and exciting sci-fi film with great acting, great characters, great writing, great cinematography... long story short, it's just great.

Letter Grade: A