Hugely enjoyable, but hindsight reveals flaws

Rating: 8/10 (14 February 2011)

I was 24 when I saw this when it first came out. I saw it on a really big screen, and it was the first film I had seen with sound so carefully constructed on a system which did justice to it. I couldn't believe the bass rumble when the Imperial destroyer appeared overhead chasing Leias' shuttle-craft, and the stereo "whuzzh"ing of the light-sabres across the auditorium - wow!
And I had been a big fan of the Lensman books in my teens, and this movie was quite obviously cut from the same cloth - this was the first time that space opera had appeared on the screen and been visually convincing. Even now I still taste that magic when I watch episode 4.
Hindsight shows that the script wasn't that hot, and that the characters were fairly cardboard. But the movie is so full of great moments that I can forgive it most things.