The Only Star Wars Movie That Can Stand On Its Own
Arguing over the best Star Wars movie is a rite of passage for fans. There are two ways to think about it: which movie you like the most and which is objectively the best “movie.” If your answer relies on the first option, there’s no argument. Your opinion is your opinion. Going by the second standard, though? Well, there’s also no argument. It’s Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope.
Empire Is Nothing Without A New Hope
The older I get, the more I gravitate toward A New Hope as the perfect Star Wars movie. Not only is it a classic, but it’s the only Star Wars film that can stand on its own two feet.
Think about it: A New Hope without The Empire Strikes Back is just as good. Can you say the same for the reverse?
None of the prequels and the sequels could exist without Star Wars: A New Hope. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh! That’s how sequels work.”
And yeah, I suppose, with the exception of Fury Road and Troll 2, no sequels could exist in a vacuum without the original to give them context.
Everything Great About The Franchise Is In A New Hope
Star Wars is different, though. Most movies don’t give viewers a fully realized world to fantasize about. Star Wars: A New Hope does. That first movie sets up everything that would come after it.
Every aspect fans love about The Empire Strikes Back, Revenge of the Sith, and The Last Jedi is all there in A New Hope.
Han and Leia’s romance? The seeds are planted in Episode IV. Political corruption?
Tarken lays out the Emperor’s fascist plan to dissolve the Imperial senate during the “Vader has to choke a b**** scene.” A nobody becoming a hero and giving the galaxy hope?
Need I remind you that Luke Skywalker isn’t “Luke Skywalker,” yet in Star Wars: A New Hope? He’s just a nobody farm boy who gets coerced into taking on the biggest weapon in the galaxy with a ship that’s essentially a flying bathtub.
No One’s Favorite Star Wars Movie
Any way you slice it, the DNA of Star Wars as an ongoing fandom was present in A New Hope. Everything that came after expanded upon what was already there at the beginning. A lot of it is nice to have, but it’s essentially DLC.
Despite all that, A New Hope is hardly anyone’s favorite Star Wars movie. As a kid, it was my least favorite in the Original Trilogy because it wasn’t as flashy as Return of the Jedi.
Kids who grew up with the Prequel Trilogy regard all three originals as less visually exciting but usually consider A New Hope to be the worst-looking.
Cinephiles only interested in the franchise from a film perspective, will usually give A New Hope slightly more respect, but they still put Empire and Last Jedi above it.
The Franchise Keeps Getting Convoluted
While I still love Return of the Jedi for personal reasons, middle-aged me appreciates Star Wars: A New Hope more with every passing year.
As the lore expands and the fandom eats itself alive over canon, I long for simpler times. Rewatching the original 1977 classic in 2024 makes me wish the series stopped there. The perfect beginning was also the perfect ending.
Concepts like the force were better left to the fan’s imagination. Star Wars: A New Hope gives us just enough info about the Force to make it interesting. We know it lets a Jedi manipulate the weak-minded and that it can replace all of a Jedi’s other senses.
Vader meanwhile demonstrates the Force’s telekinetic side when he uses it to crush someone’s windpipe from across the room. Add in Obi-Wan dying and becoming one with the Force, and you have a mystical power that’s half religion and half X-Men.
It Was Better When We Knew Less
If you start reducing this mystical power to microscopic organisms, you remove the mystery and make it less interesting. See also, space whales giving people the idea for hyperspace travel.
Ultimately, Star Wars was more fun when Obi-Wan’s throwaway line about the Clone Wars was all we knew about the war.
Most of this sounds like “Old Man Yells at Cloud” and maybe it is. When I was a kid I craved more information. I wanted to know all the Star Wars lore there was to know.
Now I feel like I wished on a Monkey’s Paw. As an adult, I look back and realize I enjoyed the franchise more when I had to imagine everyone’s backstory.
Yeah, the guy who shoves Luke in Star Wars: A New Hope‘s cantina scene is a shady plastic surgeon, but so what? All you need to know about him is on screen. He’s a pushy jerk who likes to start barfights. Case closed.
A New Hope Is Star Wars
I guess what I’m trying to say is that most fans regard A New Hope as a nuisance—something that requires pretzel logic to fit into a rapidly growing universe. Instead, the movie deserves a little more respect and consideration from fans. Star Wars: A New Hope didn’t kick off the Star Wars fandom. It is the Star Wars fandom. The last 46 years of content has just been adding more context.
