The film that shaped pop culture

Rating: 9/10 (27 December 2011)

Star Wars is great cinema. One of the great things about it is the visuals, the opening shot where the Star Destroyer flies over while chasing the Rebel Blockade Runner is amazing. The music is also fantastic, it evokes early epic movie scores by the likes of Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Miklos Rozsa and also hearkens back to Classical music in the romantic period, especially to Wagner and Holst. The characters and story are somewhat basic but that's part of whats great about the movie, it has an archetypal, mythic quality.
Some have said that the only reason this movie is highly regarded is because of people who as as children and idolize it for nostalgic reasons, well as someone who saw for the first time at the age of 16, I can attest that it's stands on it's own very well.
It does have a few flaws. The dialogue can be corny at times. Luke's remorse over his aunt and uncles death seems rather short lived, particularly compared to his sadness over Ben Kenobi's death. Despite these flaws Star Wars is still an excellent film. Highly recommended!