Today I will be doing a spoiler-free review of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. This is the first of many Star Wars reviews I will be doing, and I will be doing it in release date order. This entire movie is just a fantastic introduction to this new world and universe. The first character that you’re introduced to is Empire leader Darth Vader who is choking out rebels. Then you’re introduced to R2-D2, C-3PO, and Princess Leia. The beginning scene takes place on the Death Star, which is the home of the empire in space. R2-D2 and C-3PO use an escape pod and they land on a planet named Tatooine. That is where we are introduced to Luke Skywalker who is just a teenage boy who lives on a farm with his uncle Owen and aunt Beru. C-3PO and R2-D2 were taken by Jawas (scavengers) and they were sold to Luke and Ben. This is what kicks off everything and eventually you are also introduced to an old Obi-Wan Kenobi. You also meet Han Solo and Chewbacca a bit into the film. There isn’t a lot of action in the movie, as it’s mostly plot focused. However, when there is action, it is used to great effect being very important and entertaining. 

The villain in this movie is Darth Vader. He is an absolute fantastic villain and has a lot of iconic moments throughout the film. I think Darth Vader is the best villain of any movie of all time. His writing is great, his suit is amazing and iconic, his voice is legendary, and he is the most cold blooded villain I’ve ever seen. Everything with him fighting with Kenobi is perfectly done and sets up a lot of background story to be told. I love all of the characters that I’ve named up to this point. They’re all written well and entertaining in their own ways. Obviously, the Star Wars universe has lightsabers as weapons, along with the force for certain characters. These are the best and coolest weapons in fiction. There has never been anything like them in terms of weapons and the lightsabers specifically are the most unique and best weapons that have ever been made for a movie before. The plot is perfectly done and sets up so much for the future movies. 

I always rate the Star Wars movies and shows and I rate them based on 10 things in the movie. Those things are: action, acting, cinematography, pacing, score, characters, ending, plot, protagonist, and antagonist. I rate all of those pieces 1-10 and then after that, I add up the scores of all 10 of them and get a total score out of 100. I gave this movie a 93/100, there is no weak point of the movie at all. The cinematography for this movie is amazing for the time it was made. This movie came out in 1978 and has the cinematography of a movie that came out within the last 10-15 years. The score is also amazing, as it is in all of the Star Wars franchise. The only thing I didn’t talk about was the ending, and it was pretty good, as it mostly just sets up so much for the future of the franchise.