Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
Check out our Retro Review of Star Wars: A New Hope!
Happy Star Wars Day! May the force be with you all ✨
Celebrating the day by re-watching the original again and sharing our experience (review).
I’ll never forget the first time I watched Star Wars: A New Hope. Sure, it’s been over 40 years since Lucas first whisked us off to a galaxy far, far away but somehow that sense of wonder sticks with you like stardust. Even now, the moment those opening crawl words appear against the endless black, I’m a kid again, heart pounding and eyes wide.
Let’s talk world-building because Lucas really went full NASA inventor on this one. You’ve got bustling spaceports, insectoid aliens, desert planets, ice worlds… it’s like every corner of the universe has its own personality. And despite the tech being conceived in the ’70s, those practical effects still hold up! The actual miniature models zipping around, not CGI, so you get this tactile grit that feels way more real than a lot of today’s slick computer worlds.
And oh man, the designs. The Millennium Falcon’s battered hull, Vader’s ominous mask, those stormtrooper helmets - you know them the second you see them. They’re iconic for a reason: they look cool as heck and instantly tell you everything you need to know about the universe you’re jumping into. Even now, I catch myself geeking out at how every ship, every droid and every alien species has this lived-in vibe.
Beyond the visuals, the pacing is just magic. Lucas balances breakneck action with quieter character moments so effortlessly that you never feel whiplash. And the chemistry? Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford could swing banter with their eyes closed. From Leia’s “I don’t know where you get your delusions,” to Han’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” the one-liners are baked in so naturally that they land every single time.
Now, I won’t lie, if you’ve never dipped a toe into the Star Wars pond, the Dune-inspired logic of “the Force” might take a sec to sink in. But once you lean into it, there’s a richness to the lore that keeps you coming back. Secret Jedi orders, mystical energy fields, all those whispered backstories - they plant seeds that bloom across the whole saga. It’s that promise of more to explore that makes A New Hope feel like the first chapter of an epic you want to binge for days.
Smash Hit SCore: 8/10
This film still manages to surprise me, even after countless rewatches. Star Wars: A New Hope set the gold standard for sci-fi adventure, and the fact that it still sparks that childhood thrill? That’s the real magic of the movies.
