Rating: PG
Genre:
Science Fiction
Release Date: 09/12/2006
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French/Espanol
Sound: DD-EX/DDS2.0
Run Time: 123 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children, Sci-Fi Violence
Distributor/Studio: 20th Century Fox
George Lucas' mythological popcorn movie is a two-hour roller-coaster ride that has passed into movie legend. The story, for the tiny number of people not familiar with it, concerns a farm boy named
Luke Skywalker (
Mark Hamill) who discovers that the used robot recently purchased by his family plays back a message from one
Princess Leia (
Carrie Fisher), begging for help from
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Luke asks his father's friend
Ben Kenobi (
Alec Guinness) about this, and he discovers that
Ben and
Obi-Wan are one and the same.
Kenobi tells
Luke of the battle of the rebels against the ruling Empire and the spiritual energy called "The Force." Soon
Luke,
Kenobi, and a mercenary named
Han Solo (
Harrison Ford) join forces to rescue
Princess Leia from the Empire's mammoth warship, the
Death Star, controlled by evil genius
Darth Vader (
David Prowse, with the voice of
James Earl Jones).
George Lucas has frequently cited the influence of several films on
Star Wars, particularly
Akira Kurosawa's
The Hidden Fortress and
Yojimbo and
John Ford's
The Searchers, as well as the original
Flash Gordon serials. After
Star Wars became a success,
Lucas announced his intention to turn the film into a series, originally totalling nine films (later pared back to six). Consequently, most reissue prints now feature the title
Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope, with
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and
Return of the Jedi (1983) serving as Episodes Five and Six in the serial, and
Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace (1999) going back to the myth's beginnings.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide