A-List: Star Wars
By J. Don Birnam
December 15, 2015
2. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
Ah, yes. The movie that started it all. The beauty of this movie is that it stands alone and stands the test of time. Sure, the special effects are easy and popular to mock, but, outside that, the movie is actually stunning in its revolutionary way of storytelling, in the memorable, lovable characters it created, and the exciting narrative. It invented a new genre - the summer blockbuster - that is now the core of the movie industry, and it gave us characters that are hard to rank in terms of simplicity on the side of genius.
All of this basically from scratch, and in a tight run time that few filmmakers today would respect if they were embarking on a project of this scale. Popcorn entertainment at its absolute best, the original Star Wars movie makes us care about good and evil in ways that few movies can do on a standalone basis. It would be a mistake to view this movie with the eyes of an arthouse critic, or to analyze the lastingness of its craft. It simply misses the point to criticize the dialogue as simple, to call the story trite, or to mock the levity of the scenes. All of these things may be true, but the movie never pretends or aspires to be anything else.
The genius of A New Hope as the actual opening salvo in the series is that it is unassuming, unpretentious, and wildly entertaining. It takes you to a new world that is at the same time familiar - evil and good have battled from the dawn of time - and it gives you enough of a comedic element (from C-3PO to R2-D2 and Chewbacca), combined with the serious touch of master actor Alec Guinness, to at least pay attention. And, hey, if Chewbacca is a word that my word processor does not auto correct…that means something, right?
1. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Again, I realize this is not at all the popular choice, but, for me, the last chapter in the original series is also the best of them all. I am simply a sucker for closing the narrative, for knowing what is going to happen, for having some resolution.
The main, fair criticism that applies to Return of the Jedi is that it immediately makes A New Hope formulaic, returning to a lot of the same plot points of the movie in a way-too-early rehash of the first. From the Jabba the Hutt sequences to the Death Star destruction, sometimes Episodes IV and VI do blur and, when in doubt, always go for the original.
But my affinity for the last chapter stems not only from the neat resolution but from its creative elements as well. I don’t just mean Ewoks, but the “give in to your fear” climax between Luke and Palpatine, the transformation of Vader, the relationship between Luke and Leia, and the redemption of Solo. The movie works because the characters get, yes, somewhat predictably, what you want them to. It is a crowd-pleaser, but it is a good one.
The real question, of course, is how well - how at all - will The Force Awakens pick up from what is such a clear, clean, wrapped-up ending to the story.
And, at the end of Episodes 7, 8, and 9…will they leave it open for more?!
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