Star Wars 1977
Star Wars is such an iconic movie, spawning so many sequels and becoming such a big part of pop culture, that it is hard to do a review 32 years after its release. I was eleven years old when I saw it, probably the perfect age, and remember my father taking me to see it. It instantly became a huge phenomenon and everyone had the poster in their room, lunchboxes, toys, etc. I was a little old for the toys, but definitely had the poster. Of course I’m going to give the movie an A.
In 2019, after never owning any of the original trilogy on home video, I got all three Blu-ray discs for my birthday, a new release from Disney that included a digital copy. Unfortunately there are almost no extras on the disc itself other than commentaries and instead you have to redeem the digital copy and watch (still kind of paltry) extras online. This edition still includes George Lucas’ controversial revisions, which don’t really affect much, but definitely draw attention to themselves, including the stormtrooper who bangs his head on a doorway, a blooper that made it through to the final film and was given a sound effect later. On the same day I got the Blu-rays, Disney started the Disney+ service which has streaming of the movies in 4k (and even fewer extras), apparently a new scan by Lucas before he turned everything over to Disney, whereas the Blu-rays seem to be the same exact discs from 2015 since they include previews for 2016’s Rogue One and maybe are based on the first blu-ray scan released in 2011. Anyway, I watched the 4k version, but also some of the online extras I got with the Blu-ray.
The movie. I don’t feel like I have sat down and watched the whole movie all the way through anytime recently. But every bit of it is 100% familiar (except the new parts). It is still just a great fun movie and covers a lot of ground, hopping from one big scene to another. I guess I had forgotten that the Death Star was getting into position to blast the rebel base at the same time the rebels were trying to destroy it, meaning if the attacking rebels failed, the entire rebellion would be wiped out. There is a lot of suspense as the commanders of the Death Star count down the minutes to be in position (but they can move, so they could have gotten into position immediately instead of waiting?). While parts of the movie show their age in terms of what isn’t there (tons of CGI and giant explosions), what is there (great set design, spaceships, and other props) still looks completely modern. You can quibble over some of the acting and directing maybe, but this movie was so great in setting up a whole new universe of imagination that made a lot of sense (and sustained so many other movies). This was just the beginning.
Written: 17 Nov 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital