Revisiting Star Wars

            As we near the premiere of the seventh Star Wars movie, the somewhat confusingly titled, The Force Awakens (was it asleep?), let’s revisit the first film in the franchise: Star Wars: A New Hope. (We’re talking about the original theatrical cut of the film that was briefly made available on DVD a while ago, so no Greedo shooting first, no Han Solo talking to Jabba, and no other George Lucas nonsense).  

We're talking the original here.

             The cast represents one of the film’s greatest strengths. In his non-Indiana Jones iconic role, Ford plays the roguish Han Solo with the right balance of confidence, cockiness, and cunning. These traits shine through in the Cantina scene with Greedo. Greedo holds a blaster on Han the entire time. Yet Solo never betrays any concern over the situation. He calmly talks to Greedo while preparing to draw his weapon—confident in his ability to talk or blast his way out of the situation. When the conversation goes south, Solo demonstrates command over the situation by drawing first and killing Greedo. Ford’s nonchalant delivery of the “Sorry about the mess” line provides some darkly humorous closure to the scene. Mark Hamill successfully portrays Luke’s youthful angst and wonderment at the larger world. Even though the viewer has no idea what he is talking about, Hammil’s exasperated “But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!” highlights the world weary attitude unique to moody and sullen teenagers. I imagine the world of Star Wars must have confounded and frustrated Alec Guinness. Guinness won an Academy Award for The Bridge on the River Kwai, starred in Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, and the BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. A veteran Shakespearean actor, Guinness provided much of the exposition that drove the plot and made the fantasy world of Star Wars believable. While Princess Leia spends much of the film a prisoner, her character never succumbs to the cliché of a damsel in distress. Carrie Fisher’s chemistry with Harrison Ford becomes apparent in their first scenes together. Leia sarcastically berates Luke’s foolhardy plan of breaking her out her cell without a plan to get out of the detention block. Fisher plays Leia with a commanding and defiant air that serves her well opposite Luke’s naiveté and Han’s brashness.

None of this BS. Han shot first. 

            Lucas’s clunky dialogue—especially in the later prequel trilogy—presents the biggest problem in the film. He frequently causes the actors to nearly swallow their own tongues with his difficult to parse sentences. Darth Vader’s warning, “Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed” may read well on the page, but speaking it and listening to it are another matter.  The hard tongue sounds required to tie the alliteration of “technological terror” together ruins the flow of the sentence. There is a similar problem with Luke’s description of his home planet, “If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from.” The real problem is the subordinate clause, “that it’s the farthest from.” It is not immediately clear that the “it’s” refers back to the planet, and the “universe” is the unstated object of the preposition “from.” Film viewers do not want to have to do this much literary deconstruction in a sci-fi fantasy film. 

            The climactic Battle of Yavin IV, where the Rebels attack the Death Star, demonstrates the best that Lucas has to offer as a filmmaker. The visual effects remain believable even thirty five years later. Filming much of the battle within the cockpits of the X and W Wing fighters gives the viewer an intimate view of the battle and as the beleaguered pilots die off, the battle becomes even more contained and personal. Eventually Luke and Darth Vader square off as Luke races to destroy the Death Star. Lucas paces the battle scenes well, shifting between the battle raging in space and the Rebel and Imperial command centers as the Death Star nears closer to its firing position. The ticking clock provides increasing tension as the Rebels launch their bombing runs. Lucas takes the viewer right to the edge as Vader seems set to destroy Luke’s X-Wing before the triumphant return of Han Solo and the Rebels snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

            While it has been parodied and copied a million times over, A New Hope remains enjoyable viewing over thirty five years later.