The Star Wars Trilogy
The Godfather or Star Wars: the debate over the best film trilogy continues to this day. At first glance, comparing these two film franchises is like comparing apples and oranges (if you'll pardon the cliche). However, both series have received much critical and commercial success. Both trilogies are regarded as classics in their respective genres. The Godfather and Star Wars contain similar themes, such as revenge and betrayal. Lastly, the films in both series are good for several viewings. So, which trilogy is better? Let's look at it this way: you can pick one of the two (or a different trilogy if you wish) as your favorite, and you won't be wrong.
In celebration of the recent DVD release of Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones, here is a triple review of the "original" (special edition) Star Wars films. If you are deprived and have not yet seen these movies, beware the spoilers.
Episode IV: A New Hope
This series involves a timeless theme: domination of many by few. A group known as the Empire controls the universe. Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher, When Harry Met Sally) has stolen the plans to the Death Star, the evil Empire's base. The princess stashes the plans and a request for help into an android named R2-D2. She then puts R2-D2 and his robotic interpreter C-3PO into an escape pod and releases them into space. Darth Vader, a high-ranking Imperial official, soon captures Princess Leia.
R2-D2 and C-3PO land on a nearby planet, and a few natives find them soon after. The entrepreneurial creatures sell the machines to a farmer, Owen. Owen's nephew, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill in one of the most wasted breakthrough opportunities ever), inspects the R2-D2 and sees a holograph of Princess Leia asking help from a man by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi. One of Owen's neighbors is named Ben Kenobi; Luke decides to seek him out to discern any relation to the intended recipient of the message. After Luke meets Ben Kenobi and apprises him of the situation, Ben admits to being Obi-Wan Kenobi, a former Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan asks Luke to use his piloting skills to aid the rebellion in defeating the Empire. Luke declines, citing his responsibilities at home. Luke returns to the farm to find out that it was destroyed, along with his relatives, under the Empire's orders. Luke returns to Obi-Wan to join the freedom fighters and kick some Imperial ass.
A major explanation for Star Wars' success in 1977 is that its special effects surpassed any film up to that point. Audiences seeing SW for the first time must have had their eyes spread wide open while their brains worked overtime trying to interpret these radical images. Regardless, Star Wars is more than eye candy. The film also has an intelligent and comprehensible story and full character development. Here's an example of the latter: Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is a self-absorbed, macho smuggler, but you still like him.
Another one of A New Hope's strengths is that it was made as a stand-alone film; this means that the end of the film feels like a true ending, compared to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. LOTR's ending felt more like the beginning of a 12-month intermission.
Memorable scenes: Obi-Wan telling Luke about his father and his murder at the hands of Darth Vader; Obi-Wan using the Jedi mind trick to gain access in a restricted area; the introduction of Jabba the Hut; negotiations with Han Solo; the removal of an unruly bar patron's arm via lightsaber; and the climatic pod shoot-out.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Things aren't looking super for the Rebellion, even though they destroyed the Death Star. The rebels had to relocate their base to a remote ice planet. Darth Vader is still obsessed with finding the rebels, especially their new commander, Luke Skywalker.
The majority of the film is split between two alternating plots. Luke, after envisioning Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit, seeks out Jedi master Yoda for training. Han Solo, Princess Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Chewbacca (Han Solo's furry shipmate) are hunted by Imperial forces under the command of Darth Vader. Han seeks help from an old friend, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams, Batman). However, Darth Vader ambushes the heroes. Meanwhile, Luke senses trouble and seeks to help his friends.
Empire Strikes Back is a solid sequel to an extraordinary movie; it furthers the trilogy's grand plot. One noticeable difference between Episodes IV and V is that V's ending is much gloomier. Han is frozen in carbonite, and Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand after revealing that he is Luke's father. Woh!
Memorable scenes in Episode V: Luke escaping from the monster's cave; Lando Calrissian's betrayal; lightsaber duel between Luke and Darth Vader; Han maneuvering the Millenium Falcon through the asteroid field; Luke fighting "himself"; the carbon-freezing of Han Solo; and Luke's Jedi training with Yoda.
Memorable scenes: Luke escaping from the monster's cave; Lando Calrissian's betrayal; lightsaber duel between Luke and Darth Vader; Han maneuvering the Millenium Falcon through the asteroid field; Luke fighting "himself"; the carbon-freezing of Han Solo; and Luke's Jedi training with Yoda.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and the machines return to Luke's home planet in hopes of rescuing carbon-frozen Han from Jabba the Hut. To make a long story short, Luke Skywalker & Co. save Han from Jabba. Afterwards, Luke returns to Yoda to complete his Jedi training. Yoda, on his deathbed, tells Luke that he has to fight Darth Vader to complete his training and that Luke's sister is Princess Leia!
Meanwhile, the Empire is constructing a bigger, better Death Star that is sure to stop rebel forces for good. To destroy the new Imperial base, the rebels must land on a moon that the Death Star orbits, take out the protective shield generator, and then hit the Death Star's vulnerability. That sounds easy enough.
The third film in the series; this one is my favorite, because the filmmakers stop teasing us with anticipation. Return of the Jedi shows the viewers what they were waiting for and wraps up the loose ends. Another cool part is that we finally see the Emperor in person, and he is one ugly mo-fo. Throughout the trilogy, the Emperor and Darth Vader conspire to corrupt Luke. In Return of the Jedi, Vader and his boss tag-team their efforts to bring young Skywalker to the dark side. It's an excellent scene, and it's worth watching all three movies just to get to that part.
I do have one piece of nit picking that applies to the third film only. Some of the CGI creatures do not integrate well with the real actors. This is not noticeable in Episodes IV and V. One would expect George Lucas to do a quality-control check for something like that.
Memorable scenes: Luke defeating the hideous monster in Jabba the Hut's chamber of death; the psychological showdown between the Emperor and Luke; Princess Leia choking Jabba the Hut to death; the song and dance number in Jabba's palace; the scene at the pit of Carkoon; and seeing the spirits of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker together at the end.
A few remarkable quotes from all three films:
George Lucas: Films are never finished; they are only abandoned.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Who's the more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him?
Yoda: Do or do not. There is no try.
To wrap it all up, Star Wars and its two sequels are highly enjoyable films, even if sci-fi isn't your bag. This franchise has made a colossal impact in the film industry, having been referenced by scores of preceding movies. A superb example: Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy and Dogma (deleted scenes in the 2-disc collector's edition DVD) offer humorous interpretations of the trilogy relating to race relations and religion, respectively. All three Star Wars films are in the Internet Movie Database's top 250 list (www.imdb.com), a feat unmatched by The Godfather trilogy. (Re)watch Star Wars. If you don't have the tapes, buy or rent them. If you're a stingy bastard, you can catch the trilogy on the Sci-Fi channel. As Yoda would say, happy holidays I wish you.
Send any comments/ feedback to the author.
Alcohol is a scarce sight in the SW trilogy. In place of strong boozing content, there's a great scene in Episode IV where Obi-Wan Kenobi severs a bar patron's arm off for attacking Luke Skywalker.
This is not a date flick, but female viewers might enjoy the developing romance between Princess Leia and Han Solo.
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