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Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

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From Time Out Film Guide

Don't expect radical revisions in this 20th anniversary reissue of George Lucas's spellbinding space opera. The sfx may now be unimpeachable, but none of the much heralded extra sequences fashioned from out-takes - the confrontation between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt; Luke and his childhood friend, Biggs, bantering about the good old days - actually contributes anything meaningful in narrative terms. It's the minor tweaks which most impress. The computer-generated beasties scurrying around Mos Eisley's spaceport are triumphs of animation, and the dogﬁght scenes beneﬁt immensely from more convincingly nuclear-looking explosions and the removal of unsightly matte lines. For the most part, you'd never guess the film was 20 years old. Only the innocence of its universe testiﬁes to the sea change in ﬁlm-making it provoked. The jaw-dropping wetness of Mark Hamill's Luke continues to astound, while Harrison Ford's amphetamine enema of a turn, which shifts the ﬁlm into top gear after its rather too leisurely ﬁrst act, merely conﬁrms what we've always known: stars will out.

Author: JO'C

Time Out Film Guide

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J D C ALLAN said...

Posted on Jul 27 2009 17:27 I have to agree entirely with the main review. The extended scenes and the minor tweaks are very well executed and, if anything, do add a bit more to what has become a classic piece of moviemaking. The main issue with most fans, the shooting in the cantina, is Ok as far as I'm concerned and makes Han Solo more of a morally rounded character as a result. The final dogfight scenes above the Deathstar are now more spectacular and the soundtrack more punchy. Overall, an excellent film, improved slightly but in an excellent way.

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