Maybe I Never Got It

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2001)

I will never forget the hoopla associated with this movie. Having seen articles in Time and Newsweek, my friend and I took off early from work and made our way to the one theater in the Minneapolis Metro area that was showing "Star Wars" (boy have times changed!). There were local news stations, reporters, models, everywhere. How we were able to just walk to the window and purchase tickets, I don't know, but we did. I still have my blue button with "May the Force be With You" emblazoned on it. I'm told it's pretty valuable. A reporter approached us and asked my friend, "What do you expect." He responded in his sort of wise ass way, "A sprawling intergalactic epic."
That was all very interesting, but when we finally sat down and the movie began, I found it was less than I had hoped for. Part of my problem was that at that time, most of what I read was science fiction. As I watched the events unfold, I realized that this movie wasn't really science fiction--it was a Western. It was the good guy versus the bad guy and an effort to save the old ranch that the bad guys have pillaged. Take out the awesome special effects and the cool aliens and it just wasn't very interesting. I realize that most of the people that have seen this consider it just slightly below the second coming--nearly a religious experience--but it wasn't for me. I saw nothing new or complex about the character or the themes in the movie. As far as speculative science fiction it is barren. Don't get me wrong, I still think that there are amazing things to watch, but I can't get past the fact that the storm troopers can't hit the broad side of a barn with laser weapons but the good guys can pick off about a dozen from behind a post. Where did these guys get their training? How has the Empire survived so long with these incompetents. Having read "Dune" years before this film came out, I have to be brutally honest--how George Lucas didn't get sued for stealing from that book, I'll never know. I always wondered if he made a deal with Frank Herbert.
The worlds are exotic. The aliens are wonderful (although, I thought the second and third movies were much better), especially that bar scene. But the bottom line is that it's an adventure movie. Maybe someday someone will convince me otherwise (I have had about 50 people try). If I'm going to watch a Western, I prefer the Earps and Doc Holliday.