Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Rating:
Summary: The best star wars film!
Review: I found that a new hope was the best star wars film ever made. I would give it 10/10.

Rating:
Summary: The Force is still with us
Review: I saw Star Wars in the cinema on its original release in 1977 and I was not slow to buy a ticket for an encore. The sheer experience of that film was exhilerating at a time when movie SFX were still a fair distance away from the quality we know and expect today. Few cinemas had stereo sound then because Dolby Stereo was in its infancy, and to actually be in a cinema so equipped at that time was a rarity. If you were really lucky, in addition to Dolby stereo, it might have a 70mm facility which would give you an enhanced picture, plus a 6 channel stereo split instead of the normal 4 channel of standard Dolby. Nowadays digital stereo in the cinema and home makes that sort of differentiating pretty irrelevent.
Seeing Star Wars in stereo and with its incredible effects really was an experience . After that sound and SFX were never going to be the same, and neither have looked back since.

Only just behind The Empire Strikes Back in terms of enjoyability sits Star Wars itself. The film remains one of those viewing experiences which just remains in your mind as a milestone. What effects, what imagination, the ability to lift you out of every day life and take you to a galaxy, far, far away. Who can forget seeing that opening shot of the huge Star Destroyer bearing down on Princess Leia's fleeing vessel?
No audiences had seen spaceships of those looks and dimensions on the big screen before...
The seedier side of intergalactic life is brilliantly realised in the depiction of THAT bar on the desert planet of Tatooine.
Of course you have that unforgettable sequence at the end of the film where a horde of tiny X Wing fighters take on the behemoth that is the Empire's Death Star.
Aside from the main characters you have great supporting roles. Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi is superb. As is Peter Cushing as the ruthless Governor Tarkin, commanding the Death Star.

As to the controversy of the editing that Lucas has made to the dvd releases, my feelings are as follows:
I loved the originals and have the vhs versions of all three. However, with nearly 20 years between Jedi and The Phantom Menace there were always going to be continuity issues concerning casting and SFX. Play an original vhs version of Star Wars, and you will soon see that the mattes have not aged well and stand out visibly. Yet did we notice them at the the time of the films release? No of course not because the SFX then were state of the art. Now with the passage of time and SFX having come on in leaps and bounds, George Lucas decided to update the former films.In my opinion he has done a good job too SFX wise. The casting editing is more to link with the newer editions of the franchise than to improve the quality of the originals, so my thoughts on that are mixed though. I can see the reason for doing it but I simply prefer the original actors in their roles. Clive Revill's Emperor in Empire Strikes Back I think is the deletion that was most unnecessary.
Overall though I am glad that I have a choice and can either watch the originals on vhs or put on the updated versions on dvd.
I have looked forward to the dvd release of these films for years and am delighted with finally being able to blast them across my home cinema set up. The picture on 16:9 anamorphic is great on a widescreen tv. All sound channels are crisp and totally clear of any distortion. Laser blasts and Tie Fighters shoot across the room to varying degrees...Such is the effect of being able to do that, it has returned me to the awe struck kid seeing Star Wars for the first time in a cinema. Thanks for the dvds, George, it may have taken a while but at least they are here now.


Rating:
Summary: Best Star Wars movie... horrible re-edditing
Review: Well, most people prefer The Empire Strikes Back, but I found it boring, it's just living off the success of the superior and more successful, "Star Wars."

This movie is good. No doubt about it. Grossed over $307 million in 1977, DESTROYING all other records, took home, I believe, 7 academy awards, and was nominated for 10. In 1997, Lucas reworked Star Wars. And made it crap.

Greedo shooting first is bad. Though some claims he shoots the same time Han does (not true). Han shot at many other things that did not shoot at him first, such as a stormtrooper in Star Wars, a Minoc, space slug, an officer on the Death Star, and hell even Vader's wingman in Star Wars. Why not just change all of this? I mean, Vader's wing man was just trying to protect Darth Vader, it would be CRAZY for Han to protect his friend and millions of others!

Even if Greedo DID shoot at the same time as Han (which he did not), he really sucks, and I am surprised Jabba would choose such an idiot Bounty Hunter to get Han. Even a Stormtrooper could hit Han at this distance! Han shooting first does not make him "cold (blooded)" --- it makes Han COOL. I think I would shoot at someone if they held a gun at me first. This change is so poltically correct it's not even funny. Worse change in the series.

Jabba the Hutt just repeats what Greedo told Han about. It's not good film making when you have 2 of the same conversations in a short amount of time. Worthless scene.

The Mos Eisley change is horrible. Here is a quote from Film Buff Online, http://www.filmbuffonline.com/Editorial/EditorialStarWars.htm
"Originally Star Wars' Mos Eisley spaceport was rather unimpressive as a city, befitting of Luke Skywalker's complaints that his home planet of Tattoine "was the furthest planet from the bright center of the galaxy. (...) The end result is Mos Eisley now has all the hustle and bustle of downtown Manhattan and Luke sounds like a kid complaining about living less than an hour away in the Jersey suburbs."

And some of the music is changed. The music in Star Wars was THE best and George changed it. Well, if he wanted to change it now, why didn't he just do so back in 1977? Same with Greedo, why didn't he make Greedo shoot first in 1977? Easy: For the kids.

Anyways, even though the DVD changes are bad, the movie still kicks tons of ass. And this one (not Empire or ROTJ) will be remembered through history... well, the one that came out in 1977.