The International House of Mojo

Gabez secretly wants to rule the galaxy as a Sith tyrant. We still love him though.

I’ve just got back from a six hour Star Wars marathon which had me sitting in my own filth as I watched the original trilogy on DVD with misty eyes at a friends house. It was great to see them all back to back, especially as one of the other people at the watchathon hadn’t even seen the original trilogy before (for shame!) The following three reviews will be largely based on my viewing experience today, so bear in mind that I’m referring to the DVD release here and that we skipped half an hour of the “less important scenes” in Return of the Jedi (which basically means with hit the next button whenever an Ewok came on)

A MASTER OF EVIL

On to the first of the bunch then - A New Hope. The first film to be made, obviously, and its freshness is still apparent thirty-or-so years later, thanks largely to the improved CGI that Lucas had slyly masturbated in when no-one was looking. The movie still holds up very well to today’s standards as far as looks are concerned, though to be fair a lot of the effects shots lack the gritty level of realism that we were treated to in Revenge of the Sith. It’s not that it looks bad, it’s just that you can obviously tell it’s CGI and the characters often look like they’ve just stumbled onto a Pixar animation rather than some Alien city. It’s a small niggle to be had and never gets in the way of enjoying the films, but it does mean that some segments have a slightly tacked-on feel to them.

Occasionally, however, there’s a piece of high-tech jiggery pokery that would make even old Ben proud - stuff like the addition of extra wampas (or whatever they’re called) in the background really help boost the realism of the Imperial side, and the Millenium Falcon taking off has never looked so good. The original set design is, of course, fantastic too, especially for the scenes on the Death Star which do a great job in showing the sheer scale of the thing. One of the greatest charms of the saga is that every prop and location looks used and battered, mixing Sci-fi with realism in a way that completely changed the genre. Even though the Storm Troopers look plastic and Leia’s hair is blatantly made out of food, the quality of the design raises the bar and means that A New Hope still looks awesome and realistic in this day and age.

Sound was good too, with excellent surround force Dolby feedback mono 2.3™ that’ll make you think that Darth Vader’s right next to you if you’ve got decent enough speakers. Of course the film sounds awesome whatever you’re watching it on thanks again to a great film score that links in nicely with the Episode III stuff. Luke’s theme playing as he longingly stared out at the horizon on home plant Tatooine gave me chills running down my spine, though that might have just been because the window was open. The end battle over the Death Star also sounds particularly fantastic with a tense musical climax that’ll make you clench your fists in anticipation.

MY ONLY HOPE

Puritans of the series will maintain that Lucas should never have tampered with his space-saga child, but that doesn’t make much sense to me - if he wants to change things so that they live up to his artistic vision, let him as long as they don’t actually make the cinematic experience much worse. So Greedo shooting first? Couldn’t care less. Jabba meeting Han? Makes sense to me. Most of the time I didn’t notice the changes, and, anyway, the fact that Obi-wan’s blinking is now computer generated won’t stop A New Hope from being a great film.

I will say this, though - the start of the film does drag. Not as much as the love scenes in Attack of the Clones, or, uh, most of Phantom Menace, but enough to be noticeable all the same. Threepio and Artoo are great characters and do a good job of keeping viewer interest, but it has to be said that it’s not until Leia Han and Luke finally meet up that the film properly kicks off. It’s not that the start is bad, it’s just that the second half is much better, with three completely different and interesting characters in really exciting situations. Whilst we laughed at Luke‘s whiny “But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converteeeeers…” (hasn’t every teenager had to deal with the frustration of not being able to have power convertors?) it was more an anti-laugh, what David Brent probably calls the laughter of hate, and was completely in contrast with later lines like when Han says “Don’t get cocky kid!” which is actually funny for the right reasons.

SCUM AND VILLAINY

The dialogue is mostly meaningless rubbish (why do we care if Luke has to get a translator that speaks Bocce even though he “hasn’t got a choice”?), but there are some really great lines later on particularly between Han and Leia, and Obi-Wans talk of the force could be seen as beautiful especially if you’ve downed a few drinks before hand (that said, Obi-Wan could be seen as beautiful if you’ve had enough drinks). All the actors do a great job, though Mark Hamill seems to only have three different reaction shots that Lucas has repeated throughout the trilogy (and his reaction to his family’s dead was merely to look at the ground for a bit) but generally he Carrie and Harrison do a great job being the stars of the movie and, though their portrayals lack depth, they are consistently in character throughout the films which is pretty much all you want from actors in a Lucas flick. Alec Guiness is the delightful exception to the rule, with his portrayal of Obi-Wan feeling utterly believable, despite the fact that his character is more two dimensional than a steam-rolled pancake.

It’s nice to have a self-contained Star Wars story that’s fun to watch (unlike Phantom Menace) with A New Hope wrapping things up nicely by the end after the fantastic Death Star finale. Whilst it’s easy to be cynical about the start of the film and to poke fun at Luke’s hair, no one in the room could deny that the last two hours had been a thrilling ride. Unlike many of the other Star Wars films, A New Hope gives the viewer a chance to breathe and digest the ideas of the saga, making it hugely watchable if a little lacking in substance.

4/5 - the force is strong with this one