Star Wars: The Original Trilogy


 No movie review blog would be complete without a treatment of the amazing phenomenon that is the Star Wars universe. And each movie deserves its own blog, but I assume that all of my readers have seen them already. So I decided to do them in 3 movie chunks. Here's the first 3.

Star Wars, later referred to as A New Hope and Episode IV, was groundbreaking. It introduced all of the main characters - Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Vader, R2, Threepio, and the Stormtroopers to us for the first time. It introduced us to the Force, and to lightsabers, and to all of the wonderfulness that is the Star Wars universe. When you go back and watch it now, it doesn't QUITE stand up to the test of time. The SFX, which were of course groundbreaking and amazing at the time, now seem a little hokey and dated. The acting is inconsistent in places, with Leia adopting a slight British accent during one of her lines ("SLIP through your fingers"). It's forging new territory, and that can be messy. It does it really well and is definitely worth watching over and over again.

The Empire Strikes Back is easily and by far the best of all the Star Wars movies. It is flawless storytelling that expands the Star Wars universe effortlessly and keeps multiple storylines intriguing and woven together in an innovative way. It introduces several new, wonderful characters, like Yoda, Lando, and Boba Fett. We see Han and Leia fall in love, and we end with the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers. This movie packs a serious punch because the Empire actually WINS. It defeats the heroes and sends them packing. The world creation of Hoth and Dagobah are breathtaking and make you wish they were real so you could visit them. And Cloud City is stunning and beautiful. What a movie!

Return of the Jedi was really fun, and at the time it seemed on par with Empire as one of the best in the series. And it definitely does stand the test of time, and is rewatchable over and over. The intro scene with Jabba vs Luke will always remain one of the best scenes in film history. But the movie overall isn't QUITE as good as Empire. I can't put my finger on why, but maybe it's a little too silly and funny. The same way that The Last Crusade in the Raiders series was great at the time but now seems to pale when compared to Raider of the Lost Ark, that's how Return of the Jedi pales (just a little) compared to Empire. Still a great movie, still wonderful to watch, still an all time favorite.

All three movies are clean and kid friendly. I HIGHLY recommend all of them if you haven't seen them. Watch them in the order they were released. 

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