Star Wars Trilogy (IV-VI)
(A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)

Year: 1977/1980/1983 Rating: PG-13 Overall Evaluation: 7.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 7.5 / 10 3.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 10.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

Style

Rated PG for sci-fi violence (ANH: and brief mild language). This is good clean fun there is nothing gratuitous (although Princess Leia's infamous gold bikini from ROTJ has haunted me to this day!).

Story

This is a sweeping saga (which itself is only the second half of a larger story) covering many years and characters. Overall, however, it is the story of the redemption of a evil Jedi Knight named Darth Vader. The saga opens in the middle of a rebel war against an evil empire headed by an emperor with dark powers derived from force and his minions. A rebel group has been formed to free the galaxy from this empire with help from a motley crew consisting of a hot shot smuggler, his Wookie companion, a princess, two robots, a young farm boy and his Jedi mentors.

[SPOILER WARNING!]

As it turns out the farm boy is Vader's son and he sets off on a quest to turn his father from the dark side of the force back to the light - he succeeds and saves the galaxy from the evil empire in the process.

Suppositions

The worldview of Star Wars is the mystical religion of the Force (Director/Writer George Lucas specifically calls "the force" a religion both in the films and in interviews). It is a New Age version of the oriental concept of "Chi" energy - an energy that flows through all things and can be controlled by those strong in it (I won't even mention the stupid explanation given in Episode I for this phenomena). There is no higher god in Star Wars - it is Buddhism for sci-fi fans basically. Further, the means of fighting the dark side of the force is the way of non-fighting. Give up your anger and you will somehow win. This is terrible ideology - evil is to be fought and anger is not, in and of itself, wrong. We should be angry at evil. Salvation in Star Wars is not by belief or obedience to God but rather a personal transcendence to a higher plane of existence (non-material of course) based on good works or a kind of oneness with the force that can be achieved through meditation etc. All of this smacks of gnosticism, New Age pantheism, and eastern mysticism. It is fraught with bad philosophy and false religious connotations.

Significance

The message the movie sends is excellent given the above considerations. Evil is to be fought (somehow) and no one is beyond redemption. Good will prevail, although at a high cost, and the bonds goodness forms are strong enough to battle seemingly all-powerful evil. This is a classic tale that follows the true story of reality and should be honored for that even though it is completely inconsistent with the worldview it presents.