Call me a heretic, but...

Rating: 5/10 (1 April 2000)

I was eight when I saw Star Wars; it had just been released, and was making a huge splash, even in the tiny northern community of Leaf Rapids, Manitoba. Employees at our lone theatre were dressed as the movie characters, and even R2D2 and C3P0 made an appearance - I have no idea how such a tiny town managed that.
Like everyone else, I was enthralled. But as the years have passed, I've found myself less and less impressed by this "masterpiece." It's still fun...but in the end it seems elitist and hollow. I find it difficult to empathize with any of the characters but Artoo and Wedge Antilles - perhaps because these are the "everyman" characters, the workhorses who do their jobs with little glory. Luke was too whiny, Han too smarmy, and Leia too insubstantial.
That being said, I thought Christopher Lee was great as Grand Moff Tarkin. Too bad his character was killed off in this film.
All in all, Star Wars is a decent time-waster, but undeserving of the attention lavished upon it.