"Amazon Women on the Death Star"

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2004)

I watched this film for the second time today. The first time was in the
theater when I was twelve years old. I think after having not seen it in
so many years that I may have developed some sort of phobia. My
girlfriend bought the box set several years ago and I've been starring
at the plastic wrapping ever since. The aftermath of hurricane Francis
has me grounded today so I figured, "what the heck".
I have, nor do I seek any credibility in terms of my film critiques;
therefore I have nothing to lose by submitting a review for this film
that is not entirely flattering. Re-watching it was an exciting and
enjoyable experience, although I found much of the film to be laughable.
I attribute this, in part, to having seen "Spaceballs" much more
recently and more often. I couldn't help relating certain comedic
aspects of the parody to the real thing. For instance, every time they
said "Force" I was expecting to hear "Schwartz", and so on.
Then there was the squadron of Jedi Fighter Pilots who assembled to
attack the Death Star. One guy was at least a hundred pounds over weight
and hadn't shaved in a month. Another was fifty pounds over weight and
pushing sixty years old. These two must have been George Lucas'
brother's cousin's stepfather's former roommates. That or "The Force" was short of a much-needed physical fitness program.
Don't get me wrong, I have a great deal of respect for the
accomplishments of this film in terms of special effects, sound effects
and the fact that these, along with other features were displayed here
eons ahead of their time. I thought it was deserving of all of its
Academy Awards Nominations with the exception of one, that being Best
Picture. Again, it was entertaining, but one of the top ten films of all
time Please! In 1977, does it rank as the best movie that the average
twelve-year-old boy has ever seen? Absolutely!, but lets grow up and get
real. I understand that this is sacrilege, but in my humble opinion, and
speaking from a dramatic standpoint, you simply can't compare this story
or the performances of this cast to sci-fi films such as "Alien", or for
that matter, "12 Monkeys".
Most feel that the sequels, "Return of the Jedi" and "Empire" are much
better, (I'll soon find out). If this is the case then it's highly
unusual, as most sequels aren't worth the laser disc they're burnt on.
Considering the recognition that these two films received it's obvious
that they're well worth watching, at the very least. However, they may
also help to prove my earlier point regarding the strengths and
weaknesses of this type of film. While both made their mark in terms of
Academy Awards, they were completely void of any acclaim in the
individual performance related categories.
I'm obviously not a hard core sci-fi buff, but I am glad that I finally
motivated myself to see "Star Wars" again. It brought back many fond
memories and I'm sure I'll see it again very soon. In the mean time, if
you find spelling or grammatical errors in this review, don't give me a
hard time. I used the force of Microsoft Word.