Our tastes change over time and there are numerous reviews from previous years I have on this site that I no longer agree with, or that I think need a reassessment because I don’t believe I gave a thorough enough look at the film in question with a mature point of view. Self-reflection and self-improvement are important qualities to me, and I believe it’s important for every adult to take a moment from time to time to think about their own opinions, values, and beliefs and hold up the mirror to see where they might be wrong about something.

I’ve been meaning to go back over some older reviews on this site and critique my own views or writing, as well as give certain movies their fair due. Considering how much my opinions have changed over the years about particular movies, and having spent more time listening to in-depth analyses of entertainment from insightful content creators that have opened my eyes to various aspects of film I hadn’t considered before, I figured my reviews of the Star Wars movies would be a good place to start.

It’s been more than half a decade since I did a review-blitz into the Star Wars franchise. At the time, the first entry in the sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens (TFA), was relatively new, and even I was hopeful that Star Wars was powering up again to take over the world. I was a little harsh on a majority of the movies and needlessly kind in my review of The Force Awakens for reasons that I have to assume are tied to festering feelings of disappointment over the years. A lot has changed since then, however, for both Star Wars and myself. Rogue One came out after TFA, which I enjoyed for its attempt to focus more specifically on the less-known or consequential character stories instead of the overarching conflict.

Then, The Last Jedi came out. At the time, I thought it was a bad movie, but I naively tried to find entertainment in its failures as best I could to justify its existence. I definitely didn’t give it much thought beyond that and that is clear from reading my review of it again. The same is true for The Rise of Skywalker and Solo, which were also terrible movies I watched once and just sort of shrugged them off without considering either of them much. In the years since then, having listened to more deliberation about the good and bad Star Wars movies, I see where my perspective on all of them was lacking.

Star Wars (AKA Episode IV: A New Hope)

Let’s start with the movie that started it all. I’ve placed the content of my old review in the accordion below as a reference so as not to repeat myself too much.

While its name may have changed to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, in 1977 it just had the name of Star Wars with no sequels on the horizon yet. Its universe has since exploded and expanded infinitely, but many film studio executives weren't convinced it was going to be anywhere near the hit that it was, at the time. Fox studios thought it was going to flop so hard that they were willing to give George Lucas the rights and profits for toys and merchandise to the movie. What a mistake that was for them!

But I digress as usual.

It's the first time in over 5 years since I've watched any Star Wars movie and having gone back to the original again with a more mature perspective, a mild disinterest in the Star Wars franchise, and couple cases of beer for my drinking game, I figured it time to finally write my thoughts about the movies, starting with the one that started it all.

Of course, since I no longer own a VHS, and I'm not even sure if there's a recent Blu-Ray or DVD release that has the original cuts of the movies, I thought I was stuck with the "Enhanced" editions. However, I learned that the "Bonus Discs" I had on my DVDs I've owned for years were actually the original theatrical versions; I never knew. So if there's any good that has come from doing these reviews, it's that I know I can watch the movies as I originally remembered them. It also allows me to judge them more appropriately. Let's get started with Star Wars aka Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
Pros
Still a classic universe-creating movie
Music score is as good as ever
Good actors salvage a cheesy script and help in creating a more believable world
Plethora of creature and ship designs shows a wealth of creativity
Great sets all add to the universe-crafting
The trench run sequence is still exciting; well-shot
Once it starts moving it keeps its momentum and tension
Still moments of genuine humor that prove Lucas didn't always have trouble with comedy, such as Jar-Jar

Cons
Pretty basic script with some of the same writing tropes and clichés that would be less acceptable in modern movies, but gets more of a pass here
If all you have is the Enhanced editions, most of the "enhanced" content has not aged well
Slow start with the droids as our primary focus for a while
Characters are mostly one-note with only a few exceptions
Lightsaber duel is about as exciting as you expect from an old man and a guy who can barely move in a big plastic suit

Plot & Thoughts

It's been a long time since I watched it and I still think it's a fun movie, but I can definitely see it for what it is. For one thing, while I don't think the original Star Wars movie is a masterpiece worthy of an academy award other than special effects and music, I know it should not have lost to Annie Hall that year, of all things.

I wrestled with the idea of doing a full-length review for this movie like I will for the prequel trilogy films and Episode VII, but the story and character archetypes are so typical and familiar, there's not much to discuss there. Besides, there's no need to talk about a plot that is in fact recycled in its own franchise, right? I figure for this review, I'd talk about what makes it stand out from the others and the reasons why I consider it to be the second best in the film franchise.

It's better than the prequel films, and I doubt anyone will argue, simply because of the charisma on the screen. Even though I don't hate all the prequels, they have the tendency to drag. It also rarely mattered who was on screen—be it Neeson, McGregor, or Christianson—there just wasn't enough energy to carry those films and their awful dialogue. In Episode IV, you have cheese in the dialogue, but it isn't over-reaching itself and trying to do anything more than build a universe and tell us an adventure story within it. We don't have a forced love story, or politics without any of the interesting details, or a tragedy that is supposed to be on par with Shakespeare. It's when the Star Wars movies try to accomplish deeper stories and themes, or just romance, that Lucas' writing becomes more apparently awful.

The plot of Episode IV is simple and self-contained and the script is written in a way that perfectly builds a universe without telling us everything. Much like the dialogue between characters of different species that don't speak English, but the people can still understand them, we are constantly told only half-the story so our imagination can fill in the gaps and immediately create a much bigger world in our heads than the movie tries to. In that regard, it's using the "less is more" method of storytelling superbly. As a result, the movie gets away with its simplicity.

The original Star Wars is really just a big-budget B-movie with some solid actors. Surprisingly enough, this is something that can still work in modern movies. An example of a recent big-budget B-movie that did well and that I personally liked is Pacific Rim. It does the same thing as Star Wars by taking inspirations from earlier material, slapping it together into a cheesy film with cool special effects and a basic script, and creating its own universe in the process. It has some significantly worse performances than Star Wars does, but that ends up playing into its own strengths, considering the Pacific Rim's source material. Star Wars seems to know its own strengths just as well, and plays into them.

As for how it compares to the original trilogy, Episode IV is not better than The Empire Strikes Back because Empire manages to add much more complexity to its characters and their situations, with a more realized vision of the universe and some wittier dialogue. However, I think it's better than Return of the Jedi because it doesn't take such hard turns in its tone. Return is all over the place with its emotional baggage and some of the characters are altered a little bit too much to fit the story that George Lucas was writing. Episode IV feels like a complete product and doesn't feel like arbitrary changes were made to it to accommodate anyone.

I also think it's better than its 2015 remake-sequel for only a few reasons, but significant ones—I'll go into more detail in The Force Awakens' review. For now, I'll say that the 2015 Star Wars movie has better dialogue, more complex characters, better graphics, and a perfectly well-rounded cast that includes several of the original actors.

Why doesn't it overtake the original movie in preference? I think part of it is that it's cheesy fun with actors who manage to add some class and quality to what is said. Alec Guiness as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains the Force to us and how it works with an earnestness and charisma that it makes me want to believe in his space-religion. Peter Cushing, as an evil military commander, brings the special eloquence to his role that he brought to every role he was ever in, including the schlock from the Hammer horror movies. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer add the humor and bite to the dialogue that help make the script more tolerable and funny than George Lucas could have accomplished on his own. The new movie has perfectly good actors playing more complex roles, but none of them ever captivated me as much. It also feels like The Force Awakens is trying to elevate itself out of the cheesy inspiration that is so deeply ingrained in Star Wars as a whole. In all honesty, I got the feeling that everyone involved in the new one was concerned about screwing it up and making a movie that everyone hated, which may have prevented them from fully embracing the universe.

However, I think the main reason I like Episode IV more than most of the other Star Wars movies is simply because of the time at which it was released. It gets a lot of free passes for its clichés, its simplicity, and its dated effects because not all of the clichés were clichés yet, and it was intentionally referencing old sci-fi serials that were loaded with their own cheesy tropes. Besides, there wasn't another movie like it at the time of its release.

Nonetheless, when I meet people who didn't watch any of the Star Wars movies as a kid, or as an adult back in the 70's, it's no surprise to me that they find nothing special about Episode IV when they finally do watch it. Today, there are plenty of other movies out there that have more and better qualities than Star Wars. In the 70's it was much more unique and if you were a child in the 80's and 90's, it was still an amazing spectacle with little competition. There weren't the Marvel superhero movies, the Harry Potter films, or the Lord of the Rings films, to name a few. If The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars movie to try to start a franchise, it would have been quickly forgotten amidst the sea of other sci-fi action movies; much like what happened to Jupiter Ascending or John Carter, for instance. Without the 1977 film, the 2015 Star Wars doesn't have a leg to stand on.

With a much deeper sea of spectacular movies, and without the skewed perspective of a child, what does the original Star Wars have to offer to anyone new to the series? It's certainly a fun ride, but perhaps not as classic as people remember.
TL;DR (Conclusion)

Approaching the original Star Wars film for the first time with the expectation of an amazing classic worthy of endless praise and groundbreaking cinematic genius, is a quick trip down the road to disappointment. Some of the other films in the franchise certainly have the qualities of a better movie, and some strive for it but don't quite achieve it. Nonetheless, it has more passion and inspiration than the 2015 remake-sequel that followed a formula established by it. It successfully achieved the story it was trying to tell without overreaching or missing the mark, like some of the other Star Wars films would. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for my 5-year old self's view of this movie, but I still find it fun and entertaining as an adult as a big-budget B-movie.

Where I Still Agree

There are not many places in this review where I agree with myself or how I position my opinions. The main thing I still believe is that this movie is the second-best film in the franchise. I still agree with the other positives I have to say about the movie that are not attached to claims of Star Wars being “cheesy” or on the level of a B-movie.

The plot of Episode IV is simple and self-contained and the script is written in a way that perfectly builds a universe without telling us everything. Much like the dialogue between characters of different species that don't speak English, but the people can still understand them, we are constantly told only half the story so our imagination can fill in the gaps and immediately create a much bigger world in our heads than the movie tries to. In that regard, it's using the "less is more" method of storytelling superbly. As a result, the movie gets away with its simplicity.

If there’s one thing this movie does well, it’s world-building. The opening scene alone with the small rebel ship being chased down by a much bigger Empire vessel establishes the underdog scenario without any words. The introduction to Darth Vader raises a ton of questions about the world and the people within it. The scene in which all the commanding officers of the Empire are meeting establishes through just a few lines of dialogue that there was a Galactic Republic and that it was just dissolved, ensuring the Emperor was in complete control. Obi-Wan’s references to the Force, the Clone Wars, and Anakin Skywalker all create vague images we as the audience can latch onto without having every excruciating detail.

As for how it compares to the original trilogy, Episode IV is not better than The Empire Strikes Back because Empire manages to add much more complexity to its characters and their situations, with a more realized vision of the universe and some wittier dialogue. However, I think it's better than Return of the Jedi because it doesn't take such hard turns in its tone. Return is all over the place with its emotional baggage, and some of the characters are altered a little bit too much to fit the story that George Lucas was writing. Episode IV feels like a complete product and doesn't feel like arbitrary changes were made to it to accommodate anyone.

This opinion of mine has not changed at all. I think Return of the Jedi looks better in comparison to every movie that came after it, but it’s a very inconsistent movie. Luke Skywalker from the original movie to Return feels the most consistent when it comes from his progression from farmboy to selfless hero. However, Leia and especially Han feel slightly like caricatures of their old selves, especially with how they were in Empire.

I also think it's better than its 2015 remake-sequel for only a few reasons, but significant ones… I think part of it is that it's cheesy fun with actors who manage to add some class and quality to what is said. Alec [Guinness] as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains the Force to us and how it works with an earnestness and charisma that it makes me want to believe in his space-religion. Peter Cushing, as an evil military commander, brings the special eloquence to his role that he brought to every role he was ever in, including the schlock from the Hammer horror movies. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer add the humor and bite to the dialogue that help make the script more tolerable and funny than George Lucas could have accomplished on his own.
The new movie has perfectly good actors playing more complex roles, but none of them ever captivated me as much. It also feels like The Force Awakens is trying to elevate itself out of the cheesy inspiration that is so deeply ingrained in Star Wars as a whole. In all honesty, I got the feeling that everyone involved in the new one was concerned about screwing it up and making a movie that everyone hated, which may have prevented them from fully embracing the universe… If The Force Awakens was the first Star Wars movie to try to start a franchise, it would have been quickly forgotten amidst the sea of other sci-fi action movies; much like what happened to Jupiter Ascending or John Carter, for instance. Without the 1977 film, the 2015 Star Wars doesn't have a leg to stand on.

I don’t think the “more complex roles” line in the second paragraph is correct, but I’m glad that I had enough foresight to realize that TFA was pretty soulless in comparison. Also, I again distance myself from the criticism of “cheesy” a little bit because I do not think that the intention of the filmmakers was to have that B-movie quality. They wanted to make something that was inspired by certain material that could be regarded as cheesy by contemporary viewers but were still fun adventures during their time. And they got some great, seasoned actors to help sell the world with Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing.

I won’t quote the rest of this review with other praise and just summarize that I at least understood that the original Star Wars is a classic movie that holds up incredibly well decades later because it’s more than a B-movie. The action is still shot incredibly well and tense, even with the knowledge of how everything ends. Characters and their designs are justifiably iconic, as are some of the sets. Music by John Williams is timeless. It’s a great adventure classic for a reason.

Where I Disagree

Reading this old review is definitely a bit of a cringe-inducing experience for me, as I think my language and method of justifying my views went through the arrogant and pessimistic filter of someone trying to be cool with negative opinions about Star Wars. While I would still say that there have been clichés that come from Star Wars, I wouldn’t be so willing to call them out as such in the movie itself. Part of the reason is that many of the things I called cliché can also be described as classic storytelling tropes, which have fallen away in the past few years when it comes to entertainment because many recent films have instead become more concerned with subverting expectations and pushing political agendas. With every modern film I see that is trying to push its new tropes, it makes me yearn for films from before the year 2000 and certainly from before 2016.

I think where I disagree the most with my review is in all the spots in which I was extra kind to The Force Awakens and overly harsh towards the original Star Wars, especially by calling it a B-movie. Time has shown which movie has aged better and where the real disappointment should sit. When I reviewed these movies, I think my distaste for the prequels and how disappointed I was by them colored my opinions of the films that George Lucas worked on, so I was needlessly harsh on the original movies and naively hopeful that the new trilogy would go in interesting directions. I should have simply judged this movie on its own merits rather than compare it to so many other things in a stream-of-consciousness format. I’d have been better off asking questions and answering them. Is the action good? = Yes. Is the acting good? = Yes. Do the special effects hold up? = The original theatrical cut does. And so forth. I got caught up trying to justify why my love for the franchise had waned over the years and forgot why the original movie was so impactful on me as a kid and on the world when it came out.

New Thoughts?

While I say that I was trying to put myself in the perspective of someone seeing the movie around the time it came out, I failed to do so. This was a revolutionary film when it was released and should have won all the awards for being as impactful as it was. Having seen many more movies from the 1970s since I wrote the review, I can say that most of the movies from that decade had a nihilistic perspective. Things were bleak. So, having an adventure movie like Star Wars come out and blow everything away with such positive outcomes and an optimistic tone was a big thing I did not really understand before having not been alive during that decade and having that perspective.

It’s not just looking at the past that has changed my mind. Looking at what came after my original review has also affected my opinion. I gave The Force Awakens the benefit of the doubt back when it came out, expecting the characters to be further developed in the sequels. I was, of course, sorely mistaken, which makes my original review of both movies that much more embarrassing because Star Wars does a much better job of establishing its characters and their motivations while doing some solid world-building. I’ll get into The Force Awakens when I revisit it, but it’s fair to say that I was very wrong about where I thought the franchise was going and had a naively optimistic perspective of the future instead of a reverent respect for the past. I certainly thought that the idea of a stormtrooper defecting would go somewhere interesting, at least, but I was wrong about that.

Time and listening to content creators critique these movies has shown me the errors of my ways and why I shouldn’t have just given the new films a pass when I was so willing to bitterly criticize objectively better movies that came before them. The fact of the matter is: If I were to measure the movies in the franchise based solely on the number of times I’ve watched them, the new trilogy does not even come close to any of the others. I’ve still watched all the prequel movies many more times than the new films—I think I’ve watched my least favorite of the prequels, Attack of the Clones, more times than any of the new trilogy combined. The original trilogy, while not perfect, still holds two fantastic films that set an incredibly high bar that is not likely to ever be met again by anything with the name Star Wars attached to it.

TL;DR

I was needlessly harsh to the original Star Wars and stupidly kind to The Force Awakens in my original review. Star Wars is much more than a B-movie with special effects. It is a shining example of a movie that has more passion and talent attached to it than anything Disney has put out in the past four years. I should have reviewed the movie on its own rather than referenced countless others to make my points. It’s a timeless classic for a reason and is still the second-best movie in the franchise.

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