“Star Wars” Review
Released in 1977, “Star Wars” dominated the box office and spawned an ever-evolving franchise.
As May the Fourth and the fortieth anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back” near, I thought it was time to review the entire “Star Wars” saga. Why? Well, ever since I was eight-years-old, “Star Wars” has been one of my biggest inspirations from a storytelling, filmmaking and mythological standpoint.
So, for the next few weeks, I’ll be reviewing every “Star Wars” film in release order from the original trilogy to the sequel trilogy which concluded last December. I’ll also be talking about several other “Star Wars” properties including “The Mandalorian,” “The Clone Wars,” “Rebels” and the much dreaded “Holiday Special” as well as Star Wars parodies and homages including “Robot Chicken,” “The Family Guy” trilogy and more.
With that said, “Star Wars,” originally released in May of 1977, won over critics and filmgoers alike with its mythology-based storytelling, groundbreaking effects and incredible characters. It became the highest grossing film of all time, and remains the fourth highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation, and spawned a franchise that continues to this day. But, ignoring the massive franchise that followed, “Star Wars” remains one of the best science fiction films ever made.
The film tells the story of a righteous Rebel Alliance fighting against the tyrannical Galactic Empire a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. During this conflict, a member of the Rebellion named Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fisher, sends two droids named C-3PO and R2D2, played by Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, to the desert planet of Tatooine with the plans for The Death Star, The Empire’s weapon that can destroy a planet.
They meet up with a young farmer named Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, and an old Jedi Master named Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guiness, and all of them try to get the plans to the Rebellion in hopes of finding a weakness in The Death Star and destroying it. To do so, they hire a smuggler named Han Solo and his first mate Chewbacca, played by Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew, and their ship The Millennium Falcon to get the plans to the Rebels and save the princess, who’s been captured on The Death Star by the villainous Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones.
(From Left) Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford star in “Star Wars” as a Wookie named Chewbacca, a farm boy named Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and smuggler Han Solo.
Despite the dense plot description, one of the film’s best attributes is its simple story and characters. Every single character is unique and has a different arc. Luke Skywalker is an inexperienced youth who wants adventure, Obi-Wan is a wise mentor who helps Luke train to be a Jedi, Han is a scoundrel who has that bit of good in him and Leia is a strong, confident leader who wants to defeat the Empire. This ensemble cast is fantastic and remains one of the greatest bands of heroes in the history of film.
The villains are also compelling. Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin is a slimy, calculating military commander and Darth Vader, while not as epic as he would be in later films, still gives a threatening presence. A lot of that comes from the tall stature of David Prowse and James Earl Jones’ threatening voice. From the moment that Darth Vader, clad in black, steps into Princess Leia’s ship in the beginning of the film, you know he means business.
When making the film, George Lucas was inspired by three kinds of stories that have basic good versus evil stories: Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon serials, Akira Kurosawa samurai films and classic westerns. What all of these stories have in common with “Star Wars” is that the plots are simple and the environments are complex and rich. Every single part of “Star Wars” feels incredibly atmospheric. Nothing in this film feels fake and all of these places have these little details which make the world feel real.
The cantina sequence is a great example of this because, although it looks like a bar, it doesn’t feel like one on Earth. There’s all of these strange creatures, a band that plays the same song over and over and a bizarre “no droids” policy that feels kind of racist but with droids.
The acting of “Star Wars” also adds to the credibility of the film. A lot of the film’s wonder comes from its special effects and, in order to create a convincing story, George Lucas had to convince his actors that the effects that would be integrated in post production, like the blades of lightsabers and the laser bolts of blasters, would be fantastic. In fact, George Lucas had a private screening of a rough cut of “Star Wars” to some of his friends, including Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg, which didn’t have a lot of the special effects and it was met with a less than enthusiastic reception.
This is why the acting of “Star Wars” is so important. When Mark Hamill tells Alec Guinness he wants to become a Jedi, you feel that he really believes what he is saying. The same goes to Carrie Fisher whose reaction to her home planet of Alderaan being blown up is convincing even though, on set, they couldn’t see the explosion.
Even complex ideas like Jedi Knights and The Force are given a great deal of magnitude because of Alec Guinness’s delivery. He received an Oscar Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this role and, to this day, is the only time an actor got an Oscar nomination for a “Star Wars” film. In fact, very few people on set, including the actors, had faith in the story and actors like Mark Hamill have admitted that Alec Guinness, who was an Oscar winner, taking a chance on this film was inspiring and made all of the other actors really try.
Both Guinness’ and Prowse/Jones’ performances make the lightsaber battle between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which isn’t as well choreographed as other fights in the Original Trilogy, epic because these two characters have so much drama behind them.
The film itself is a miracle because of how much was against “Star Wars” from the beginning. Shooting the Tatooine scenes in Tunisia was a mess, George Lucas had to establish his own companies (Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic) to make effects that no one had done before and 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the film that they let George Lucas have the merchandising rights which is one of the biggest mistakes a studio has ever done.
This actually allowed George Lucas not only a lot of money off of toys in the future, but also gave him control over the advertising for the film. Lucas doesn’t get enough credit for his role in marketing this film.
After directing “American Graffiti,” one of the most profitable films of all time, in 1973, George Lucas (Right) was allowed to direct the space opera “Star Wars.” Having Oscar-winning actor Alec Guinness attached to the project gave the film a respectability and inspired the mostly unknown actors on set.
The special effects hold up to this day and all of the models and props feel tangible which is amazing considering this film had a small budget of $11 million. To put that into perspective, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi” had budgets that were triple that of the original “Star Wars.” When the Millenium Falcon and TIE Fighters get into dogfights, it feels real. The laser bolts, the lightsaber blades, the droids, all of this feels real. The opening shot of the film, which sees a small Rebel Cruiser chased down by an Imperial Star Destroyer, is incredible and visually says who the heroes are and who the villains are.
John Williams’ score also adds such a gravitose to “Star Wars” and the decision to have a symphonic orchestra instead of disco was actually surprising for the time. In the aforementioned rough cut that George Lucas screened, it also didn’t have the score which explains a lot. So much of the atmosphere comes from this music and there’s too many great pieces of music like the opening theme, the thrilling music of the battle of The Death Star and the throne room finale but my favorite has to be the Binary Sunset music.
The Binary Sunset scene is one of my favorite scenes in all of film. Luke looks out at the twin suns setting and ponders his place in the universe. When the music by John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra enters, I get the chills every single time.
“Star Wars” is a fantastic film which has inspired many filmmakers and storytellers. It created a massive franchise in a galaxy far, far away and has changed the way we all view films. The current state of science fiction, special effects and storytelling would not exist if not for this film.
