The Worst Of The Original Trilogy, But Still Solid

Rating: 8/10 (19 August 2016)

It's difficult to come up with a franchise more iconic than "Star Wars." Its cultural impact and effect on filmmaking is legendary. The epic Saga of a galaxy far, far away is one that will continue to stand the test of time for generations to come. And all the imagination captured by these classic stories, all the hysteria it brought out among its fervent fanbase, all started with a movie that made it into fewer than 32 theaters on opening day. So, what do I have to say about the first installment in my favorite film franchise of all time? While "A New Hope" is a decent film on its own, and I'm beyond grateful that it became such a massive financial success, from a filmmaking standpoint, it's easily the worst of the original trilogy. Does that make it a bad movie? No. GOD no. That said, it is FAR from great and certainly one of the Saga's weakest installments.
Easily the worst quality in the movie is that so many of the characters are tropes without any relatability or depth. This was a problem that would be fixed excellently in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", but as far as "A New Hope" goes, the characters are REALLY weak. Luke Skywalker is a shockingly boring, bland protagonist whose only interesting trait seems to be his consistency in making mistake after mistake. Princess Leia represents the worst of male screenwriters not knowing how to write female characters. Her only personality trait seems to be that she's "badass." (But only when the plot needs her to be, otherwise she's a damsel in distress.) Obi Wan Kenobi is by far the worst of the bunch; as bland and uninteresting as mentor figures go, Kenobi consistently lies to and manipulates Luke's emotions in order to get him to join the Rebellion. By the time he has his final stand against Darth Vader, (A horrendously choreographed joke of a fight with zero emotional impact or investment and some of the worst dialogue of the entire saga including "Only a master of EVIL, Darth!") I see no reason why I should be rooting for this character to win, or even survive.
The acting isn't much better. While Mark Hamill would prove to be quite good as Luke Skywalker in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", he's simply wooden and uninspired in "A New Hope." Alec Guinness fares even worse with a performance is as phoned in and wooden as humanly possible. Don't take my word for it, Guinness has admitted in several interviews to phoning in his performance and finding the character of Obi Wan wholly uninteresting.
Hands down though, the worst performance in the movie, if not the entire Saga, has to go to Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Almost everything about her acting here is cringeworthy; from her "on again, off again" British accent to her constant changes in approach to the character (Sometimes she's serious, sometimes she's snarky, sometimes she's strong, sometimes she's vulnerable, e.t.c), Fisher is all over the place as Leia in the worst possible way.
It may sound like I'm bashing "A New Hope", but I do really enjoy this film. Harrison Ford's performance as Han Solo is downright iconic, bringing unmatched charisma and passion to the notorious smuggler. His arc from self-centered scoundrel to selfless hero is done excellently, and I really did enjoy how much this character who constantly claimed to only have it in for himself was constantly risking his own skin to save Luke. Also, he gets arguably the best lines in the movie ("Wonderful girl. Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her!")
All of the villains here are excellent. James Earl Jones as Darth Vader is obviously the highlight of the movie, carrying an aura of menace and fear that VERY few actors could replicate, but Peter Cushing is extremely underrated in his turn as Grand Moff Tarkin. Cushing's coldness, arrogance and subtle sadistic nature in his treatment of Leia help to make him a truly detestable and loathsome villain. While Vader is a villain you just outright love, Tarkin is a villain you love to hate, and the sliminess and cruelty Cushing brought to the role must have made it very hard for him to convince people he was a nice person after the film's release.
"A New Hope" is noteworthy for its strict following of Joseph's Campbell's "Hero's Journey" style of storytelling, and its a style the film does very well. While simple, Luke's coming of age story is nonetheless compelling and investing, and would usher in many, many films in a multitude of genre's that would follow such a template, albeit much better in many cases.
The film's comedic moments are fantastic and just give the film a truly undeniable charm. Apart from Han Solo's hilarious wisecracks, the classic duo of the bumbling C-3P0 and the frustrated R2-D2 make for some truly laugh out loud moments and arguably the funniest scenes of the Saga ("I would much rather have gone with Master Luke than stay here with you! I don't know what all this trouble is about, but I'm sure it must be your fault!")
The effects present in A New Hope were outstanding for the time, and have aged beautifully. There's a real charm to the imagination and effort clearly put in the film, particularly with the aliens in the famous cantina scene. You only need to watch that one scene to realize how big and diverse the "Star Wars" universe can be.
"Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" is a decent film with an amazing impact. Though not as well aged as its two sequels, and though it has its fair share of problems, it's still a classic movie with more charm than you wave a stick at.