Post by Heineken Skywalker on Jan 8, 2006 13:25:58 GMT -5
Director: George Lucas
CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS (For the two or three of you who still haven't seen it.)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
In May of 1977, those words appeared on the big screen for the first time, and movies, for better or worse, would be forever changed.
A bold statement, yes, but very true. Until SW, sci-fi and fantasy movies were seen as a risky venture and not as the almost sure-fire thing they are today. Except for a few exceptions, they were mostly B-movies. Something to be made quickly and cheaply and hopefully turn a small profit. Nowadays, studios seem to have no problem investing millions upon millions into sci-fi/fantasy movies in the hopes that it could be "the next STAR WARS".
When every other studio turned him down, 20th Century Fox took a chance on this Lucas kid, who had recently directed a huge hit comedy about cruising kids in the sixties called AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and his story about rebels, an evil Empire, droids, wizards, lightsabers and a Wookiee. What the hell is a Wookiee?
They didn't know, but, "Here's ten million dollars, George. Go make your movie."
The story: The Galactic Empire rules the galaxy with an iron fist, and their weapon, the Death Star, a giant battle station that can destroy entire planets, is their insurance to keep planets who haven't yet fallen in line, from joining the rebellion against them. Succumb or be destroyed. The rebels, led by a feisty Princess named Leia (Carrie Fisher) have stolen the plans to the Death Star in order to try to find a weakness in it's construction they can exploit.
They're intercepted by the Empire's main enforcer, Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), and Leia is forced to hide the plans inside of a small droid, ie: robot, named R2-D2. R2 and his companion, a humanoid droid named C-3PO, manage to escape and crashland on a desert planet named Tatooine.
Here we meet farmboy Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). A teenager with big dreams of leaving his uncle's farm and finding adventure throughout the vast galaxy.
Eventually Luke and the droids encounter Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Alec Guinness), an old hermit who claims to have once been a Jedi Knight, the protectors of the galaxy before the Empire came into power. Even more importantly to Luke, he also claims to have once been friends with Luke's father, who Luke never knew. They fought together in the Clone Wars. During this exchange, Ben also teaches Luke about The Force, a mystical energy field that surrounds all living things and gives the Jedi their power. They are able to access Princess Leia's message and Obi-Wan decides to get the plans to the Princess' planet of Alderaan.
After his uncle and aunt are killed by the Empire, Luke agrees to join Kenobi on his mission, which means hiring a pilot to fly them there. Enter sarcastic mercenary, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his co-pilot, Chewbacca, the aforementioned Wookiee.
Solo's ship is captured by the Death Star and they manage to avoid being arrested. While trying to figure out their escape, they discover that the Princess is also being held captive on board. Han & Luke agree to rescue Leia, while Kenobi goes to deactivate the tractor beam that is holding Solo's ship. All parties are successful, but enroute back to the ship, Kenobi encounters Darth Vader. Vader was once Kenobi's Jedi pupil, before Vader turned to the dark side of the Force and helped to hunt down and kill most of the Jedi Knights. They battle and Vader is triumphant.
Luke and the others manage to escape and deliver the plans to the rebels. Luke then joins the rebels in a furious dogfight against the Empire and with some last minute help from reluctant hero, Solo, manages to fire the shot that destroys the Death Star.
They return to a hero's welcome and the galaxy is safe once again. For now....
Can't you just hear John Williams' score blaring through the speakers?
Borrowing elements from old Flash Gordon serials, ancient mythology, westerns, fairy tales, Kurosawa's samurai films, the books of Tolkien (LORD OF THE RINGS) and Frank Herbert (DUNE), etc., and using archetypical characters and situations, Lucas was able to create a fantasy "space opera" the likes of which had never been seen before. Startingly original while at the same time having a feeling of instant recognizability that makes it comfortable and entertaining for the viewer.
The pace and editing are so quick that you barely have time to think about the implausibility of a lot of it.
The dialogue is sometimes clunky and a few questionable line readings pop up from time to time, but the movie is so damn entertaining that they can be pretty easily overlooked.
Really, you'd have to have a really large stick up your ass to not find something to like about this movie.
And have I mentioned the groundbreaking and Academy Award winning effects? Lucas and the effects shop he put together, ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) had to create a lot of the effects seen on screen as many of them had never been attempted before. Every type of effect available at the time is incorporated, from opticals and miniatures to stop-motion animation and even some early computer graphics. Of course some of them have become dated since then, but they were state-of-the-art at the time.
After the success of SW, every studio tried to jump on the sci-fi/fantasy bandwagon. And to this day, we're still being bombarded with larger than life productions featuring spaceships, laser guns, creatures of all shapes and sizes, evil villains and amazing landscapes. This was not the case in the 70's before SW. If SW had failed we may not have gotten ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR, THE THING, BLADERUNNER, E.T., RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, MEN IN BLACK, and many, many others that followed.
These days we get a movie that is trumpeted as "STAR WARS for a new generation!" on a weekly basis. But nothing can compare to the summer of '77 when we got the original.
10/10
CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS (For the two or three of you who still haven't seen it.)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
In May of 1977, those words appeared on the big screen for the first time, and movies, for better or worse, would be forever changed.
A bold statement, yes, but very true. Until SW, sci-fi and fantasy movies were seen as a risky venture and not as the almost sure-fire thing they are today. Except for a few exceptions, they were mostly B-movies. Something to be made quickly and cheaply and hopefully turn a small profit. Nowadays, studios seem to have no problem investing millions upon millions into sci-fi/fantasy movies in the hopes that it could be "the next STAR WARS".
When every other studio turned him down, 20th Century Fox took a chance on this Lucas kid, who had recently directed a huge hit comedy about cruising kids in the sixties called AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and his story about rebels, an evil Empire, droids, wizards, lightsabers and a Wookiee. What the hell is a Wookiee?
They didn't know, but, "Here's ten million dollars, George. Go make your movie."
The story: The Galactic Empire rules the galaxy with an iron fist, and their weapon, the Death Star, a giant battle station that can destroy entire planets, is their insurance to keep planets who haven't yet fallen in line, from joining the rebellion against them. Succumb or be destroyed. The rebels, led by a feisty Princess named Leia (Carrie Fisher) have stolen the plans to the Death Star in order to try to find a weakness in it's construction they can exploit.
They're intercepted by the Empire's main enforcer, Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), and Leia is forced to hide the plans inside of a small droid, ie: robot, named R2-D2. R2 and his companion, a humanoid droid named C-3PO, manage to escape and crashland on a desert planet named Tatooine.
Here we meet farmboy Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). A teenager with big dreams of leaving his uncle's farm and finding adventure throughout the vast galaxy.
Eventually Luke and the droids encounter Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Alec Guinness), an old hermit who claims to have once been a Jedi Knight, the protectors of the galaxy before the Empire came into power. Even more importantly to Luke, he also claims to have once been friends with Luke's father, who Luke never knew. They fought together in the Clone Wars. During this exchange, Ben also teaches Luke about The Force, a mystical energy field that surrounds all living things and gives the Jedi their power. They are able to access Princess Leia's message and Obi-Wan decides to get the plans to the Princess' planet of Alderaan.
After his uncle and aunt are killed by the Empire, Luke agrees to join Kenobi on his mission, which means hiring a pilot to fly them there. Enter sarcastic mercenary, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his co-pilot, Chewbacca, the aforementioned Wookiee.
Solo's ship is captured by the Death Star and they manage to avoid being arrested. While trying to figure out their escape, they discover that the Princess is also being held captive on board. Han & Luke agree to rescue Leia, while Kenobi goes to deactivate the tractor beam that is holding Solo's ship. All parties are successful, but enroute back to the ship, Kenobi encounters Darth Vader. Vader was once Kenobi's Jedi pupil, before Vader turned to the dark side of the Force and helped to hunt down and kill most of the Jedi Knights. They battle and Vader is triumphant.
Luke and the others manage to escape and deliver the plans to the rebels. Luke then joins the rebels in a furious dogfight against the Empire and with some last minute help from reluctant hero, Solo, manages to fire the shot that destroys the Death Star.
They return to a hero's welcome and the galaxy is safe once again. For now....
Can't you just hear John Williams' score blaring through the speakers?
Borrowing elements from old Flash Gordon serials, ancient mythology, westerns, fairy tales, Kurosawa's samurai films, the books of Tolkien (LORD OF THE RINGS) and Frank Herbert (DUNE), etc., and using archetypical characters and situations, Lucas was able to create a fantasy "space opera" the likes of which had never been seen before. Startingly original while at the same time having a feeling of instant recognizability that makes it comfortable and entertaining for the viewer.
The pace and editing are so quick that you barely have time to think about the implausibility of a lot of it.
The dialogue is sometimes clunky and a few questionable line readings pop up from time to time, but the movie is so damn entertaining that they can be pretty easily overlooked.
Really, you'd have to have a really large stick up your ass to not find something to like about this movie.
And have I mentioned the groundbreaking and Academy Award winning effects? Lucas and the effects shop he put together, ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) had to create a lot of the effects seen on screen as many of them had never been attempted before. Every type of effect available at the time is incorporated, from opticals and miniatures to stop-motion animation and even some early computer graphics. Of course some of them have become dated since then, but they were state-of-the-art at the time.
After the success of SW, every studio tried to jump on the sci-fi/fantasy bandwagon. And to this day, we're still being bombarded with larger than life productions featuring spaceships, laser guns, creatures of all shapes and sizes, evil villains and amazing landscapes. This was not the case in the 70's before SW. If SW had failed we may not have gotten ALIEN, THE TERMINATOR, THE THING, BLADERUNNER, E.T., RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, MEN IN BLACK, and many, many others that followed.
These days we get a movie that is trumpeted as "STAR WARS for a new generation!" on a weekly basis. But nothing can compare to the summer of '77 when we got the original.
10/10
