Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

I can’t believe it! Finally, FINALLY, Star Wars is available on DVD! I’m such a geek I took a whole day off work just to watch the trilogy. Since there is SOOO much I want to say about each movie I decided to review each one individually then write a review of the Trilogy DVD box set. That will be a lot of reading on your part so I hope I’m not too boring. At least you don’t have to read it all at once.

I’m amazed that there are still people that haven’t seen the movie -- people my age at least. Yet no matter how much I coax, my wife will not watch any of them. This is not something that everyone loved while it was out then forgot about. The popularity has been rampant for well over 25 years now – it’s an integrated part of American culture and has entertained people worldwide. It literally changed the face of the movie industry and continues to set new standards. If that doesn’t give you some desire to see at least the first one then I don’t understand how you can be a movie fan. I don’t mean that flippantly. I honestly don’t understand the mentality of refusing to give such an influential and popular (since something can be influential but not necessarily all that good) piece of cinema history a chance for no other reason than because it involves space travel and aliens. I’m not cracking down on anyone that doesn’t like it (after all, I’ve been known to despise movies and music that everyone else seemed to love), I’m just saying you need to see it.

Entire books have been written about the way Star Wars affected the entertainment industry so I’m certainly not going to be able to do a better or more thorough job here, but I do feel like some of these aspects deserve mention.

Part of what amazes me is what George Lucas had to overcome to make this movie. It came so close to being shelved so many times that its existence is just short of a miracle. The budget was comparatively tiny, but Lucas could make cardboard tubes and tape look like an elegant weapon. The man had a dream, and nothing would stop him.

That dream was to make a different kind of science fiction movie. It’s actually more mythology in space than anything, following more of a fantasy movie type formula, geared towards a younger audience, influenced by the old movie matinee serials. Instead of a polished world and reflective costumes Lucas aimed for a used look. Robots look like they have been around a while rather than fresh off the showroom floor at all times. Jedi wear robes rather than suits made out of tin foil. Of course, it’s not without its sci-fi elements: bad guys wearing menacing helmets, swords made out of light, and guns that fire lasers rather than bullets.

Something else that goes hand in hand with the not-so-classic sci-fi look is the sound. Rather than synthesized sound effects Lucas wanted real-world noises. Clanging metal sounds like metal rather than anything otherworldly. Even growls and other animal noises are usually made up of real animal sounds.

The result of the look and sound is a world that feels more natural and more familiar than other off-world sci-fi movies of the time. Even when a man with telekinetic powers is fighting a strange being in a black helmet with swords made out of light on a space station the size of a small moon there is a realism to it that other movies lack.

Music is a huge portion of any movie’s ambience. Here again Lucas opted to avoid the usual electronic sounds. The score sounds more classical than futuristic. The music is performed by a full orchestra that gives it a higher quality than one man on a keyboard. Not only are the melodies memorable but they are numerous. Different characters have distinct themes used for specific purposes. The score is a work of art in and of itself adding a level to the movie that it could never have had on its own. I own numerous movie score CD’s by Williams, Danny Elfman, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, and others. Though I am influenced to some degree by my love of the movie, I listen to no score more often than Star Wars. I own the original and Special Edition versions as well as the new prequels and pop music remakes. It’s great music!

Since the sound effects and music are so vital to the success of the production it should come as no surprise that Star Wars pioneered the use of stereo sound in theatres. In fact, most theatres had to have sound system overhauls to support it. Star Wars birthed ILM, the most sought-after special effects team in the world and set the standard for high-quality audio.

Well, all the high-quality audio and video and the most creative sets and props can only go so far without a story. Star Wars the movie (the proper title of which is A New Hope) delivers that on a small scale while Star Wars the series delivers a deep, intriguing scale. By the way, anyone that thinks Lucas renamed the movie is wrong. He always intended it to be Star Wars chapter 4, A New Hope, but the studio execs thought it would be confusing to patrons allowing only the Star Wars title initially.

A New Hope is about a young boy fighting a tyrannical Empire while seeking knowledge about his dead father. Star Wars is about a good man whose anger leads him to be the most feared villain in the galaxy and the subsequent redemption of his soul. It’s the themes of love and redemption that take the plot far beyond what you might expect from an action-adventure flick. Granted the first movie by itself is not particularly deep, but combined they form a tapestry that is taken even further by avid fans and talented novelists.

One thing I find particularly interesting is the focus shifting. Watching the first trilogy you probably feel like this is Luke and Leia’s story. But when the second trilogy comes into play it becomes Anakin/Darth Vader’s story. I can’t think of a single other movie villain that is this complex and given so much development. Usually they are just crazy or evil for the sake of being evil. Rarely if ever does one start out as a hero, become the villain, then come out the hero again. Vader is a tragic case that also offers hope.

That hope of redemption reflects my own beliefs even though the existence and workings of the Force are different than the God in whom I believe. In Vader’s case he has done unspeakable acts of evil, yet there at the very end he is able to turn from his ways to find love and forgiveness in his son. My own system of beliefs is that no matter how bad you’ve been, God will always forgive if you will turn to him.

Plot Summary:
I’ve talked a lot about the whole story so let me focus on the first chapter for a while. The Empire has built a space station capable of destroying a planet in one shot. The Rebellion has managed to steal the technical specs for it. Thirsting for absolute power the Emperor has ousted the last of the central government planning to use fear and his control of the various local governments to keep the planetary systems in line; his henchmen can now act as they see fit to deal with the Rebellion without any resistance or recourse from politicians serving the people. Darth Vader, the Emperor’s apprentice, has captured one of the key leaders in the Rebellion, Leia. As he attempts to extract information about the stolen plans through horrible means, two droids (robots if you don’t know Star Wars terms) attempt to get the plans to the one man that can help, an old hermit on a backwater planet. This hermit, though, is no ordinary human; he’s a member of a nearly extinct but powerful order called Jedi.

The Emperor, knowing the Jedi were his biggest threat, had Vader hunt them down. Ben is one of the few remaining but is too old to take on the Empire alone. He has been watching over Luke, the son of a slain Jedi, who has unwittingly intercepted the droids. This is Ben’s chance to convince Luke to learn to use the Force, but only after the boy’s responsibilities to his aunt and uncle are fulfilled is he willing to leave. Their murder spurs him to action.

Han and Chewbacca take the job of smuggling the two men and their droids to the leaders of the Rebellion. When they arrive, however, they discover that the planet of the people for whom they are looking has been destroyed. Their arrival gives them away, and they are quickly captured by the Empire. After a confrontation in which Ben is beheaded by Vader the rest of the crew, along with Leia whom they’ve rescued, think they have escaped. What they don’t know is that they are about to give away the location of the Rebels thanks to the trickery of Vader.

As the Death Star approaches the moon of Yavin, the Rebels try desperately to find a weakness in the space station. They have only a few minutes to save themselves from being atomized. They launch as large an attack as they can muster against the death machine, but when Vader attacks them individually in his own snubfighter, not even the best Rebel pilots are any match. With all but a few Rebel fighters destroyed, only Luke has any hope of stopping the Empire’s attack if he can find it in himself to trust the Force rather than his technology.

Content:
There is so little questionable in this movie that it almost got a G rating. The violence is mostly bloodless and tame. There are 1 or 2 foul words and nothing sexual at all, not even innuendo.

DVD:
The only currently available DVD is in the Trilogy box set, Widescreen (silver) and Full Screen (bronze) versions. There are multiple VHS versions. The thing to keep in mind is that in most releases the movie has been modified from the original version. It was released a second time in the 90’s with numerous changes: Greedo shoots first, Jabba and Boba Fett make new appearances, creatures and ships have been added to give a larger scope to various scenes, etc. The DVD version is the Special Edition with a few minor touch-ups. For one, the Greedo scene looks better. Reports say that sound effects have been added to the stormtrooper that bumps his head as well as a few other lines. Those were actually always present, but hard to hear because of other noises. They are more prominent now. There may be other minor changes I can’t recall.

The Widecreen version offers 2.35 Anamorphic ratio, extended 5.1, and optional 2.0, surround sound, and high quality of both. There is very little else on the disc (other than the interfaces, of course) so that more room is allocated to video quality. It looks and sounds terrific.

I love the continuity between all the Star Wars DVD’s, spanning both trilogies. The opening animation is the same, and each movie features 3 different interfaces with unique animation including entering and exiting the main menu, chapter selection, and options. This one has the Lars homestead, the Yavin moon, and the Death Star.

So that I’m not just copying pages of information between every movie in the trilogy I will talk about the specifics of the box set in a review of the set. If this disc were not part of a set here’s what you would have: a commentary, a THX optimizer, and some web links.

The commentary includes Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. It’s very informative. Lucas and Burtt talk the most, but everyone gets a moment. I do wish they had gone as overboard with their commentaries as Lord of the Rings did. It would have been great to hear other members of the cast and crew.

The web links are nothing special. One links to the standard site while the other goes to an “exclusive” page. They very well may have updated it by the time you read this, but as of my viewing they had very little exclusive content of any kind and numerous links that didn’t work. Considering how impressive the Star Wars presence is on the web, I’m very surprised they don’t have more and better stuff to promote the DVD.

That’s it. The commentary is really the only thing of note on this disc, but keep in mind that the Trilogy set comes with a bonus disc. I’ve written a Trilogy review if you want to read about the other features offered with the whole set. As for the movie apart from everything else, I’m pleased with the quality more than anything. A strong 5* for A New Hope.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12