In a galaxy not so far away, one of the greatest movie franchises was born. Star Wars. With the first film released in 1977 and an average grossing amount of $37 Billion, Star Wars has taken over the world. Since there are 9 Star Wars movies, it would seem uncommon to find somebody who hasn’t seen at least one. I am one of those people.

  In the upcoming week, I have set out on a mission to watch all of the original Star Wars films to see what the hype is really about.

A New Hope- A rough start, not a bad movie though

  As the journey of my Star Wars quest begins, I am trying to come into the experience with an open mind and not judge what I have previously thought of these films. As the film starts, two metal droids appear on the screen that happen to be R2D2 and C3PO. Luke Skywalker and his adopted father, Uncle Owen, buy these two droids. As Luke is cleaning out a droid, he finds a tape of Princess Leia which was a message to Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was the only person who could save Leia from the galactic empire who stole her. Luke goes to find Obi-Wan and he tells Luke that he’s very strong with the force and is able to defeat the empire. Luke was very surprised to find out that he was to become a Jedi and that he has the force that not many people have. As Luke finds out that he is a Jedi, he also finds out that his father was a Jedi as well, but was killed by Darth Vader. When Luke returns home, his adopted family was killed by stormtroopers from the empire who wanted to find R2D2 who has the valuable information that they didn’t want the rebels to find. After everything all happens, Luke learns how to truly use the force and attacks the Death Star. Mostly everything that happened in the movie would not make sense to me if I wasn’t with an avid Star Wars fan. I did not like the Sci-Fi action that was occurring throughout the movie, but it was still slightly interesting to watch. I was not expecting the rest of my experience to be horrible after all.

The Empire Strikes Back- Much better than A New Hope

  I own this movie, yet I have still never seen it. When opening up the DVD case, it was obvious that nobody in my family had watched it either because it was covered in dust and still had a seal on it. The movie started quickly with Luke going to a different solar system to find a Jedi master and become a Jedi knight, which I do not quite understand anything about this subject. The middle parts of the movie were rather boring because all that was happening were repairs to a ship that got attacked. Soon after this, Han Solo went to a different planet to find his friend Lando Calrissian. Han had trusted Lando until he called Darth Vader to come and when Darth Vader returns, and turns Han over to Jabba the Hutt. Luke comes into action and starts to fight Darth Vader and Darth Vader wanted to turn Luke to the darkside. Then comes the biggest plot twist in movie history. DARTH VADER IS LUKE’S FATHER! That was a crazy movie. I did enjoy this movie more than I did the previous one.  

Return of the Jedi- Interesting plot, wasn’t super confusing

Luke creates a plan to save Han and from Jabba the Hutt with the help of a lot of people that I don’t remember the names of because everything happened so fast. Leia releases Han from his jail cell, but in the act, she gets captured along with Luke. Luke and Leia both fight Jabba the Hutt and try to get away and Luke successfully leaves as Leia strangles Jabba the Hutt to death. When they return home, master Yoda is dying, but before he dies, he confirms that Darth Vader really is Luke’s father. Luke then realizes that Leia is his twin sister, which really isn’t that hard to tell because they look very similar. Luke goes to confront Darth Vader and Darth Vader tries to convince Luke to turn to the dark side which obviously doesn’t work. The Death Starship is now fully functional and Darth Vader takes Luke to the Emperor and tries to convince him again that he should switch over to the Dark Side. Back at home, Han’s team is captured by the Imperial force, but another attack allows them to fight and battle. Darth Vader and Luke get into a lightsaber battle and Luke cuts off Darth Vader’s hand. The Emperor tried to convince Luke to kill Darth Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses and Darth Vader kills the Emperor in the process. Although Darth Vader killed the Emperor, he also got himself killed and Darth Vader dies in Luke’s arms which was kind of adorable. I think I liked this movie the most out of the two that I have watched so far because of the plot that I could actually follow for most of the movie.   

The Phantom Menace- The worst one

  This movie was boring. The moment that the beginning started with an intense battle, I knew that I was in for a rough movie because fighting is not appealing to me. I have quickly started to notice that fighting and battles are a big part of Star Wars, which may be likable to some, but to me, it is deathly boring. Although the fighting and droid battle was not interesting to me, the rescuing of Queen Amidala was rather interesting to me just because I like her character. I don’t understand how people can enjoy watching these movies that last so long and everything just seems to repeat itself. All of the fights look the same. The only thing that differs from each scene are the different types of characters such as Jedi’s, humans, and other oddly shaped creatures. I also thought that it was intriguing when they found Anakin and started to train his to become a Jedi. Lots of action started towards the end when Amidala gets kidnapped and then Obi-Wan Kenobi kills Darth Maul which was CRAZY and then Obi-Wan got to train Anakin which was his dream. A lot happened and I’m still rather confused, but the ending was a lot better than the beginning. I would not say that I fully enjoyed this film, but it wasn’t horrible. Although I had just watched the previous movies, I was still very confused about who everybody was and why everything was happening.

Attack of the Clones- I don’t understand what happened

  Five minutes in and I’m already confused. Soph. Collin Smith explained to me that Princess Padmé Amidala went to a new planet and was trying to figure out who was trying to kill her. This didn’t really make sense to me. Why would she go to the same place as the person who was trying to kill her? A lot was happening and I still don’t understand why some people look normal and some people are like monsters. As the movie dragged on, I quickly realized that Jar Jar Binks is my favorite character (unlike what many others believe). When Anakin had this flashback about his mom, I thought it was pretty crazy that he got there right before she was going to die. After she died, Anakin proceeded to kill all of the people in the town, which I thought was a little overkill Then Smith said “Anakin isn’t supposed to kill people because he is a Jedi in training”, which I didn’t really understand because I’m not so sure what a Jedi is. I really like Anakin and Amidala together and I think they’re great, but I’m sad that they aren’t supposed to like each other. Basically, everything that has happened that I like, can’t even happen. Although I was not the biggest fan of the movie, I can still understand why people enjoy it because the characters are relatively relatable and the effects are also pretty cool.  

Revenge of the Sith- Super boring movie, I don’t understand the plot  

  With this movie being the end of my Star Wars experience, I was pretty excited to get it over with. As the beginning credits rolled in, I settled in for another two long and dreadful hours. Everything seemed to go by in a blur. I first picked up that it has been three years since the Clone Wars started, but I don’t really understand what the Clone Wars is. A lot of fighting happened in this movie which is very boring to me, so I couldn’t say that this was my favorite star wars movie. What is a Clone?  I found myself getting very bored, and this did not help my confusion on what was happening. The only part of the film that I actually enjoyed was the ending when Anakin turned into Darth Vader; that was cool.

Bonus: The Last Jedi- Very good movie despite the confusion throughout the movie

  Just for fun, I decided to go see the new Star Wars movie, but it probably wasn’t a good idea to watch it as my second Star Wars movie ever. As I walked into the theater full of Star Wars fans, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to expect. Throughout the whole movie, I didn’t know who anybody was, other than Yoda. Sadly, the highlight of this movie was a young boy rocking back and forth whenever something “exciting” happened. After talking about the movie with some avid Star Wars fans, things started to make a little more sense, but I still don’t understand why everybody was fighting each other. Also, the ending BLEW MY MIND. This movie out of the Star Wars line up appealed to me the most, but I think that’s just because of the newer graphics that made everything seem more realistic. Although the movie was filled with general excitement, it still didn’t do it for me. I just can’t get past the Sci-Fi nature that fills each scene.

I don’t like Star Wars. Unlike a normal movie, nothing is ever explained. Sure, Sci-Fi movies are cool and the production quality is nice, but the confusion that comes along with these films tops all of the fun special effects.  If someone were to start indulging themselves in these films at a young age and find a liking in Sci-Fi, then that’s great, but for anybody who hasn’t grown up watching these films; good luck. Turns out I won’t be joining the dark side that is the Star Wars fandom.