Star Wars: Ranking Every Film From Worst To Best

George Lucas' original film is magic, captured on celluloid. Even all these years later, it is unreal how much power it carries.

First and foremost, it works phenomenally well as an introduction to this galaxy. Taking a note from the master, Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, Lucas begins the story from the perspective of the lowliest individuals in it; the droids. For the first half-hour of the film, C-3PO and R2-D2 are our surrogate characters. Getting to experience the world of Lucas' fiction this way, through the eyes and ears of characters on the fringe of this already-in-motion larger story is immediately encapturing.

It isn't until C-3PO and R2 are sold to the Lars farmstead that we meet Luke Skywalker and essentially level-up to our next audience surrogate, Luke himself. It's ingenious and a huge part of why the film works so well.

Of course, another reason the film works so well is... literally everything else.

Lucas' direction is wondrously full of awe, the production design is expansive and enthralling, John Williams' score is immense and makes every action feel even more powerful in its weight, Ben Burtt's sound design is phenomenal, Vader is an instant icon of screen-presence, and the entirety of the Death Star trench run is an absolute marvel of editing by the one-and-only Marcia Lucas.

It's a perfect crystalization of Lucas' early work and it is insane to witness.