Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1977
	Director: George Lucas (American Graffiti)
	Actors: Mark Hamill (Sushi Girl), Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones 1-4), Alec Guiness (The Bridge on the River Kwai), Carrie Fisher (The Blues Brothers)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Adventure, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 18.11.2012, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Young Luke Skywalker (Hamill) will join the rebellion to save princess Leia (Fisher) and the entire galaxy from the tyrannic rule of the galactic Empire. For starters: eliminate the treat of the Death Star, a weapon that can destroy planets.
Review: It is difficult to analyse this movie that is THE classic of Science-Fiction in general, Space Opera in particular, and I know that many people have even written their PhD thesis on it. I give it a very hight ranking but it is difficult to explain why. One of the reasons might be that I have seen it young (and many times since) and that it did influence me and my vision of cinema. I wonder which impact the movie has on a young audience nowadays. In fact the story is not particularly good, neither are the actors, the special effects can look outdated (even in the Special Edition with new effects) and the characters' reaction are sometimes not appropriate (my uncle and aunt die.. OK let's leave the planet). But something (the Force?) glues everything together and makes it attract fascination over and over. For the first time I watched it in the recent Blu-ray edition, so I will focus here on what stroke me this time. I noticed many details for the first time (background, special characters...) that made me realize it is not the cheap movie we usually think: there was a consequant budget for locations, costumes, good cameras... Then there is the character of Darth Vador which is a terrible villain: mean, merciless, that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I think he was elected one of the best villains of all times. He is imposing whenever he is on screen in spite of his outfit that could seem ridiculous, and the deep voice of James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian) adds to it. Also I realized how uncommon is the character of R2-D2: it is just a tin can but we can identify what it "feels" thanks to his movements and noises, and it turns out to be a fully developed character. His relationship with C3-PO (one of an old couple) is also odd but works perfectly. Finally the ending always brought me a great satisfaction and made me want to see the movie all over again, or the folowing episodes.
Rating: 9 /10