Every Saga Has A Beginning, or Middle

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2005)

Star Wars was the movie that showed you could use special effects and make it look "special." Who is going to forget the end of the movie, with Luke Skywalker shooting through the canyon on the Deathstar, attempting to the be hero. How wonderful did that look the first time you saw it? Nowadays, that is easy for computers to reproduce, but the scale and scope of the effects by George Lucas and his team is what created the sheer awe and joy of Star Wars. The story is not bad either. A classic Western story with clearly defined good and bad guys, with Eastern Mythology thrown in there to add a mystical element, this first movie is actually the forth chapter of what will eventually be 6 (maybe 9?) movies, set the foundation shrewdly of what has become one of the world's most popular science fiction series. The essential characters, some of the back stories, and wonders of the Galaxy far far away are all introduced, and giving the audience a pretty good time while at it. Originally produced as a stand alone movie, the people at Fox Studios had no confidence that Star Wars would succeed so plans for the following sequels were not on the drawing board, Star Wars is entertaining, but do leave us with enough questions about the Force and Darth Vader and the unseen Emperor that when the following movies do come out, the audience was more than ready to embrace them, and make Star Wars the most successful science fiction series ever.