The birth of a legend!

Rating: 10/10 (16 December 2011)

There are many brilliant sci fi movies, but there a few that are as well written, well acted and well done as the Star Wars Saga. Action fantasy films that have been a movie inspiration for over 30 years.
This is my review on the fist classic hit- Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope.
The plot goes like this;
Along time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a viscous government called the empire controls the universe. A newly found rebellion stakes back at the brutal empire by stealing plans to their Ultimate Super weapon, The death star, which has the mechanical power to destroy a whole planet in a single second. As the empire hunts the plans down, A princess in charge of the rebellion is ambushed by an imperial battleship. She and her accomplices are captured, but manage to hide the plans in a small droid, recording a short help request to an old man on the planet below. The put the droids in an escape pod and send them down to the planet without the imperials finding out. The droids crash land on the dusty planet and bump into a young man and a old Jedi warrior. They watch the recording of the princess's plea for help. They 2 men set off to find and release the princess from imperial captivity.
The plot is rather simple, which is a change from the movie's sequels. The movie's plot is recognisable to other famous movies and is sometime cliché. However, this is not a bad thing. It is not cliché in the since that it is EXACTLY the same as other films, but instead is a sort-of homage the the classics and taking a different approach to the same idea. For example, in the John Wayne film, The Searchers, John Wayne returns to his encampment finding it burnt to the ground and all his loved one dead. The same thing happens in this film; The young man Luke drives home to find his farm is burnt to the ground and his adopted parents killed. It uses classic plot lines and forms them in a very smart way.
The acting is pretty good. It contains master performances from great actors like Peter Cushing,Alec Guinass and Harrison ford. All of whom are great, most notably Harrison's and Peter's performances. Harrison produces a grumpy, sarcastic gunfighter type character who always comes up with a droll comment to everything. You always find yourself waiting to see what he says back to a person in a conversion which is rare in film characters. Peter is already a A* actor but after this movie he I find that becomes an even better one. There is a sleazy feel to the character and as soon as he is first seen in the film you know that he is an evil character, which is a great achievement for a villain.
Of coarse, I cannot continue without mentioning the other villain of the film. The main one at that who just happens to hold the title of one of the best villains of movie history; Darth Vader! He is a heavy walking, heavy breathing, force choking, brutal killing type character who has death teeming off him. He is a cruel douche-bag but every time you see him you don't know wither to hate or love him. When he executes horrid directives like the force choke, He also adds a dark remark related to the offender's crime. Well written character with fantastic duologue and great lightsabre moves. He is NOT a force to be reckoned with!!
The film contains loads of creative Sci Fi elements that, in my opinion, make the film the great thing it is. In the cantina scene, there a A lot of strange creatures that only have a couple of seconds screen time, but really intrigue you. It's not a major part of the film, but it still makes the film seem more real. Now-a-days, directors shove CGI in your face and have no creative appeal to it at all. In the old films like these, they become really imaginative, making latex models and sometimes Stopmotion animation. This is the icing on the cake for me. Props to the animators.
The Plot never really drags throughout the film and flows at a steady pace. There are also some brilliant action scenes. In the death star scenes there are some tense shootouts and fights that keep you at the edge of your seat. The battles are fast paced; The heroes can be shooting one minute and falling into a trash compacter the next. The most notable battle in the film however is the battle over the Death star. This is when the rebels launch a massive attack on the death star. This was probably one of the first good movie space battles, with tones of explosions and cannon fire to keep your adrenaline rushing.
With Great acting, The best villain of all time and fantastic action this movie is really hard to beat. A Sci Fi classic that needs to be seen.