A legend begins. A legend that's not all it cracks up to be. Good, but definitely over rated.

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2002)

Hmm. This is the sort of movie that often comes in at number one on people's all time favourites list. I pointed this out to some friends and no one I know actually think it's remotely deserving of such an accolade. All I can think is that people place it at number one out of some bizarre automatic response (what was that number 1 movie last time? Yeah, that's my favourite movie), or that it's so famous that it crops up somewhere on a lot of people's lists. It's certainly a well done, enjoyable movie, but it's equally certainly not the greatest movie ever.
Plot? Should I even bother? You've all seen it. Teenager boy saves the day (without saying `Whoopee!'). Space ships and gun battles. There's obviously some back history written here, and the story moves briskly along with all the depth of a pulp 20c science fiction novel. Indeed it's science fiction in the lightest of terms, merely using the future elements of ships, and light sabres, as a setting rather than making any conjecture about the future or the applications of science (as more hardcore science fiction tends to do). It's been described as a Western in space, and that's a fair sentiment. What's here is a very good action/adventure story, a family-fun affair. Its pace isn't quite as fast as you might expect, but the story/character building elements in between the fighting are generally okay.
The characters here are pretty shallow. There's Spunky Girl. There's Farm Boy. There's Old Wise Man. Mark Hamill can't really act his way out of a soaked paper bag, but the acting isn't all that important here. However many people excuse the weak characters as Lucas' homage to old serials - that does not wash, and is no excuse for some wooden faced performances, and hammed delivery. Fortunately the failings of some are alleviated by the likes of Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan and Harrison Ford's debut as Han Solo.
Lucas' directing varies a lot. At times it appears quite pedestrian - plonking the camera down and not doing much with a scene. However when it comes to orchestrating the action sequences, in particular the finale, his handling improves immensely. There's also a definite passion running through this piece, a sense of belief in the project. The actors, for all their skill, put their energy into the performances, giving it a needed sense of `fun'. It's all helped by some great technical elements - a fantastic score by John Williams, some great costumes, and SFX which hold up better than the jarring inserts Lucas' added in 1997. It's a polished product overall.
`Star Wars' is a good action/adventure flick. It's generally exciting, and
has a nice sense of scope and large events. It's not exactly cerebral material, and tends to be slightly flimsy while some elements leave a lot to be desired. It's fun though, and entertaining, even if it created a media behemoth. Why it's ranked as #1 by so many people is beyond me as there are better sci-fi movies, better action/adventure movies, and better epic movies. Still, I think it deserves a 8/10, and I'd recommend it.