Star Wars: A New Hope (Special Edition)
Soundtrack
RCA Victor Records, 1997
REVIEW BY: Alfredo Narvaez
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/04/2000
No movie was as anticipated as last year's The Phantom Menace. Whether you loved it, liked it, enjoyedit, dismissed it, hated it or despised it, you knew what was aboutand who was in it. You recognized Darth Maul and Jar Jar Binks evenbefore they appeared on the big screen. You heard of peoplestanding in line for over a month to buy the first tickets. You sawboth teaser trailers as CNN, E!, Entertainment Tonight and yourlocal news played and replayed them for twenty-four hours aftertheir first appearances.
And now that all the hoopla and hype has passed, you are eitherthankful for getting a chance to return to that big-eyed wonder ofchildhood or you hope to never see so formulaic and mediocre amovie ever again.
The funny thing is that, if you were to look back some twentyyears to the reviews of the first Star Wars film, you'd find pretty much the same attitudes -except for the expectation, of course. People were as divided overthat film as they were on its newest sibling. Some enjoyed it, someloved it, while others hated it - and still do - for shifting theattention away from straight storytelling and drama and towardsmore visual excitement and special effects.
Whatever the case may be for you, the one aspect of the Star Wars saga that nearly all people can agree on is themusic. Without composer John Williams' stirring and amazing scores,much of the mood, magic and power of the scenes - indeed of themovies - is lost. Having established himself with his work formovies like The Cowboys and Jaws, Williams was recommended to writer/director GeorgeLucas by his friend, Steven Spielberg, as the man capable ofcreating the lush, operatic music with which Lucas' movie could bepainted. I think it's safe to say that Spielberg was right.
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