The Phenomenon

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2014)

Star Wars may be 'the' cultural event of an entire generation. It's difficult, near impossible to consider reviewing it without being at least slightly affected by the wider effect its had. It revitalised the Sci-Fi genre, created the first truly great Space Opera and solidified the summer blockbuster as the movie event. But one must depart from its cultural status to evaluate a defining movie.
I mentioned above that Star Wars revitalised the Sci-Fi genre. While true, it did this rather coyly. Star Wars is successful because it doesn't jump knee-deep into Sci-Fi. At its heart, Star Wars is a Western in Space, with classical character tropes dating back to Fantasy of the middle ages (farm boy, princess, etc). It's also an homage to Akira Kurosawa's Samurai western "The Hidden Fortress" down to the heavy use of the 'wipe' screen transition and the 'sidekick' characters.
Regardless, A New Hope succeeds both in spite of and because of its derivative core. It blasts past that with a successful mix of great characters and impressive world building. The Force is ambiguous between being science and magic (though Phantom Menace arguably retcons this, regrettably), and it is really the glue of the various quirks that make Star Wars so memorable; the Empire, the Jedi order, the futuristic Samurai Sword that is the light-sabre.
The characters may be clichés, but full enough of life to excel. The main trio are all solid (Hamill being the weakest, but mainly for being stuck with the weakest writing), but the supporting characters make the film. Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan exudes the wisdom of age and the droids bring levity without undermining the film's tone (certain 'modern' films should take note!) Of course James Earl Jones as the voice of Vader steals the show, with a never-beaten level of blockbuster menace.
Indeed, the common theme of Star Wars' success is its excellent use of familiarity. The beats are familiar, but are executed excellently. This is helped by ahead-of-their-time effects, combined with John Williams' greatest score. Without a doubt, the resounding score keeps the audience with the highs and lows throughout, and the fact that it gets better with episode V is all the more impressive.
That Star Wars succeeds is not in doubt. Where does it fall down? Certainly, one doesn't get points for being as derivative as Star Wars unashamedly is. But George Lucas makes it his own. Providing his talents: creating wonderful characters for a wonderful setting. But it also provides his weakness: his writing, specifically the dialogue. It's hit and miss- "may the force be with you" works, but other bits fall flat, and can become cringe-worthy. And it treads on the wrong side of the line of exposition a few too many times. For a film with such impressive practical effects, it's a shame that the 'show, don't tell' maxim is not utilised more.
Star Wars flits between predictability and innovation, and for the most part it keeps its balance, and as a result it has created a mega-blockbuster franchise and a generation of fans and filmmakers. Its influence is undoubted. Its quality should be as well.