How Do You Review a Film Like Star Wars?

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 2009)

How do you review George Lucas's "Star Wars" (1977)? A movie that has become so cherished by millions of fans that most critics disregard it, a movie that has inspired people to create a religion based on the force and a movie that has become so famous that it is regarded as weird not to have seen at least one out of the six films? How do you review it? One of the few ways to actually read balanced reviews of it is to look at what the critics said when it was originally released, thirty-two years ago. At the time, unlike now, where most "serious" movie critics treat it with contempt, they liked it. Roger Ebert called the film "an out-of-body experience," and Vincent Canby called the film "the movie that's going to entertain a lot of contemporary folk who have a soft spot for the virtually ritualized manners of comic-book adventure." These reviews show us, that at the time, just about everybody (Pauline Kael, Jonathan Rosenbaum and Stanley Kauffmann excepted) agreed that "Star Wars" was a great film. These are the critics (unbiased) opinions before the days of "Star Wars" bashing became fashionable among the critical elite. And take it from me. Roger Ebert was right: It's an unbelievable experience.