Star Wars: Special Edition

New and improved, a little de-improved also

Features: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
Director: George Lucas
There it is folks: the 20th anniversay edition of this seminal fantasy flick. George Lucas and crew have gone back to the tale and cranked it for today's THX-stoked audiences.

While Star Wars was a wonderment in its day (the shot of the Rebel ship being sucked into the belly of Vader's cruiser had me gasping), seeing it all these years brings the amazingly thin story to light.

It IS a comic book brought to life. Complete with fantastically bad dialogue along the way. "Lord Vader, I'd recognize your foul stench anywhere."

But hey, we're talking seminal movie event here: state-of-the-then-art for SFX, a rousingly good story, the triumph of Good over Evil, swashbuckling characters, a musical score that stands on its own--the movie just friggin' clicks. Period.

The extra stuff is cool:

  • The stormtroopers on top of full-body moving dewbacks where they first find the pod the droids used to reach the planet.
  • How big Mos Eisley is with all the buildings, people, animals everywhere.
  • Changing that pathetic shadow beneath the Landspeeder.
  • Han and Jabba's encounter with Han stepping on Jabba's tail. Boba Fett in the background was a great touch.
  • The Falcon taking off from the planet.
  • More dialogue with Luke and Biggs.
  • Only one X-wing clip was new that I recognized--been a bunch o' years since last viewing.
  • The rings of gas/debris emenating from the Alderaan and Death Star explosions.

    And some is not:

  • How harshly loud the sound F/X are now that they've been THX-juiced.
  • Greedo being killed by a ricochet. This is so 90's--a PC-cowardly change to Han's character. He's now such a goody two-shoe's that it takes a comic book-quality writing trick to get him out of that scrape.

    And some should've been changed that was not:

  • Luke and Obi jumping one frame to the next as the assistant handed them a light saber to replace the light saber handle they're holding as they turn them "on".

    The embarrassingly bad real computer graphics of:

  • The dogfight readout that Luke and Han each watch as they shoot the TIE fighters from the Falcon.
  • The Death Star graphic during the briefing showing where to shoot.

    So all in all, go. But there's my reservations.

    Movie's suitability for:

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