"May the Force be with you."

Rating: 10/10 (6 June 2007)

I couldn't let the thirtieth anniversary season of "Star Wars" slip by without a commemorative viewing today to remind me of the start of this hugely successful franchise. Though it's not one of my own personal Top Ten films of all time, I can understand how so many fans come to see it that way. At the time it was a seminal film that reinvigorated the sci-fi genre; my first viewing when it debuted in theaters garnered more than a single 'Whoa' with each new scene and concept that hadn't been done before. I was particularly intrigued with the names of the characters George Lucas created for his heroes, sounding uniquely original and matching their physical description and characters. Could Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, or Princess Leia have been called anything else? How about Jabba the Hutt; he looks exactly how a Jabba the Hutt would look if there was a Jabba the Hutt. Makes sense, doesn't it?
I get a kick out of the nay sayers on this board who have such a fierce guttural reaction to the success of the entire Star Wars franchise, never missing an opportunity to thrash it unmercifully. The best response to that I guess would be that they represent a mere six and a half per cent minority of the IMDb voting history for this film that give it less than a 6.0 rating. It reminds me of that joke about the one in three people who might be crazy, and your two best friends seem alright. Something to think about.
Anyway, there's no point in detailing the film since virtually every one on the planet has probably seen it at least once, even my wife. My son, who was born in 1977, has probably seen it thirty times a year every year since he started watching movies, kind of a record in itself I would think, allowing him to quote virtually every line of dialog from the movie. Such is the compelling nature of true Star Wars fans, who while watching, find themselves in a galaxy far, far away.