countries and legal systems that take the rule of law principle seriously , had forbidden judges and juries to make judgements in all matters that could involve them personally . 
luckily , movie reviewers aren't burdened with such legislation . 
otherwise , small pool of very special movies would be forever ignored by this reviewer . 
in case of star wars , 1977 science fiction epic by george lucas , the consequences would be even more severe , because that film is very special for tens of millions , if not hundreds of millions of fans . 
in any case , objectivity is something seldom seen in star wars reviews , because undisputed majority of reviewers rate it as one of the best , if not the best film of all times . 
those who don't usually have some difficulties in hiding their artistic snobbery . 
the author of this review must also concede his inability to use cold , objective standards in reviewing this film . 
like so many previous reviewers , i must note that i watched star wars for the first time twenty years ago , and that i remained enchanted by the experience ever since . 
perhaps it was childlike fascination with , until then unimaginable , wonders that happened long time ago , in a galaxy far away . 
or perhaps it was the rush i felt minutes before the opening shots , with my expectations already pumped up by serialised comic books and novelisation i had read before . 
anyway , watching of star wars was one of the most important movie going experiences of my life . 
and it was also unmatched for many years to come , because very few movies managed to have such a strong impact on me like george lucas' epic . 
star wars wasn't just important movie for me ( or the millions of fans who probably share the same sentiment ) . 
it was the defining moment in the history of modern cinema . 
until than , american motion picture industry was in a limbo ; social turmoil in 1960s practically destroyed the old hollywood , and new authors filled the void , mostly by using hollywood's financial and technical resources to create serious , " personal " or " artsy " movies . 
as a result , audience , traumatised of dark reality of vietnam and watergate , didn't want to see the same dark and serious content on the silver screen . 
george lucas with its science fiction epic was among the first to come into rescue . 
the audience responded with unprecedented enthusiasm , and huge financial success of the movie , later backed by supplement industry of toys , books , comics , role playing games and other merchandise , slowly began to change the face of hollywood . 
serious , adult movies with artistic ambitions faded into oblivion , and were replaced by industrial products of " blockbuster " philosophy . 
one of the biggest casualties of that trend was the science fiction movie genre . 
until 1977 , science fiction movies were mostly in b-production domain . 
in late 1960s , bigger budgets for science fiction didn't look so strange anymore , thanks to the great success of 2001 : a space odyssey . 
but the same success coincided with the surge of pesimism , and hollywood science fiction was as bleak as the rest of its production - mostly dark , dystopic movies . 
however , in 1977 star wars showed once and for all that this genre can be inspiration for popular movies , even among the audience that usually doesn't like it . 
as a result , seriousness in cinematic science fiction began fading away , although some good , dark and cult quality sf and continued to be filmed until early 1980s . 
after that , science fiction continued to be considered a synonym for family entertainment . 
ironically , the man responsible for star wars was in its time considered to be member of " new hollywood " generation of young movie authors who made " artsy " and " personal " films in early 1970s . 
george lucas established himself with the dystopic sf movie thx 1138 , and nostalgic drama american graffiti . 
both movies were considered " personal " in its time , despite latter one becoming very popular . 
in a sense , star wars is an also very " personal " film , and the thorny way to the final production shows that commercial considerations were against it , not for it . 
but unlike many " personal " movies of the era , its " personality " was in line with the wishes of the general audience . 
the plot , set " a long time ago , in a galaxy far away " , begins in a time of civil war . 
the evil empire is threatened by rebels who want to restore the old republic . 
in order to quash any opposition , the empire had built death star , superweapon powerful enough to destroy whole planets . 
the information about death star , acquired by rebel intelligence , is being transported by princess leia organa ( carrie fisher ) when her ship gets intercepted by imperial cruiser . 
princess is arrested by imperial warlord darth vader ( played by david prowse and voice by james earl jones ) , but the information is being sent to nearby desert planet of tatooine via two humanoid robots - c3po ( anthony daniels ) and r2d2 ( kenny baker ) . 
those two robots are sold to the family of luke skywalker ( mark hamill ) , young restless man who wants to leave his farm and become space pilot . 
his adventure begins when r2d2 escapes , because the information must reach mysterious local hermit obi wan kenobi ( alec guiness ) . 
old man is actually the last surviving jedi knight , member of the ancient order that defended republic through the use of mystical force . 
after some hesitation , luke agrees to join obi wan in his mission to save the princess , while the old man would teach him the ways of the force . 
their small band comes to the colourful spaceport of moss eisely , where they hire the spaceship owned by rogue pilot han solo ( harrison ford ) and his furry sidekick chewbacca ( peter mayhew ) . 
critics who don't like the movie , especially those who can't forgive lucas for his contribution to the quashing of " new hollywood " , are prone to point the lack of originality . 
on the surface , they might be right ; lucas himself admits that he found a lot of inspiration in the lore of old hollywood - westerns , wwii aviation movies , old sf cliffhanger serials of the 1930s and 1940s ; yet the most obvious element would be akira kurosawa's samurai classic the hidden fortress . 
on the other hand , those who had spent last two decades studying the movie to death would say that the inspiration for star wars went even further - into collective subconscious of western civilisation ( hinted by some mild tolkien references ) . 
the others would find the author's element within the story - star wars could be seen as an anti- establishment film ; young , long-haired , easy going , nature-loving heroes are fighting against old , uptight and oppressive forces who use supertechnology in most demonic purposes . 
even out of its historical or social context , star wars is an impressive as a strictly technical piece of the seven art . 
george lucas' direction is very good , with the clever editing and a well-paced segments between action and dramatic buildup . 
characters are well-drawn and deliver all the necessary ingredients , both for the space opera and hollywood blockbuster . 
we have a " coming-of-age " hero , damsel-in-distress ( somewhat toned down due to the popular feminist trends of the time ) , reluctant helper , benevolent mentor , diabolical villain and , finally , comic relief in form of two non-human characters . 
some of the actors are very good - alec guiness in his most famous role to date , james earl jones whose voice is enough to cause unease , peter cushing as an incarnation of pure evil in human form . 
unfortunately , the same can't be said for the main leads - among the main trio of mark hamill , carrie fisher and harrison ford , only the last one had the character three-dimensional enough to launch his further acting career . 
the thing that looked like the most important segment of star wars phenomena during its initial release was the new level of special effects technology . 
often comparisons with 2001 : space odyssey , another ground-breaking sf film , were citing the sheer number of effects as a proof of the lucas' superiority over kubrick . 
however , the special effects by john dykstra and john stears are indeed impressive , even after two decades ( although 1997 special edition did improve them significantly ) , yet they aren't the most remembered trademark of the movie . 
that honour should definitely go to the " oscar " -winning soundtrack by john williams , whose work on star wars is probably the brightest gem in his brilliant career . 
newer generations of viewers might be somewhat deprived of the enchantment that still holds those lucky enough to witness star wars original release . 
yet , even if they are immune to the george lucas' magic they should watch this film nevertheless , perhaps only to become familiar with something that is essential part of contemporary culture .