An ordinary farmboy must learn the ways of a Jedi knight to save the rebellion which stands against an empire.

Rating: 1/10 (1 January 2009)

Star Wars is no "masterpiece of synthesis" or "triumph of American ingenuity;" it is a fraudulent copy of several good works of literature. Lucas steals the ideas of Frank Herbert in his work entitled Dune and plagiarizes even more off of unknown novel I cannot recall as it is so obscure, he felt no need to give it credit. I have heard arguments which claim that The Lord of the Rings is just as childish, but those arguments ignore the fact that The Lord of the Rings is a blatant and outright statement, a parallel to the horrors of the First World War. Additionally, the acting is phenomenal, the characters have depth, and the story has meaning. The authors of such arguments clearly view the battle scenes as similar to Star Wars, only having appeal because of the special effects. But things such as the gigantic war elephants actually represent something, whereas nothing is representative of anything in Star Wars. These elephants represent tanks, the new and deadly weapon that were finally used more frequently in war. I can overlook the discrepancies, such as the fact that the first time the Death Star was used it took but a few seconds to fire, but when the are attacking Yavin, they must maneuver around the planet to reach the moon, as there are such discrepancies in most movies. However I cannot ignore the lack of depth each of the characters has: Luke is like Dakota Fanning in War of the Worlds--he is paid to whine, and whine, and scream, and whine. "But Uncle Owen, I was going to go the Anchorhead Arcade, I don't want to work on the droids." His character is painfully dull, and the actor, Mark Hamill, lacks any sort of talent. None of the characters are relatable, none of them have any complexity. They are all straightforward representations of archetypes, with no combinations of emotions--in fact, they seem like the have no emotions whatsoever. Everything is superficial--I enjoy Star Trek: The Motion Picture ten thousand times more than Star Wars, and The Motion Picture is one of the most painful movies I have ever watched. Watching Star Wars, I can picture each actor--if they may be so honored by such a title--with a script in front of their eyes. It seems they are only reading; a common acting saying goes, "Show, don't tell," but I have never been told a more boring story. Besides the painful, shallow acting, the plot is poorly written. There are no twist or turns, no interesting facets or components which one does not expect to appear; everything is predictable, everything is as plain as can be. Star Wars is "a masterpiece of synthesis:" I don't think I have ever seen a movie so perfectly blend plagiarism, horrid acting, a lack of depth and emotion and complexities, and so many other despicable aspects. As for its "ingenuity:" well, if plagiarism and poor writing, acting, and characters constitute ingenuity, then this movie deserves a 10 out of 10--if not, Star Wars most definitely deserves nothing but scorn. Why so many have found this movie so enthralling I will never understand.