STAR WARS: EPISODE IV, A NEW HOPE

****+

STARRING: MARK HAMILL, CARRIE FISHER, HARRISON FORD

DIRECTOR: GEORGE LUCAS

PG, 1977

Will there ever be a movie I could hold a less objective opinion about? Lucas’ original 1977 Star Wars occupies a place in my imagination that remains as vivid as the day I formed my first memory, at the age of three, watching a giant holographic projection of Carrie Fisher and the cinnamon buns welded to her head, begging some guy named Obi-Wan Kenobi for help. For those of my age (what are us early thirtysomethings anyway? Gen X? Y? LMNOP?) the original classic is something tied to our earliest dreams and fantasies. No film has ever evoked such an escapist yearning in me, before (obviously), or since.

You were either a Han Solo kid or a Luke Skywalker kid, (unless, of course, you were a girl, in which case the question was which one you had a crush on), which I guess is the same dynamic played out by baby boomers with the whole Beatles/Elvis phenomenon (and, on a smaller scale, by the pitched camps within the Beatles cult advocating Lennon over McCartney, or vise versa). For the record, I am a Lennon man, and most definitely a Skywalker at heart. Luke was the farm boy who gazed longingly to the horizon, dreaming of adventures that might one day be his. Fortunately, he lives in a galaxy where giant space cruisers are leaping about in an epic battle of good against evil. Even more fortunately, the two droids holding the key to the entire struggle are about to fall right into his lap.

Yes, there is a smattering of plot in Star Wars….in later episodes the machinations become Byzantine and layered in shades of grey, but here Lucas wisely keeps things light and moving fast. A band of heroic rebels has stolen the technical readouts to the Evil Empire’s ultimate weapon, a battle station called the Death Star. The beautiful Princess Leia (Fisher) has hidden the plans in the memory core of the droid R2-D2, who along with his companion C3-PO (the first gay robot in a major film, I suspect) escapes as her highness is captured by the villainous Darth Vader (David Prowse behind the mask, given voice by the thunderous and irreplaceable James Earl Jones). After Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) accidentally comes across our robotic friends, he finds himself on the run from Imperial Stormtroopers, and eventually marching straight into the Death Star’s core to rescue the captured princess. The inevitable climactic clash between light and dark takes place in a dazzling space showdown, as Luke and his friends race down trenches in their starfighters, pursued by Vader, attempting to detonate the station’s only weak point.

The daring young hero, of course, picks up a gang of companions on his quest, archetypes all: smarmy space smuggler Han Solo (Ford, looking so unbelievably young here), wise mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Sir Alec Guiness), and an eight-foot tall shag carpet named Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew). It all comes across like nothing so much as a modern fairy tale, a cheerfully upbeat parable to remind us that good always wins in the end, which, according to interviews, was Lucas’ intention. Maybe there’s something primal here that causes it to connect so deeply. Even the violence goes down like apple pie a la mode. A whole planet is destroyed in the course of the film, countless people are killed, including one of the main characters, and the presence of evil is personified by Darth Vader’s black armor and mechanical breathing apparatus. Yet we find ourselves swashbuckling along, thinking, just like everybody in the movie seems to, how neat all these outer space dogfights, and laser battles, and dashing, breathless escapes are. Star Wars is a tale for the ages, conveyed with excitement, fun, just the right amount of drama, and unforgettable personalities and visuals.

Speaking of visuals: I need to address the whole “special edition” fever that seems to have addled Lucas’ brain of late. I avoided discussing this topic in my review of The Empire Strikes Back, in which the changes were minor, though noticeable and somewhat irritating to me as a die-hard fan. But in this “restored” version of A New Hope, the alterations are strident and frequent enough to merit a few words.

Lucas has made much of the advances in computer technology, seeing them as a means to convey the scope of his Star Wars prequels, (which is logical, given that they encompass a much larger story than the three original films), but also viewing an opportunity to “fix” the “errors” in the oldies. Now, I’m all for advances in technology; I’m not a guy who lives in a shack without a microwave or, God forbid, TV. I’m not even a purist who would hate the new scenes and effects no matter what (like many fans who grew up with the classics). No, I would wholeheartedly embrace the glorious “Special Editions” if they were well done. Alas, they are not.

The changes mostly just draw attention to themselves, in fact. The old-style stop motion juxtaposes as nicely with the new-fangled CG as if I were inserting Jar Jar Binks as the killer in Rear Window. The final aerial dogfight is extended with scenes that look fantastic, and like they belong in Independence Day, not a flick from the ‘70’s. Mos Eisley space port, which in the 1977 version LOOKED like the desolate, last refuge of pirates and scoundrels it was supposed to be, now appears charming, a bustling, happy place: it’s more Disneyland than Spaceport Of The Damned, with cute, computer-animated crap practically bursting out the sides of the screen.

What’s even more curious to me is that while Lucas seems to have forgotten that sometimes, less is more, he has also ignored some obvious (and I would think, easy) fixes—Obi Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber seems curiously devoid of, well, light at times during his showdown with Vader. Luke’s blade is blue, then white, and Vader’s is clearly an un special-effected stick after he strikes Kenobi down.

Of course, I hate to even discuss the greatest atrocity of all, which is, as any fan I’d want to know could tell you, that awful cantina update where Greedo now shoots first at Han Solo, so that our man Han would look more “heroic.” OK, forget the fact that Solo’s character at the time of this episode is one who WOULD, in fact, take the first shot. The scene, for all the hours that were probably spent doctoring it, JUST LOOKS FAKE. Ford’s bodily movements are jerky and unnatural; he seems to be upright, then suddenly bent to the side, then upright again. No movement, just suddenly his torso magically teleports into a new posture. Good God, man. Did Lucas look at this thing before he approved it?

Look, the bottom line is this: CG, used judiciously, is valuable. Filmmakers CAN show us things we could’ve never seen twenty years ago, and that’s great. Sometimes. Thos technological impediments, though, once forced directors and visual artists to pour extra craft into their work, to play on the audience’s perceptions with the power of suggestion, to craft using both what was seen….and what was not. Some of the old-style special effects just look more organic and real. Full-scale CG….well, makes me think I’m watching a video game, not a movie. George, leave your classics…..and Star Wars is one of the all time greats….alone.