Now for those who haven't seen Star Wars IV let me give you a brief summary. The movie starts off with two spaceships chasing after each other`and later a ship gets boarded. after confrontation on the ship we meet young boy from Tatooine, a desert plant where he sets out on an adventure with an old Jedi named Obi-Wan Kenobi as his mentor to save Princess Leia from the ruthless Darth Vader who was on the ship. He later joins a rebel group to try and destroy the Death Star space station built by the Empire which has the power to destroy the entire galaxy.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, of the Chicago Reader said
"None of these characters has any depth, and they're all treated like the fanciful props and settings!"
To start of, I think that Rosenbaum is looking at this with a closed mind or even biased. Yes, there are seemingly countless props and different settings around but that is there for a reason. The main reason for his disapproval if because of all the success it has gotten. In the full review, he mentioned it as a distraction for 10 year olds, that became a massive cult following. He uses everything he can to prove his point to the concept and plot to more extreme things like the Gulf War and comparisons to walls. Despite the ridiculousness of those ideas he has a point. He says that the Gulf war was all about technology, much like the movie. He used George Orwell to back up his point.
The other review is from Rodger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times
"Lucas fills his screen with loving touches."
Now, Roger Ebert looked at the big picture and Star Wars's beginnings in his review. He explains of depth of story telling, and how this is a great example of cinema's finest at doing so. Along with that, he tells of how so many things helped create these movies, like the Wizard of Oz helped create some of the characters or how the Nazi's inspired the Empire. Ebert seems to be passionate and up beat about this movie rather than Rosenbaum.
If I had to pick one quote, I would pick Ebert's. He sees it for more then a movie all about technology. He also sees all of these culture references that everyone has known to grow and love. I also enjoy how he ties in both native and why he thinks its exciting. When most people think of a narrative its a book, but a movie that is a narrative of its own are these ones.
If I were to pick one to believe it would be Ebert again. The main reason is because there are more people that enjoy this movie than not. Another reason why is because I actually know who Roger Ebert is unlike Rosenbaum.
If I were to write a review, I would focus more so on the Plot, culture reference, and narrative style. I enjoy reviews that talk about the plot rather than a 5 paragraph tangent on why a movie is either good or bad. I would leave most of the casting out because they are relatively unknown at the time, at least back then.
