After finishing The Mandalorian, my husband and sister-in-law insisted I watch the first of the original trilogy, the movie that marked the beginning of the Star Wars phenomenon. I’d never seen it, so here are my first impressions of A New Hope.
I assume everyone has seen A New Hope, but if not, Spoiler Warning.
TL;DR: This movie failed to capture me. It was a fun adventure with exceptional world-building, but the story and characters fell flat. I can logically understand why this movie inspired generations and such a devoted fanbase, but having come into this late with no childhood attachments, I’m not excited about the franchise from this movie alone.
My Thoughts in Depth
My favorite parts of A New Hope were the details that fit into the Mandalorian and Rogue One. I enjoyed the introductory scenes. I loved the aftermath of the Rogue One sacrifices, with Leia’s primary objective to convey the Death Star plans to the Rebels. I loved the droids in the desert, getting picked up by Jawas, and Luke and Obi-Wan getting accosted by Sand People. There’s even a giant snake corpse in the desert, like the sand dragon in The Mandalorian.
The world-building was wonderful. Luke’s family buys the droids from the Jawas to show a realistic and interesting space-fantasy way of life. Their home has a practical architectural design for a desert planet. The scene in the bar with all the aliens is fun, cooky, and foreign, but also a completely relatable tavern trope. The main conference room in the Death Star felt like a believably futuristic corporate room. I could go on, but suffice to say, the set design impressed and immersed me. The world-building was my favorite aspect of A New Hope.
I enjoyed C3PO as a character far more than I anticipated. I imagined an insufferable twit existing only for slapstick comic relief. Which is true, but he delights in that role. C3PO delivered all my favorite lines, and the way C3PO’s dialogue singlehandedly builds R2D2’s character gave me joy. Additionally, I appreciated the detail of the C3PO costume. Instead of shiny and new, it had texture, wear, and grease all over, which made the character feel real.
The trash compactor scene stood out to me. I love when characters make plans (let’s brace the walls with this metal pipe) that don’t work out, and they’re forced to improvise. The thing living in the trash compactor mysteriously disappears: wonderful. You don’t need to explain that; it explains itself like rats living in a sewer. The very best bit was C3PO’s “Oh they’re dying, listen to their screams!” This was my favorite moment of the movie.
I developed very little emotional attachment to any of the human characters. The humans felt like plot devices rather than people. For example:
When Luke discovers his family was killed, he barely cares! If anything, an obstacle has been removed, and now he fulfills his dreams of leaving the farm. There’s no moment of grief or growing pain in that step of the Hero’s Journey out of the nurturing womb of home and into the arms of destiny and adventure. Luke’s survivor guilt is swept under the rug with one line from Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan existed for exposition, so I felt nothing at his loss to Darth Vader. He was a history book, not a person. At least Luke grieved Obi-Wan. Also, did Obi-Wan die? He just disappeared into the ether. It’s hard to care when I don’t understand what happened.
I had no fear of Darth Vader. I’m not sure if I was even meant to. The thin-cheek admiral who blows up a planet out of spite frightened me more than Vader, which feels wrong in the context of everything I know about Star Wars.
Alderon getting blown up is where A New Hope falls so flat that I’m entirely vaulted out of the story. Aside from Obi-Wan commenting on all the voices crying out in fear, there’s no lament for Alderon! That power is horrifying and devastating on an unprecedented scale. Aside from “Noo!” Leia doesn’t grieve her home planet. The characters give so little weight to the destruction of an ENTIRE PLANET that, as an outside viewer, I hardly cared.
Why were all the rebel pilots so happy before they flew off to destroy the Death Star? They know they’re flying off to war, right? False joviality in the face of battle is real, but the execution made the pilots sound like ignorant idiots to me. Their attitude ruined the gravity of the situation.
It felt bizarre when Luke, Leia, and Han were all buddy-buddy at the end. I understand they went through a big ordeal together, but I thought, ‘Where the hell did this come from?’
Lastly, I know the terrible CGI was added later, so I won’t hold that against the movie. I just have to say, though, that it is astonishingly bad. I wish it hadn’t been there. The puppets and costumes were brilliant, but the CGI ruined every scene.
Going Forward
I’m surprised the Death Star got destroyed in the first movie. I have no idea what the other two movies in the trilogy could possibly be about unless they make another Death Star or Vader goes on a killing spree, and the Jedi decide, “It’s time to stop Vader now.” I suppose they need to find Yoda, and Luke needs to train to become a Jedi.
I know someone gets frozen in carbonite, but not who. I guess Han Solo because of his debt to Jaba. From the context of the Mandalorian, you freeze bounties in carbonite, and Han had bounty hunters after him. So, someone finally got Han and froze him in carbonite. “What about all the money Han got at the end of New Hope? Wouldn’t he use that to pay off his debt?” I don’t think so. Han totally spent all that dough. Probably on his ship, seeing as he loves souping it up so much.
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