Ben says: The big thing that everyone says about this well-deserved re-release of Star Wars is that you haven't seen it if you haven't seen it on the big screen and you gotta agree. Even the widescreen versions of the original on video tape just don't do justice to the sense of power and speed that is given by the movie at the cinema. Even more so in my case when I went to see it on its opening weekend at the Odeon in Leicester Square in London.

The auditorium was chock full, about 1900 people to be exact, and when the curtains opened and the lights went out for the start of the film, everybody stood and stamped and clapped and cheered and whistled. It was, without doubt, the best emotional experience I have ever had at a cinema.

According to a friend that went to the premiere in this country, Prince Charles went up on stage to make a comment about the film before it started and received applause from the audience; George Lucas stepped up on stage to say a little something and was subjected to a ten minute standing ovation - not bad for a man that has only directed three commercial films in his life. Another dramatic story about the night we went (the Saturday) was that we left, the next screaming horde went in, and after they came out, some armed robbers went in after them and took the entire days takings, some �40,000. Maybe they weren't Star Wars fans.

Anyway, the usual purpose of a review is to give an opinion on what the worth of the film was, so here goes. Star Wars is a slight little movie that got every boy of my rough age range (and not a few girls) completely mesmerised and, at the time, I, no doubt, totally believed the effects. Unfortunately, not all have stood the test of time and so George Lucas, who said he was never very happy with them, decided to release a new version with some of the effects updated. The important part in that sentence is the word "some". In truth, the film feels a bit patchy as you watch state of the art Mos Eisley followed by ropey motion control over the Death Star, and the fact that the boys from ILM haven't patched up the incredibly poor jump cut for the extension of the light sabers is disappointing. But the biggest problem for me is one of the new additions.

Remember the scene? It was he one that had everyone clamouring to play Han Solo in our Star Wars games, the scene that made you realise that here was a man who knew deep down that the ends do justify the means. The scene I'm talking about is set in the cantina in Mos Eisley, just after Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker have left, where Greedo, that weaselly, green-faced, good for nothing piece of alien scum, confronts our hero Han and tells him that it's too late to pay Jabba the money he owes him. At this point in the original film, Han Solo blasts Greedo under the table without a second thought, but in the new "improved" version he fires in self defence in response to a shot fired by Greedo turning cold blooded murder into mere self-defence and thus weakening the redemption that Harrison Ford's character goes through at the end of the film.

There are a couple of other places in the film where these "improvements" have been made. It was nice to se the original Jabba scene reinstated although I suspect that most avid Star Wars fans have long since seen the original fat scot's bloke doing his version and I do think that the technology available to ILM still wasn't quite up to the task of matching Han to Jabba in the new version of the scene, something that might have been better left for another ten years.

Okay, I'm being churlish now, but as someone who once memorised the home planets of each of the heroes and villains in the film (I knew that Coruscant was the seat of the Republic long before any of my sad mates) and that has seen Star Wars over eighty times now I have a right to complain at these little touches that have somewhat spoiled one of my favourite films of all time. Even so, I wouldn't have missed it for the galaxy and I look forward to seeing Empire (my favourite of the three) next weekend, back at the Odeon Leicester Square.

Ben gives it:

last updated: 5th April 1997