Still a timeless classic!

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2005)

It's dated, it's clunky, and unbelievably corny. Yet somehow it works, and it is magic.
A new review of the original Star Wars film is now warranted in the wake of the completion of the saga with Revenge of the Sith.
Surely everyone is familiar with the Star Wars story, so I won't insult anyone's intelligence by summarising it. But the simplicity of its classic-style tale is one of the things that makes it so magical; a real good vs evil or David and Goliath tale for Science Fiction, complete with space battles, and possibly the first film of its kind.
The acting is incredibly hammy, in particular from Mark Hammill and Harrison Ford, but that somehow makes it more charming. Alec Guinness however is absolutely superb, displaying the skills which made him one of England's finest, and best-loved actors to have ever graced the silver screen. Never tempted to overact, he carries the role with grace, dignity and gravitas - the embodiment of all the qualities come to be associated with the Jedi. Peter Cushing plays a terrific chief bad guy, just the right side of over-the-top, but of course the real star is Darth Vader. Menacing in both appearance and voice, he is the ultimate film baddie.
Side by side it is amazing to see the obvious effort Lucas has put in to tying the films together, and at the same time the original seems unbelievably dated and anachronistic next to the shiny new films. But obviously that is no fault of Lucas' (at the time the special effects were positively groundbreaking) and the elbow grease has certainly been applied to scrubbing up the film. The added sequences also make a great deal of difference.
Also, in light of the final installment of the Star Wars saga, events of the original become more informed, such as R2-D2's motives on Tatooine, and Darth Vader's character suddenly becomes much more layered.
But underneath all the polish and new digital effects lies a classic story that is still one of the most popular of all time. It's a rousing adventure with good old-fashioned space-battles, endless quotable dialogue and possibly the most memorable film villain in cinema history.
The film has a somehow indefinable magic that is missing from both the new films, and modern cinema in general. Maybe because it is the original, maybe because it relied on models, sets, and great storytelling rather than CGI, special effects and blue-screen filming. Either way, it still has the capacity for adrenaline-fueled excitement and thrills even on its twentieth viewing, something which certainly sets it apart from the majority of films. One of a rare few films which can justifiably be called a timeless classic, and that has a genuine claim to the never-ending debate of the greatest film ever.
If you haven't seen it, then it is essential you do simply to see what all the fuss is about. And if you have already seen it, you don't need me telling you how good it is to want to see it again. Just go watch it again!