Not a great film

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2001)

Most notable for its influence for the worse on Hollywood film-making ever after its release; the reliance on spectacle, excess action and noise, Star Wars is actually a reasonably good film. Set design, costume design and the like are superb; as of course are the effects, but it all rings a little hollow to me; maybe The Empire Strikes Back will prove a more satisfying film. The actors try their best, but the script isn't really centred around the creation of layered characters, although each of the main characters is defined well two-dimensionally. The only actor of truly great calibre in the film is Alec Guinness, wonderful in so many British films in the 1940s and 1950s, particularly "Kind Hearts and Coronets" in which he plays 8 parts and "The Bridge on the River Kwai". Guinness is good, but simply not given the scope to show his talents to the full. Harrison Ford as Han Solo is reasonable, as is Carrie Fisher in an underwritten role as Princess Leia. Peter Cushing is forgettable, overshadowed by Prowse/Earl Jones as Vader. The music is quite impressive. The film could have done with some better comedic touches; and with Alec Guinness this shouldn't have been difficult; that's a problem: Obi-Wan needed to be a more varied, ambiguous figure, in my view. While it should be mentioned this is a pretty wonderful film for children, it only rates as pretty good escapism otherwise. Rating:- *** 1/2/*****