Blu Review: STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPEU – 124mins – 1977
Written by: George Lucas
Directed by: George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew
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“Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope...”On a dustball backwater world oppressed by the might of a tyrannical overlord (Prowse), a young farmboy (Hamill) inadvertently intercepts a distress call from a Princess in peril (Fisher) and is thrust head-first into a galactic conflict where he must overcome great tests of strength and endurance and enter the “belly of the whale” (well, a super-deadly battle station, at least) in his hero-defining battle against evil, aided on his noble quest by a wizened old mentor (Guinness) and a motley band of courageous new friends (Ford, Mayhew, Daniels, Baker).
This simple synopsis, an exquisite redressing of the mythical and archetypal ingredients key to literary analyser and philosopher Joseph Campbell’s narrative paradigm “The Hero's Journey” (AKA. The monomyth - read more about it HERE), is the humble beginning of the biggest film franchise of all time; a globally prominent brand which has grown more powerful than auteur George Lucas (and his bankers) could possibly have imagined. Even now, almost 35years after it first hit screens as a small, unknown family fantasy flick, the power of the Force shows no signs of subsiding.
Of course, despite being the first of the series to be filmed, A New Hope isn’t technically the beginning of the story proper (the numeric denotation Episode IV may have given that away – I can't imagine how puzzled early audiences must have been reading the opening crawl), but fans would have to wait some 22 years for The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) to rewind a generation and lay the (over-)excessive groundwork to this browbeaten Jedi-less galaxy brought to its knees by a rampant Dark Side. Viewed independently, this earliest effort does a fine enough job of setting the scene and cluing the audience in to this extensively dense and colourful diegesis.“I've been waiting for you, Obi Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but a learner; now I am the master.”Watching Episode IV in sequence makes you appreciate the retrofitting which took place with the prequels all the more. Off-hand references to the Clone Wars which sparked your intrigue when you first watched this film have now been brought vibrantly to life – even if we can now tell when “Old Ben” Kenobi is holding back the truth and telling white lies to protect young Luke Skywalker; a lad surely fated to learn the ways of the Force and wind up battling the Sith, given his bloodline.
“Only a master of evil, Darth.”
“A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father”Whereas the thickly-plotted politically-powered prequels were weakened by a necessity to cram too much in, A New Hope’s strength lies in its universal accessibility. Children flummoxed by sparring senators and legalized treaties are thrilled by daring rescues and swashbuckling battles: good versus evil in its purest form. This product of the seventies is also aided by its solid tangibility: this galaxy far, far away may be populated by all manner of kooky alien beings and flying space vessels, but it looks authentic and lived in. The CGI-heavy newer films may *look* spectacular, but they are far too glossy and, thus, far too unrealistic because of it.
Rewatching this in 2011, it's interesting to note the regression, over time, of Lucas’ sense of humour, highlighted all the more by an episodic comparison between the original and prequel films. While quirky metallic counterparts R2-D2 (Baker) and C-3PO (Daniels) are hardly reserved in their idiosyncratic repartee (“Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!”), they are ambassadors of taste and decorum when put side-by-side with lumbering fool Jar Jar Binks who can’t even dismount an eopie without getting in a friggin’ tangle and squealing like an attention-seeking child!Persistent tinkerer Lucas’ much maligned tweaks to the 1997 Special Edition of A New Hope saw the CGI addition of an extended entrance to the "wretched hive of scum and villainy" that is the Tatooine spaceport of Mos Eisley, replete with mischievous droids exchanging playful blows. It’s in keeping with The Phantom Menace’s infantile joviality, but so incongruous to the rest of this film that it sticks out like a Gungan in the Senate.
Elsewhere, the reinstated Jabba the Hutt scene remains (although it could have done with another CG update post the 2004 DVD) and George couldn’t resist further tweaks for this Blu-ray presentation, including a CGI boulder in front of R2’s cave hide-out and a different sound effect for Obi Wan to holler when he frightens away the easily startled Tusken Raiders. They’re so inconsequential you wonder why the discontented director even bothered – particularly when the image still jumps awkwardly whenever a lightsabre is activated, an issue made all the more noticeable in HD.In a CR@B Shell: I'm not condoning his belated post-production, but no matter how much George Lucas soils the original with his ceaseless modifications, I will never tire of his iconic and beloved sci-fi classic. A New Hope is just so timelessly accessible, universally likeable, enchantingly magical and imaginatively inspiring that I could watch it time and time again – and it still isn’t my favourite of the series!
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Visually, The Phantom Menace has held up magnificently – not that 1999 is all that long ago, but special effects have come on leaps and bounds in recent years – and this Blu-ray remaster is striking in the sharpness of the film's many exotic locales; from the lush greens of the Naboo grasslands to the opulence of Queen Amidala's (Portman) Venetian-style palace, from the bleached white seas of Tatooinian sand to the ethereal elegance of the underwater city of Otoh Gunga. Oh, and Yoda's (Oz) now CG, too. Lucas' vibrant aesthetic choices no doubt purposefully parallel the lighter and more hopeful mood of this opening episode: the “Chosen One”, Anakin Skywalker (Lloyd), has been found by the Jedi and is to start his training which will bring balance to the Force (well, that's the plan at least).
It is this schizophrenic attitude which is The Phantom Menace's biggest undoing; Lucas was clearly attempting to appease fans both young and old, old and new, but the balance is off. Those that comprehend the political implications and intricacies of the twisty, planet-hopping mission against the Sith-puppeteered Trade Federation will roll their eyes at the juvenile humour, while those that snigger at the hapless ineptitude of a tongue-tied alien will grow bored the minute the podrace stops and the lightsabres are switched off.
Tickets had apparently sold incredibly well for this year's event (up 300% on last year, according to the website), and the difference in numbers was noticeable from the minute we entered the bustling main room. Of course the LCR is hardly Wembley Arena, but it was still good to see that word was getting out (this is, after all, all for charity). Unfortunately, the traders, stalls and menagerie of costumed look-a-likes were all essentially identical to last year and within 10minutes we had snooped and perused the overpriced merchandise as much as we possibly could.
Accompanied by his tech-savvy guardian, Henri (
When the “Mogs” – a dreadful abbreviation to a stupid mouthful of a word – eventually do track down Henri and Number Four (via yet another complex and complicated method of hoodwinking some online conspiracy nuts into luring the good guys to their house), producer Michael 
After a troublesome incident with test subject Bright Eyes, Will reluctantly saves her recently born son, christened Caesar (a motion-captured Serkis), from being put down. Smuggling him out of the lab, Caesar is raised at home alongside Will's Alzheimer-suffering father Charles (Lithgow). Over the course of the next eight years, Caesar – who has inherited his mother's genetically elevated level of intelligence, a beneficial acquirement gained from trial virus ALZ-112 – continues to advance above and beyond the capabilities of a "mere" primate.
Speaking of humanity, Rise's homo sapien cast is capably adept, even if they are reduced to playing second fiddle to the simians stars: Franco doesn't over-state his staunch determination in the lead role, while Lithgow evokes compassion as his mental state deteriorates and Felton's Dodge Landon (his name a direct reference to Taylor's astronaut buddies from the original) riles you up as the generic bully of the piece. Pinto is the only superfluous role, Caroline scarcely effecting the plot beyond her “love interest” stereotype. But that's a negligible quibble in a film which scarcely put a paw out of place.
A smattering of the conquered humans – including brother to Conquest's chimp sympathiser, MacDonald (Stoker) and school teacher Abe (Keen) – are welcomed into the emerging Ape City to live (although not quite as equals, the cause of much consternation), while a reconnaissance mission by MacDonald, Caesar and orangutan wise-man Virgil (Williams) to gather recorded intel of Caesar's long-dead parents Zira and Cornelius (footage recycled from 
Circus owner Armando (Montalban; seen briefly in a crucial scene at Escape’s close and reprising the character in a larger role here) does not concur with the enslaving of apes, but then he is hiding a controversial secret: his own ape, Caesar (McDowall), is not as dumb as he looks. Caesar is, in fact, Milo, the son of Zira and Cornelius whom the authorities were led to believe perished alongside his parents at the oil rig showdown in 1973. But in actuality he has been brought up in the circus and must hide his identity and bite his tongue when out in public or face death at the hands of the fascist enforcers.
I have absolutely no hesitation in listing Conquest as by far my favourite of the Apes sequels; a strong concept is supported by an atmospheric environ and an epic final showdown. Watching the ape army silently advance through the concrete jungle towards the riot police was truly creepy, while the insurrection itself was a savage and bloody affair – and this was just the theatrical cut on DVD, as opposed to the more intense extended edition on Blu ray!
Hiding from the army, Brent and Nova discover the buried ruins of old New York (our New York ) and their descent through the rubble is wonderfully atmospheric. Despite a budget just half the size of the ‘68 predecessor, the set work looks grand. Alas, it is here where the film goes completely off the rails into “ape shit crazy” territory. Brent and Nova are tortured by a sect of telepathic super humans (yes, you read that correctly) who worship an undetonated nuclear bomb left over from the war which previously destroyed society as we know it.
I really admire the steady, almost calm, pacing of this film – and that is in no way a backhanded compliment. Devoting the first 30minutes to a slow desert jaunt is something today's ADHD Hollywood simply wouldn't allow; other than finding a patch of fauna and snapping at one another, bugger all really happens but it lulls the audience into a false sense of security and we obtain great insights into the conflicting personalities of this minimalist cast before the groundbreaking revelations rock their world.
He is happy to keep to this self-inflicting rule. That is until Elizabeth Brown (Habel), the sister of Sam’s long murdered high school girlfriend (Serafino), walks back into his life and begs him to use his gifts to identify her sister’s real killer and exonerate the innocent man (Wilkinson) who is about to be executed for the decade-old crime.
Personally, I could have done without the excessive mutilation scenes – the camera lingering a little too long on slashed-open corpses and blood-splattered limbs – and the wholly unnecessary soft core pornography. Now, I’m in no way opposed to such mature elements if they are warranted, but they are foreign to this franchise and thus all the more obvious. Furthermore, Revelations didn’t need to cheapen itself with such shameless titillation and gimmicky shocks when the story was enthralling enough without it.
Written and directed by Brit comic and feature film debutant Joe Cornish of Adam and Joe Show renown, Attack the Block is a meteor storm of culture-cussing comedy, explosive action, gross-out horror and creature-feature science fiction. Yet, the myriad of juxtaposing elements never feel out of whack and the cocktail concept never feels bloated. To Cornish’s credit: it works.
Rescued from the black hole of cancellation and back on an all new channel, this “sixth season” (if we count the four DVD movies as a 16 episode run) has been split in two, with this first volume of 13 episodes being followed in June 2011 by another 13. Spread over two discs, the episodes look fantastic in widescreen format, even in spite of all the much-debated budgetary cuts resultant from a move to a cable network. The scenes rendered in 3D (of particular note a scene from “The Mutants Are Revolting” in which Bender remains static while holding a combustible soufflé as the ship jilts and wobbles around him) look particularly clean and vivid.
Fry’s innate idiocy is once more mined in “The Duh Vinci Code” (no prizes for guessing the inspiration behind that one!), where the Fry and his great-great-great-great-gr.... nephew unlock a secret hidden in the great Renaissance artist’s works which sees them transported to an alien world where the man himself still lives – and is taunted for his relative “stupidity” by a race of gifted aliens. The source reference has long since past its kitsch peak, the story is far too much of a stretch and the plot weak, making this one of my least favoured episodes of the new batch.
Other successful episodes are “Lethal Inspection”, in which Hermes and Bender team up to track down the Bureaucrat who failed to notice a mortal glitch in Bender’s programming, “That Darn Katz!”, in which Nibbler and Amy must try to stop a race of irresistibly cute felines from altering the orbit of the earth, and the aforementioned “The Mutants Are Revolting”, the series' 100th episode benchmark, which sees the crew sentenced to a spell in the sewers – and will have an almighty impact on the future demarcation of the deformed sub-species in all future episodes. 
