Science fiction was never the same again - Star Wars Reviews

?Star Wars? was unquestionably a miracle in moviemaking. Before it happened, we only had ?2001: A Space Odyssey? and ?Planet of the Apes?. Science fiction was not yet powerful, and we needed more? much more. Suddenly, up came the director of ?American Graffiti? and ?THX 1138?. He was going to risk his career to make something extraordinary. If he failed, he would receive no more chances. But he was brave. He was firm. He was George Lucas, and when he created ?Star Wars?, he created a masterpiece. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Dark Forces are the rulers. Their base is the Death Star, an armed space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. It is a period of civil war, and a small starship headed by Princess Leia (Carrie Fischer) races home to the planet Alderaan, in an attempt to save its people from destruction. Unfortunately, a large Death Star ship captures the starship, and as two Droids make their escape, Princess Leia inserts a message into one of them before she is caught and imprisoned by the Death Star ship?s leader, Darth Vader (David Prowse; voiced over by James Earl Jones). Everyone else on the starship is also imprisoned. The Droids, thankfully, get into an escape pod and are sent off to the planet Tatooine. The Droids are the tall, golden, and English-talking C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and the short, blue/white, beeping R2-D2 (Kenny Baker). They land on Tatooine and are suddenly captured by some small creatures called Jawas (which are brown-hooded figures with unseen faces). The Jawas sell the Droids to Owen and Beru Lars (Phil Brown and Shelagh Fraser). Their nephew, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), then finds Princess Leia?s message inside R2-D2, and finds out that the princess is asking for a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke consults his elderly friend Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who, it turns out, actually is Obi-Wan Kenobi. He looks at the princess? message and decides that Luke should save her, and quick. Luke protests about it until he goes back home and discovers his house in burning ruins? with his aunt and uncle?s corpses in it as well. Turns out that Imperial Storm Troopers, who are soldiers under Darth Vader?s command, caused this. Luke finds he has nothing left on Tatooine, so he, Ben, and the Droids decide to leave the planet. The foursome go to the local cantina and meet Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his furry Wookie pal Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), who offer to take them out of the planet on their starship, the Millennium Falcon. They agree, and then they all board the starship and blast out of the planet. Eventually they are caught in a ?tractor beam? and are inhaled into the Death Star, which is under control by Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing), who is Darth Vader?s instructor. Princess Leia is also scheduled to be executed, and with Han Solo and Chewbacca now on their team, Luke, Ben, and the Droids sneak out of the Millennium Falcon and into the halls of the Death Star, where they must find the princess and then escape alive. Luke is fascinated with the legacy of the Jedi knights, who were the galaxy?s defenders until the Dark Forces wiped them out. Ben reveals that he was a Jedi, so he may in fact be the last of them. It is too awesome for Luke to keep hearing, so he decides that he wants to become a Jedi. What he has to do is adapt to a special power known as The Force, which allows a Jedi to go beyond what he/she believes. A Jedi also needs to be skilled with a lightsaber, and Luke will need some time to master it. For George Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz, ?Star Wars? was a living hell to make. Most of the pain especially went to Lucas, whom many of the executives at Twentieth Century Fox were getting annoyed by. Budgets increased, temperatures went awry, Lucas hated being away from home, he was upset with John Dykstra?s visual effects, and on a plane ride back to San Francisco, Lucas suffered serious chest pains that went so far as to make him conclude that he never wanted to direct a movie again. Twentieth Century Fox believed that their other movie being made at the time, ?The Other Side of Midnight? (a film starring Susan Sarandon) would succeed a lot more, since it was a long awaited book-adapted film. In that year of 1977, the movie that seemed like tough competition was the Burt Reynolds western ?Smokey and the Bandit?. But look what happened instead. ?Star Wars? was a gigantic hit. Fans formed and people kept seeing it over and over again. The full title of it is ?Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope?, but it may take some time before people can start calling it that. And the two movies rebelling against it? ?Smokey and the Bandit? was a success, but critics and audiences so much assaulted ?The Other Side of Midnight? that it failed, and barely anyone remembers it today. In 1995, ?Star Wars? became the highest grossing movie of all time (?Titanic? then broke the record in 1997). At the 1977 Academy Awards, ?Star Wars? won 7 Academy Awards, one of them for the Visual Effects (strange that Lucas had disliked them). Disappointingly, it lost Best Director and Best Picture to Woody Allen?s ?Annie Hall?, which the Academy believed was more ?sophisticated? (I haven?t even seen it, but it doesn?t look that great to me). People who were born in the 80?s, 90?s, or the new 21st century should probably remember how they first found out about ?Star Wars?. I remember that I first found out about it by looking in a Toys R Us magazine and seeing the action figures (I was either 4 or 5). After that I demanded to my parents that I see the movies, and when I saw them I became a young fan. To this day, ?Star Wars? is still a movie that amazes me. It is an American gem. John Williams? thundering score will live on through history. George Lucas is a genius, and after he risked his career and it all paid off, science fiction was never the same again. ?Star Wars? is an unforgettable achievement. For the children discovering it for the first time, I envy you. By Adam Zanzie (icebox482000)