Review of Star Wars (1977) by David M — 27 Oct 2016

The ultimate in Saturday morning popcorn entertainment, it's pretty clear that this is really a modern fairy-tale, and is really better classed as Space Opera than Science-Fiction.

After all, let's see, we have the good guys (i.e. the Rebel Alliance), the bad guys (The Empire), the princess (Leia) that needs rescuing, the old wizard (Obi-Wan), the young farm boy (Luke Skywalker), the grizzled outlaw (Han Solo) and the comedy duo (R2-D2 and C-3PO).

This film is also our first introduction to the Force, Lightsabres - gotta love them - and the entire Star Wars universe. Prior to this, any sci-fi film had pristine equipment, one of the great strengths of this film was to make them all looked used, like the equipment is a part of everyday life. The ominous Darth Vader must rank among the top of the pantheon of the greatest-ever villains, while the Rebels final attack on the Death Star (based on WW2 footage) that ends the film - forgetting physics for the moment - must be one of the best, if not most iconic, depictions of a space battle ever seen in any film before or since.