|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Star Wars – Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Note: This review contains spoilers!
All screen shots are the sole property of 20th Century Fox.
This review refers to the recent updated version of the movie.
Director – George Lucas
Starring – Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness
Running time – 120 minutes
Distinctions – IMDB’s Top 250: No. 11, AFI’s Top 100: No. 15
Star Wars is one of the great cultural icons of our time. It is one of the highest grossing movies of all time and also one of the best loved. For many people, it has crossed over from being a series of films to pseudo-religion. It’s also a movie that set new standards in terms of visual and sound effects. More recently it spawned a highly successful prequel trilogy that reinforced Star Wars as mythology rather than just cinema.
In this review, the Guru tackles Episode IV, the original Star Wars movie.
Synopsis
Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far away. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, is a young farm worker on a dust-bowl planet. His life is changed forever when a droid carrying a secret message for an old Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). The message contains the plans for the evil Galactic Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star. The plans must be delivered to the Rebel Alliance if the Empire is ever to be defeated.
Great Scene 1 : “You may fire when ready.” (00:54:42 to 00:56:47)
Princess Leia Organa, a prominent member of the Rebel Alliance, has been captured by the Empire and tortured by Darth Vader. The Empire wants to know which planet the Rebels have their base on. Leia refuses to tell them the location so the Empire resorts to more sinister means of persuasion. The Death Star is capable of destroying an entire planet. Grand Moff Tarkin, the office commanding the Death Star, threatens to destroy Leia’s home planet if she does not give them the location of the Rebel base.
She gives them the name of the planet but Admiral Tarkin gives the order to fire anyway and Leia’s planet is destroyed in a spectacular explosion. Even in the original version of the movie, the special effects are impressive.
This scene is terrifying and chilling when one first watches it. It was even scarier when the movie was first released, as, in those days, during the Cold War, the prospect of planetary destruction did not seem as quite as distant as it does now.
This scene serves three important purposes in the movie. First, it shows how cruel the Empire is - the audience really gets behind the
Great Scene 2 : “I have been waiting for you, Obi-Wan.” (01:26:17 to 01:29:11)
After deactivating the tractor beam, Obi-Wan comes across Darth Vader. Vader had been Obi-Wan’s apprentice many years before. These are two characters with a long history – old foes. (Although, without knowledge of the prequels, we can only guess as to the details of that history.) What we can deduce at this stage is that Vader has been waiting many years to see Obi-Wan again and that is wants to turn the tables on his old master.
What follows is the first in a long line of Star Wars duels. Compared to other duels, it lacks in athleticism. But what it lacks in this area, it more than makes up for in terms of intensity. Our loathing of Vader fuels the intensity.
The duel distracts the storm troopers guarding the Millennium Falcon and thus helps Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca to escape. It seems that Obi-Wan knew this was the case. While Vader’s aims are revenge and self-glorification, Obi-Wan’s aim is to help his friends. Obi-Wan knows that his destiny lies along a different path from that of Luke’s and is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his friends. The contrast between Obi-Wan and Vader beautifully illustrates the difference between the good and dark sides of the Force.
Just when Luke and his friends see Vader and Obi-Wan duelling, Obi-Wan seems to allow Vader to strike him with his light sabre. Obi-Wan is killed. Obi-Wan knew that his direct part in the Star Wars saga had reached an end. It was now up to Luke to continue the fight. However, Obi-Wan knew that he would still be able to counsel Luke (“If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine.”), which he does during Great Scene 3 and during The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
The untrained Luke must now surely be intent on revenge. Obi-Wan told Luke that Vader killed Luke’s father. And Luke has just seen Vader kill his new mentor, Obi-Wan. Of course, the audience has to wait until The Empire Strikes Back before Luke is able to confront Vader.
Great Scene 3 : “Use the Force, Luke.” (01:40:45 to 01:52:58)
The information that R2-D2 was carrying revealed a weakness in the Death Star. The Death Star’s defences are aimed at repelling a large-scale attack – small fighters may be able to penetrate these defences. The Death Star can be destroyed by flying in close and then firing into a narrow opening, which would then cause a chain reaction that would destroy the Death Star. This dangerous mission is left to the pilots of the Rebel Alliance who are joined by Luke. Initially, Han refuses to help the Rebels but he returns to the scene of the battle and helps Luke out of a sticky situation. In the end, Luke, after avoiding the Death Star’s defences and a pursuing Darth Vader, destroys the Death Star moments before the Rebel base is to be destroyed.
This scene is packed with action, excitement and drama. In 120-odd minutes, Luke has gone from farm boy on a third rate planet to savior of the galaxy! It’s no wonder that millions of people love this movie!
This scene presented a cinematic scale that had never been seen before. When this film was released, it was a huge leap forward for cinematic effects. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities in film making. This was all done with the special effects of the day, which meant that instead of computers, the makers used detailed models. These models still look good today. It is only fairly recently that CGI has been able to match model building for reality. In the days of Star Wars, film makers had to rely on their resourcefulness and cunning to create realistic special effects. These days most effects are achieved on computer. A step forward, for sure, but have you noticed how boring “Making of...” documentaries have become?
|
|