Good if somewhat overhyped

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 1999)

No, I am not a STAR WARS fanatic. I have seen it a few times, we own it (the original, not the re-release version), and I even saw all three movies at once in New Jersey about 5 or 6 years ago. And I'll certainly see THE PHANTOM MENACE when it comes out. But I don't own the toys, I didn't see the re-release versions, and I don't think it's the greatest movie of all time (I can't say on sci-fi because I always seem to end up arguing about semantics, and I haven't seen that many anyway).
The special effects are good for its time, but special effects alone don't make a movie. This is a fairy tale, as many have pointed out, but it's rather a clinical-looking one. Some of the characters are one-dimensional. Mark Hamill was a little too green as Luke. And I can sympathize with Harrison Ford, who reportedly told Lucas, "You can write this s---, but you can't say it," as some of the dialogue is wooden. Maybe I needed to grow up on old serials like Lucas did.
Having said that, the story is generally compelling, Ford and Fisher are good, and there's nothing wrong with simple if it's done well, which this is. For people who blame this for what it left in its wake, PSYCHO has inspired more rip-offs than this, and it was inevitable movies would become more product than art, this just happened to be the trigger for it. Another one would have been in its place.