Where it all Began has been Renewed
It’s quite strange watching A New Hope now compared to when I first watched it as a little kid. Since watching it for the first time ever, despite not knowing when that is, the prequels have been made and released, the animated TV shows have come out, Disney bought Lucasfilm and The Force Awakens and Rogue One have been made and released. It’s safe to say a lot has happened whilst I’ve been growing up alongside the Star Wars Universe’s own evolution. The best addition alongside A New Hope is Rogue One which I watched before I watch A New Hope for the first time ever and it makes it so much better.
Since growing up and experiencing other films and the Star Wars prequels and so on I’ve come to think of A New Hope as being a little slow and not as spectacular as I originally thought. It was really a simple story set within this extraordinary universe which was a spectacle to see on the screen. As I grew up it dropped down my Star Wars list as Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi had more to them than A New Hope did. A New Hope now has a new purpose as the excellent Rogue One happens directly before it and makes the film feel more intense and somewhat urgent.
Rogue One making the film feel more urgent isn’t all that has changed as the other Star Wars movies have helped to change small things about A New Hope. One of these small things is production design which for the first time I took note of different aliens in the backgrounds of a shot as before they were just aliens filling in the scene but they are now familiar looking aliens from either other films or the shows. One that I had noticed in particular was the species from Utapau in Revenge of the Sith, one of them is just sitting in the cantina which is something you just wouldn’t notice until you watch them all in a row like I have done now. It’s a fun little treat that makes the world feel closer yet more expansive.
We now lead to continuity and how much is planned out by Lucas and how much isn’t. The main scene of this occurs as Obi-Wan finds Leia’s message from within R2D2. In this scene, we see R2, C-3PO, Luke, Leia (via hologram) and Obi-Wan together for the first time since Revenge of the Sith when Padme is giving birth. It’s such a weirdly important scene in the overall Star Wars story and originally it didn’t look like Obi-Wan noticed but now watching it there is a shot of Obi-Wan realising what is going on and it is quite unique and cool seeing all of the Star Wars storylines joining together as the adventures kicks off in the film.
Overall A New Hope has gotten much better thanks to Rogue One being made, no longer can the giant plot hole of the big hole in the death star be annoying to anyone. A New Hope’s rather slow pacing is taken out as the whole film feels a little more urgent but still if you watched the film just on its own it is definitely one of the more slower Star Wars movies. A New Hope will always be my start to Star Wars but it probably won’t be my favourite, it is however still a fantastic film that sets up our favourite universe.