Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) [SF148-1196]It's cool to hate Star Wars in 2017. For the past 40 years it has not only been an influential series of films, but a cultural institution. I can bargain that more people know the twist in
The Empire Strikes Back than they have seen any Star Wars film. Though a slew of reaction videos can argue otherwise, my theory holds true because I was one of those people before. As a film aficionado, it's hard to discuss
Star Wars, otherwise known as "A New Hope", without mentioning Akira Kurosawa's great work of crowd-pleasing entertainment
The Hidden Fortress. I brought it up with a baby boomer who lived to experience 1977, she said Star Wars brought inspiration to many stories because "it did not suck."
This film does not suck. It's a masterpiece of editing and groundbreaking in visual effects and sound. The characters are archetypal but are still likable. No plot holes I can think of, at least now. Some finna film. Too bad I can't like it because it's popular.
Who am I kidding? This is a fun movie but it's no Hidden Fortress.
Video:Video Chain: Panasonic LX-600u - Composite >> Toshiba D-RW2 - Component >> Samsung DLP 1080p TV
Calibrated using the THX Wow disc then compensated afterwards for 0 IRE.Historically, before the first major alterations in the 1990s,
Star Wars was a soft film. The Silver Screen Edition 35mm scan on the Internet further supports this. This Japanese Special Collection release isn't going to assault you with sharpness, there's the official Blu-ray release for that business. The only aspects that keep this three-disc set from being the definitive version are the noticeable amount of film dirt (and water damage at one point?) and the limited contrast to perverse detail in old composite NTSC video. I don't think I over-compensated my set for Japanese NTSC (0 IRE) playback, the blacks in the frame of the film are dull and the letterbox around it are perfectly black. Unfortunately, this brightness boost reveals one too many of garbage mattes in the many optical effect shots.
Colors are subdued, flesh tones are natural and the splendor of the famous dye-transfer I.B. Technicolor print (used as a reference in Harmy's Despecialized Editions and the 1997 Special Edition) is hardly present. I'll admit the blue tones on R2-D2 change depending on the environment he's in (not a transfer error as I see it) and its fun to see them go from navy blue in the rebel ship to cyan outside in the Tatooine daylight. Lukewarm about the colors, I set my TV's color settings to where it was for 7.5 IRE, but that only introduced color bleeding.
The picture is shifted up to make way for Japanese subtitles below. At no point during the film did the subtitles intrude on the 2.35:1 frame of the feature. It can be framed without losing picture adjusting the zoom setting on my Samsung TV. Greedo's dialogue is translated only to Japanese where the subtitles usually reside, no English translation here.
Problems aside, it is still an enjoyable way to view the original theatrical cut of
Star Wars.
7/10Audio:Audio Chain: Panasonic LX-600u - RCA Stereo >> Samsung DLP 1080p TVFor a disc produced in 1986, it enjoys the benefit of a PCM audio track, which was listened to for review. It is a remix done in 1984-1985 supervised by Ben Burtt himself that placed the soundtrack to Star Wars in the digital domain. Reportedly, it is identical to the 35mm Dolby Stereo mix from the 1977 theatrical release, but with added dynamic range and an extra line of dialogue from C-3PO. Its remarkably quiet for today's standards, but it rather is a faithful reproduction of the film's sound. Don't expect a wealth of dynamic range here, or earth-shattering bass. This is a very clean sound mix all in all.
7.5/10