Film Review
Love it or hate it, there has never been another film quite like
Star Wars. This is the film that changed American cinema overnight, creating a voracious appetite
for blockbuster, effects-driven spectacles that continues to this
day.
Some would argue that this is the film which destroyed
American cinema, sending Hollywood off on an ever-declining trajectory
towards mindless money-grubbing mediocrity. Equally it can be
said that
Star Wars marked
the rebirth of cinema as a mass entertainment art form, a return to
basic principles, offering pure escapism in the from of a fast-moving
action-packed adventure. No one disputes, however, that this is a
film that made a mark. After
Star
Wars cinema would never be the same again, and science-fiction
movies in particular would change beyond all recognition.
More than anything, what made
Star
Wars such a hit phenomenon was the quality of its special
effects, which are still impressive by today's standards and which were
literally out-of-this world back in 1977. When he learned
that Twentieth Century Fox had closed down its effects department,
director George Lucas founded his own effects company, Industrial Light
& Magic, and would perfect the kind of visual effects that would
become
de rigueur for the
next twenty years. It is the effects, along with the imaginative
set and costume design, that gives
Star
Wars its iconic feel, setting it apart from any other film at
the time. It is hard not be seduced by this film, just because it
is so visually enticing, being unlike anything that had gone before.
It is just as well that the effects and design are so good, because in
virtually every other department
Star
Wars falls down. This is one of those films where you
really have to resist the temptation to look too closely beneath the
surface. If you do, the magic evaporates in an instant. The
story, a trite juvenile fantasy, barely holds together. The
sci-fi concepts are of the most rudimentary kind (the kind a
twelve-year-old would employ in a school essay). The characters
are shallow plot ciphers who spout the most appalling dialogue.
And the performances aren't much to write home about either. Mark
Hamill appears to be auditioning for the part of the colour beige in an
interior design catalogue; Carrie Fisher's stroppy princess soon becomes
wearying (Leia's reaction to every crisis is to beat it to death with her tongue);
and it is clear that Harrison Ford would rather be doing
something else than deliver lines that appear to be lacerating his
mouth. And as for that camp weirdo in the black cloak
with a bucket over his head... just what is he supposed to be, a walking
advertisement for S&M? The only character with anything
approaching a personality is C-3PO. You may whinge and wince at
what the other B-listers get up to as they try and save/enslave the
universe, but the cute tin man who has more neuroses than an inner city primary
school teacher will always make you smile.
Georges Lucas claims that, in conceiving
Star Wars, he was inspired by the
Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s,
but this evidently is not the only influence to make its way into the
film. From Kurosawa to
The
Wizard of Oz, from the Errol Flynn swashbucklers to
The Dam Busters, and just about
every film since 1905,
Star Wars
raids them one and all, making this the most derivative film ever
made. To give him credit, Lucas had a knack for knowing what
would appeal to a mass audience. He saw what had worked in the
past and had no qualms about reworking the tried and tested concepts
into a new and exciting adventure film. Superficial, infantile
and contrived it may be, but
Star
Wars was exactly what the cinema-going public wanted, and Lucas
gave it to them. For a teenager growing up in the 1970s, there
was no better gift than a ticket to the original
Star Wars movie.
When the film was released in May 1977, it struck with no less an
impact than a tsunami on Brighton beach.
Star Wars was an instant hit, first
in America, and then across the globe. Although it was made
relatively cheaply (with a budget of around 11 million dollars) it
would gross around 800 million dollars on its first release alone,
which, allowing for inflation, made it the greatest box office hit
since
Gone With the Wind
(1939). An avalanche of merchandising quickly ensued,
consisting of books, comics, toys, games, clothes, toiletries - in fact
just about anything that could sport the
Star Wars logo. No film had
ever been so hyped, no film had ever made such a global impact and no
film had ever engendered so much hysteria and fan devotion.
Star Wars is a film that created
its own legend, becoming one of the great cultural phenomena of the
Twentieth Century, and the brand is still doing well today.
The enormous success of
Star Wars
meant that a sequel was inevitable.
The Empire Strikes Back
was released in 1980, followed by
Return of the Jedi
in 1983, completing a trilogy featuring the
characters of the original film. George Lucas contributed the
screenplay on both of these films, but handed over the job of direction
to someone else, as he found directing
Star Wars too demanding and
stressful for him to want to repeat the experience. Lucas would
however return to direct the three lesser regarded prequels:
The Phantom Menace (1999),
Attack of the Clones (2002) and
Revenge of the Sith (2005).
He would also script the spin-off TV series,
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which
began transmission in 2008.
As often happens with popular genre films, critical reaction to
Star Wars was very mixed.
Some reviewers appeared to be drowning in a sea of superlatives, rating
it as the most important film in the history of American cinema and a
land-mark sci-fi movie that would change audience's expectations for
forever. Others were far less complimentary and lambasted it for
its narrative flaws and perceived artistic vacuity. What cannot
be denied is that
Star Wars is one of the most successful films of all
time, and one that did have an enormous impact on the future direction
of Hollywood.
What the weird and wonderful adventures of Skywalker and company showed
is that blockbuster adventure movies made serious money, something that
greedy executives would be quick to capitalise on. It would be
unfair to say that
Star Wars
single-handedly destroyed the artistic integrity of Hollywood, but it
certainly changed the face of the American film industry, ushering in
an era where the profit motive would gain supremacy over any artistic
imperative. But will the men in designer black suits
prevail? Is it not possible that the rebels will one day return
and instill in Hollywood a new ethos, where content is at least as
important as concept? Perhaps the fight has already begun.
May the force be with them.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next George Lucas film:
Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB (1967)
Film Synopsis
In a distant galaxy, the Rebel Alliance has stolen the plans to the
Galactic Empire's secret weapon, a space station named the Death Star
that can destroy entire worlds. Just before her spaceship is
attacked by Imperial Stormtroopers, Princess Leia manages to hide the
plans, along with a holographic message, in the droid, R2-D2. The
latter escapes in a space pod with another droid, C-3PO, and they land
on the desert planet Tatooine. Here, the robots are
captured by scrap merchants, the Jawas, and sold to farmer Owen Lars
and his nephew Luke Skywalker. Luke resents beings stuck on this
backwater planet and dreams of joining his friends at an off-world
academy. Whilst cleaning R2-D2, Luke activates Leia's holograph,
an appeal for help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke is curious but his
uncle insists that Kenobi, like Luke's father, is dead.
When R2-D2 goes missing, Luke hastily sets out to look for him and
finds him with an old hermit, Ben Kenobi, who reveals that he was once
known as Obi-Wan. After hearing Leia's message, Kenobi insists
that they must take the stolen plans to Alderaan where they can be
examined by the Rebels. When he learns that his home and family
have been destroyed by Imperial Stormtroopers, Luke agrees, and they
head off to the spaceport to find a pilot who will help them in their
mission. Han Solo is to be their man, a smuggler who, it seems,
will do anything for money. Together with Solo's co-pilot, a
Wookiee named Chewbacca, the party leaves Tatooine in Solo's souped-up
old freighter, the Millennium Falcon and heads for Alderaan.
Whilst Ben Kenobi trains Luke to be a Jedi knight, instructing him in
the use of the powerful energy field known as the Force, Princess Leia
is taken to the Death Star. There, she is interrogated by the
station's commander, the Grand Moff Tarkin, and his black-clad aide,
Darth Vader. When Leia refuses to reveal the location of the
rebel base, Tarkin gives the order for Alderaan to be
destroyed. Luke's adventure really begins when the
Millenium Falcon is caught in a tractor beam and drawn down into the
Death Star...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.