The "Casablanca" of action films.

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2003)

...well, not quite.
Casablanca (my all-time favorite film) was a near-perfect movie, with almost picture perfect dialogue (ironic, when you consider the dilapidated way in which the Casablanca script was assembled) that expressed just about every uplifting emotion in cinema all in one film. This movie doesn't reach that dizzying height, but nonetheless is one of those films that succeeds at being a fun ride a lot better than most modern movies. The presence of the "force" adds a dimension to this film, and helps to engross us in the struggles of the adolescent boy, Luke Skywalker.
The other side to this film's success is the groundbreaking special effects and the classic Williams score. While many people are looking for a "new" Star Wars film, the only thing we can do is utilize technology to stretch farther in the same direction that the Star Wars movie already took us.
I could bash the prequels now, but I won't. I'll just say that it has the special effects element is present aplenty, but the former element just isn't there at all.
A note on film Eras
OF course, this movie also helped to define the era of the latter 70s-early 80s blockbuster filmmaking (Along with Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Alien). The early-mid 90's had several blockbusters that defined it, too (Silence of the Lambs, Jurrassic Park, and Independence Day). If I had to pick three movies that have defined this era so far, I'd say the Matrix, the Lord of the Rings, and, well, I can't find a thriller strong enough and thrillers have been a part of each era since Hitchcock, so I'll name the Hitchcock of this era: Shyamalan. I think Speilberg lost out on his chance to create a movie that defined this era like he did for the last two, but he's a good filmmaker, and there's always next era, if he lives that long.