An Old Hope

Rating: 8/10 (27 November 2019)

As someone who didn't watch any of the original Star Wars movies until early 2010's, I've had an indifferent relationship with them. I have always wanted to really like them but I never really could do to some of my issues with the films. Concerning Star Wars (1977) I have enjoyed it more and more after every viewing. I have been able to dismiss some of my previous issues with the film and learned to appreciate new things about it instead.
Visually this movie is quite hit and miss for me. The opening shot of the fleeing rebelship and Luke staring at the double sunset including many others are such wonderful shots. Also the locations used and the set pieces are so memorable. The shot where the camera moves into the trench on Deathstar really impressed me. The CGI that was later added to the movies seems really off place for me. I haven't seen the theatrical cut so I can't comment on what it would have looked like otherwise but to my eyes I can't imagine it adding too much to the movie. While I want to praise some of the practical- and specialeffects like the lightsabers, all of the spaceships etc. I also have to give some slack to others like Alderaan blowing up or when R2-D2 got shot by the Jawas. I'm sure they looked good back in the day but to me in 2019 it looks quite bad and distracts me a little bit.
The sounddesign in this movie is fabulous. Especially the lightsabers and the final fight sequence where Darth Vader is chasing down the rebels. Some of the sounds characters make can be a bit goofy but I don't think it's necessarily a negative. Like when Obi-Wan scares the Sand people away with his scream or when a stormtrooper gets shot or Han Solo's famous "YEEHAW". When it comes to the score, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about it. In my opinion it's one of the best movie soundtracks I've ever heard.
Some of the scenes in this movie feel distractingly one dimensional to me. Scenes where we are in one place, cut to another where one line purely expositional line is delivered and cut to another place again. This movie feels quite fast paced to me which in my opinion suits the film but despite that I feel like there are some drawn out scenes mainly in the first act which in my opinion should have been cut shorter. Talking mainly about the sequence of events when 3-CPO and R2-D2 arrive to the planet and make their way to Luke. Some of the cuts seemed to have been mistimed a little cutting some action or dialogue too early.
Characters and casting are one of the biggest positives for the movie. I have read somewhere that the cast weren't always up to performing on their best level and it shows quite a few times especially with Luke. Despite that the chemistry between our main characters is so easy to sense and it really helps in keeping the viewers interested. Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness played Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi so so well. This movie contains quite a lot of comedy and especially some of Han Solos lines made me chuckle. Line delivering is some times straight up awkward but you can't always blame the cast for that because the dialogue in this film is quite hilariously bad from time to time.
What I've learned to appreciate more in subsequent viewings are the underlying themes. How the force can be, in some ways, found in our lives and how much it is related to just believing in yourself and letting go off everything that restricts us from doing things. The force is, of course, much more than that. One juxtaposition showed to us quite a few times is the force versus technology. In the end when Obi-Wan tells Luke to use the force instead of technolgy to destroy the highly technological Deathstar, it is implemented that the force wins. The force is represented as something neutral, not good nor bad but something in the middle and that the purpose of the force is to create a balance between good and bad. This means that in order for there to be good, there also has to be bad, which makes total sense to me. Other themes I found interesting are the concept of hope and self sacrifice. Hope included in the later added title is quite obvious. Without hope the rebels wouldn't have even tried to fight against the seemingly overpowered imperials. Without hope Leia wouldn't have withheld the information of the Death Star plans from the imperials instead risked her own life and paid the price of her homeplanet for it (It would have probably been destroyed anyways).
All in all, I think Star Wars is a great movie and I shall give it a rating of 8/10.