Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope (U)

This is the first Star Wars movie that was made. What can I say. It was the most advanced in special effects for its time. It captured everyone's heart; young and old alike. Who could have ever imagined that it would become such a tremendous success. And the introduction of Darth Vader... What a incredible villian he became. Everyone wanted more and Mr. Lucas didn't disappoint anyone when he made the sequeals. The performances of all the actors - Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and last, but never least, Sir Alec Guinness will never be topped. I absolutely loved this moive and would recommend it to all audiences. May the Force be with you all. I'll see you in a galaxy far, far away Mr. Lucas. Thanks so much for making our fantasies so fun filled and exciting.

The definitive in Sci-Fi action, the first episode of the double trilogy was ahead of its time at it's release in the late 1970s. It is almost pointless writing a review on Star Wars IV as pretty much everybody spanning two generations has seen this film. The plot is relatively weak as a single isolated film, however in the context of the wider story, which spans across six films, there are multiple interweaving storylines and this chapter fits in seamlessly. The protagonist Luke Skywalker becomes the target of the Galactic Empire and he flees his home, acquiring a band of friends with a common cause along the way. They eventually team up with a wider underground Rebel force, the resistance to the domination of the Empire, to fight back. The focus of the finale is an attack on a space station the size of a small planet or moon which has the power to destroy other planets outright. Luke joins the attack on the Death Star as a fighter pilot armed with two on-board Proton torpedoes which have the power to disrupt the central power source when fired at an identified weakness, thus destroying it from the inside. These days the graphics are looking dated, even the remastered version has simple X-Wing Tie-Fighter battle scenes compared to the more recent trilogy made at the turn of the Millennium. However this film, as the first in the Star Wars series, is a the definitive Sci-Fi ever! In the context of the wider series of six films Star Wars IV perhaps typifies where it all began and as such is arguably the best of the lot. However my experience from living and breathing Star Wars for pretty much all my life, is that most true fans agree that the somewhat darker The Empire Strikes Back episode is the best.