STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE- Yeah, like this review is going to change your mind.

What in the hell am I doing? I might as well be reviewing the bible! Nothing I say will change any minds about this movie, nothing I bring to the table hasn’t been said over and over and over again a thousand times by people way smarter than I. Every single person on the entire planet - all six billion of us - have probably seen this thing at least once.

Ah, screw it - a buck's a buck, right?

It's hard to imagine there might still be anyone out there who's unfamiliar with the basic storyline behind this movie, just in case, here's the brief run-down. Far ablve the desert planet Tatooine, Imperial Star Destroyer intercepts a tiny rebel star cruiser, capturing everyone on board - including Leia Organa (Played by a coked out of her mind Carrie Fisher), princess of Alderaan and the woman that launched a thousand male fantasies. Turns out that the Princess had some secret plans to a Imperial planet killer, and managed to slip those plans into R2-D2 who, accompanied by C3PO, managed to give the Empire the slip and get down to the planet below. Leia has sent the droids to deliver a message to a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec "I've done other rolls too, you know" Guinness) who is needed to help the rebels in their struggle against the Empire.

The droids wind up in the hands of young farmboy and future savior of the galaxy Luke Skywalker (Played by the definitive voice of The Joker) before promptly running off to Kenobi, Skywalker in tow. Needing a quick ride off planet, Kenobi, Farmboy and the droids hook up with Captain Solo (Harrison "Why'd it have to be snakes" Ford) who wind up going to Alderaan, saving the princess, blowing up the Death Star, blah, blah, blah. The end.

While people proclaim that Star Wars is the best movie of all time, I don't quite think it's that. Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and any number of Akira Kurosawa films are superior movies. I do think that there is no more influential film in the history of cinema. Together with Jaws, Star Wars (or A New Hope, for you anal retentive fanboys) was the first real blockbuster summer movie. Up until 1977, Summer was considered a dumping ground of unwatchable movies - I mean, who in their right mind would go and spend all day in a dark room when it was fantastic outside? Guess the studios were wrong huh?

It was also the biggest independent film of the time - oh, sure it was distributed by 20th Century Fox, but it was mostly out of George's pocket and via his fundraising that got the movie made. There was very little studio assistance on the project (and therefore no studio risk when the film tanked at the box office as the studio heads predicted).

It also changed the way movies are marketed forever. That whole toy line and Happy Meal thing? That's a direct line back to Lucas and his savvy marketing prowess, who was smart enough to retain the rights to all the toys and happy meals and whatever himself.

And of course, it pioneered the field of special effects, putting them on the map. It pushed the art of effects light years beyond anything we had seen - I remember clear as yesterday, my first viewing in 1977 as the impressive as hell Blockade Runner raced from the top of the screen into the distance - shortly followed by Brown Trousers time when the Star Destroyer showed up and kept on going . . and going . . . and going. . . and going.

Yeah, yeah - so I get it's important, that it inspired an entire generation of filmmakers and astronaut and children and sparked imaginations world wide. I get all that - is it any good?

Actually, yeah. Looking at it objectively, there are flaws - the acting is really bad (save for Sir Alec and Peter Cushing) and the story is pretty simplistic (ok, VERY simplistic), there are the occasional slapstick moments that should be there and the special effects sometimes take center stage when they shouldn’t - but the rest of it comes together as a lovingly crafted fairy tale it works. It's a really humongous undertaking, that gives us an absorbing universe with some wonderful, richly defined characters that draw on the basic archetypes of storytelling that have been with us since the Elders sat around the fire passing down the oral tradition a thousand years ago. And it's good, exciting fun full of daring do and buckles to swash (why was that chasm there on the Dearth Star if not for Luke to do his best Errol Flynn impression) and villains to hiss and heroes to cheer.

It's a rip-roaring amalgam of practically every brand of adventure story you can think of from samurai films to spaghetti westerns to Flash Gordon Republic serials to the tales of King Arthur, Theseus, and Beowulf, as filtered through the lens of mythology expert Joseph Campbell, all rolled up in one big package for the modern era. Add in the heart-pounding John Williams score and you've got a winner.

I think it works so well because it combines something we've never ever seen before with a story we've all known all our lives. Conversely, I think that's why the prequels didn’t work as well as the first three did - twenty years on, and we had all become jaded and bitter and not quite as receptive to the sense of wonder that the first Star Wars managed to tap into. Ah, but that's a later discussion for a later review.

For now, I cant help but give this movie my highest approval. Two lightsabers up!

THE DVD -
The short version is thusly: Star Wars (or New Hope or whatever the hell you want to call it) looks and sounds fantastic. The transfers are rock stable and intricately detailed. These transfers sparkle.

While lovingly restored frame by frame, the restoration isn't quite perfect yet - while most of the matte lines have been removed, one or two got missed and Luke's lightsaber goes from distinctly blue to distinctly green, with a period of white in the mix. His saber has always leaned towards bluish-white, but not quite this bad.

THE EXTRAS -
Depending on the version you get, the only extra on the disc is the commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren and Carrie Fisher. All the (rather significant) extras appear on the fourth disc of the boxed set.

THE BOTTOM :LINE -
While Star Wars may not be the best movie ever, I cant deny the impact on my impressionable eight year old mind that George had. While not perfect, it is a masterful blend of adventure and archetypes in a huge special effects laden package. Groundbreaking doesn't begin to cover this movie.

THE STAR WARS REVIEWS:
* THE PHANTOM MENACE
* ATTACK OF THE CLONES
* REVENGE OF THE SITH
* A NEW HOPE
* THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
* RETURN OF THE JEDI