Rating of
4/4
Look for the original.. a great movie
TheWolf - wrote on 07/30/07
May 25th 1977... that was the day that changed the Sci-Fi genre forever. The first showing that occurred George Lucas thought that he had just flopped, and that he was going to be struggling to try to come up with the funds for the loss on a failed film. It wasn't until about an hour later after the next theater opened that he knew the first reaction was just a fluke because its all anyone was talking about!
Star Wars is one of the most influential movies of our time and there are many films that have been released since that either pay tribute to the movie by quoting it, (MallRats, Clerks, Tommy Boy, etc.) or by directly parodying it (Space Balls). While I have only run into a few people that haven't seen this movie, it is not easy to find many that don't know about it's existence.
The film made some major advances in special effects, and along the way also set up the careers for a number of people that are now recognized as major theatrical stars.
One recommendation that I can offer is that if you have the chance to watch the original release of this movie then by all means do so! When the movie was touched up and re-released in 1997 there were a lot of changes that were made that the fans of the original got pissed about.
**Spoiler Alert, if you haven't seen the movie, and don't want to know about it, stop reading here and go rent it.**
The following changes to the movie were considered blasphemous by the fans and George Lucas was criticized horribly because he decided to actually go back and change what most considered to be a classic film... its sort of like colorizing Gone with the Wind, or the Maltese Falcon, they are original, they are classic, leave them alone!!
1) Greedo shoots first! In 1/10 of a second Lucas stole Han Solo's bad ass style by changing the nature of the movie and having Greedo shoot at him first so it doesn't mean Han killed him in cold blood.
2) A CGI Jabba the Hutt confronts Han Solo in front of the Falcon. I realize this was a scene shot when Jabba was originally a human, but the dialogue between them wasn't really needed. Making Jabba CGI and considerably smaller than he is when he appears in Return of the Jedi, ruins the continuity of the the Trilogy.
3) The Praxis Effect Shockwave added to the Alderan explosion gives the Trekkie fans more reason to gloat as it was first used in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country. Lucas should have done something slightly different if he wanted to enhance the explosion, or better yet he should have left it alone.
**End Spoilers**
The movie is classic, and deserves to be seen, with any luck Lucas will stop screwing with it as he has already made many fans annoyed.
