i never understood...

Rating: Null/10 (26 November 1998)

Frankly, I really cannot understand why everyone loves this movie so much. The story is corny and really not science fiction at all (it's fantasy--there IS a difference!), the acting is not very good (especially not Mark Hamill, the main character, who is just sort of bland-o), and though the special effects were groundbreaking in 1977, if the movie were released today they would only be so-so. I think the reason for the film's continued popularity is because at the time it was released, the enormous baby boom generation were all teens and twenty-somethings, the right age market for a movie of this type. Now they've all told their kids about how *great* it was, and now *they're* all flocking to see it, just like their parents did, based only on what they've heard. The forty- and fiftysomethings love it because it reminds them of when they were young too. It's nothing more than nostalgia and word of mouth. Why this movie instead of others that were released in the late '70's? Well, perhaps because it *is* the first movie released with the type of overblown special effects we've all gotten used to in "science fiction" movies. Hollywood just doesn't know what makes a good movie anymore. I suppose story, script and acting don't matter. Just lots of eye-candy. And this has always appealed to a young market. Like I said, if this same movie were released today for the first time, it would be quickly forgotten. I find it reprehensible that this type of comic-book action flick is now the definition of "science fiction." It's nothing more than fantasy; true science fiction makes you think. The best example of a *good* science fiction movie is still "2001: A Space Odyssey." A more recent example is the underrated "Contact." No, neither of these movies have laser-gun battles, cutesie-pie aliens, or dark space lords. But those are the creations of Hollywood and really have nothing to do with science. My point is not to ruin anyone's good time--it's a harmless movie and fine for kids to watch and for middle-agers with arrested development still living with their parents, but it should be pointed out that this overrated movie is mediocre Hollywood entertainment, *not* great movie-making. I rest my case.