Fun fact: I recorded that 100% seriously and when Landon told me about licensing issue and showed me his edit I fell on the ground crying laughing for five minutes.
1. Scenes about characters trying to make each other do something they don't want to. 2. Switch emotions when switching scenes. Great sounding advice I never heard before, right at the start.
Now that you are making a video essay what about finally doing something about Editing. I remember you mentioning Tom Tykwer's Heaven as one of the great edited films. After reading your essay about Tom Hooper and Art of cinematic affectation I have wanted to see you do something about editing. I think it was in that article you mentioned Heaven. I also haven't heard you mention the new edition of Screenwriting 101 in a while, is that still on or is it on pause/canceled?
You should really consider changing the title from (1977) to the Special Edition. Many of the issues you bring up are nonexistent when watching the Harmy Despesialized versions.
Brilliant video, a film school in 70 minutes. So, so happy to see you on RUclips. I used to read your posts on Badass Digest back in the day. I hope you continue to make more content. And while I am most definitely up further star wars videos as you seem to have suggested are on the way, I would also think that doing some of your old essays in video form, such as screenwriting 101, would be great too. Looking forward to whatever is next!!!
The only bad thing about this video is you don’t have an entire back library of videos to binge. Welcome to RUclips, looking forward to whatever you’ve got in mind.
I just wanted to thank you for being such an open-minded, open-hearted, eloquent, nerdy, vulnerable person. I think I can say from all of this community that you help us foster our understanding of cinema and help us become better human beings in the process. You certainly helped me.
I remember watching this as a kid, and I didn't get that Obi-Wan was using a mind trick on the Storm Troopers. I thought it was hinting at him having incredible influence and power, like a mob boss that owned half the city. I originally had it in my head that the force was only a physical thing, and that Obi-Wan had previously controlled the city through the use of the force but had retired from being a mob boss.
I always saw the Han vs. Greedo scene as a kind of western, quick-draw moment, where the whole point is to shoot first, because if you don't - you're dead. Fits with the saloon-theme of the cantina as well, I think.
Me: god...I never want to watch or think about star wars ever again. *film crit hulk posts first ever video essay on star wars* Me: alright one more time...
Table of contents! 2:37 Sequence 1: In Medias Res 7:49 Sequence 2: On Their Own 14:00 Sequence 3: The Homestead 31:16 Sequence 4: Hitchin' a Ride 39:43 Sequence 5: All Roads Lead to Alderaan 43:58 Sequence 6: The Death Star Capture 54:58 Sequence 7: Calm Before the Storm 1:01:09 Sequence 8: The Death Star Run 1:04:36 Sequence 9: We Did It! :D
Comparing the way characters are introduced in the original movie to how they’re introduced in The Force Awakens illustrates a lot about how modern movies will often double-down on technique to cover for lack of storytelling. Everyone in TFA is lovingly introduced with a dolly into a closeup, the movie is begging you to love them and focus on them. In the original Star Wars, they’re just people making their way through the world.
Poor storytelling often emphasizes the "candy" over the "vegetables". It's instructive to consider juvenile fiction - as in stories written by actual children. Kids will often start by writing about how awesome and powerful their hero character is. From there, they imagine a list of impressive things for their character to do, contrived to demonstrate their power. A more experienced and thoughtful storyteller understands that events and circumstances create heroes, not the other way around. To contrast a modern film (or films) that understands this, it is a reason why so many people love Captain America in the MCU. From the very first scene in the first film, Steve Rodgers is just someone trying to do the right thing and circumstances happen to put him in the right time and place. And at every step of his journey, he always remains humble; the storytelling emphasizes that he does not consider himself special. It is interesting to consider that in the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke at his darkest, in the opening of Return of the Jedi, speaks and carries himself as if he is threatening and powerful just because he's Luke Skywalker. The story proceeds to deconstruct this however, and by the end of the film, Luke re-embraces his humility and accepts that the world around him is more important than his personal glory or desires.
@@bluedotdinosaur I must have been a very weird kid cause I tended to tell "stories" that just involved regular people that so happened to stumble upon greatness. Even when I introduced someone who was "super powerful" I acknoledged that they had to have gotten their power from somewhere, that any powerful being has a history to them that led them to where they are now. Or maybe those were just the ones I remember the most! I would usually just grab 5 dinosaurs and make them fight 5 more dinosaurs mindlessly, when that got old I gave them all a backstory, then when that got limiting I set up a "plot" of some sort, but it would always involve a big fight at some point haha! In any case I look back at a lot of roleplaying I did with my toys and such a young age and while it was usually some form of power fantasy it was also kinda basic even when it was good. But I think people nowadays forget sometimes that you gotta nail that basic stuff in order for people to connect with your weirder/less human part of your stories (myself included!). idk if anything I said was relevant, just felt like chiming in I guess. I never built the disipline to write much outside of a couple of short stories on google docs, but I've been coming up with crazy stories in my head for a long time now.
Are you seriously saying that the introductions of Poe, Ren, Finn and Rey lacked storytelling? That they were bad? Seriously? Their introductions are very very very well done. The energy of Poe. The trauma of Finn. The aura of Ren. The dynamic of Finn and Poe. The charm and quietness of Rey. The way JJ set up these characters so well is why they've resonated so strongly with many.
I don't think you can use TFA as a bad example for everything. Rey's introduction (despite being a blatant rip-off of ghibli's NAUSICÄA) is actually very well done and her character gets communicated mostly over ACTION & REACTION. Compare this to the utter failure of the first half of ROGUE ONE, where everybody TELLS you about Jyn Erso and her character, but you never really see or feel it.
Well I mean if they are on your planet as regular wildlife roaming around like an every day creature in the world I think it would be normal to talk about them casually like that.
With how much Star Wars content we’ve gotten over the years, it’s hard to remember that it really started with a simple low budget film that was only focused on telling a basic story.
One year later, Superman was the most expensive movie ever at 55 million dollars, compared to Star Wars' budget of 11 million. It was still an expensive movie, but not massively so. Today, Star Wars would be some 40 million dollars, compared to the common budgets for this type of movie around 200 million.
Star Wars wasn't exactly cheap by the standards of 1977 though. It was almost 4x as expensive as Saturday Night Fever which was the third highest grossing movie of the year and about 3x as expensive as Smokey and the Bandit which was number 4. It was also 2 million more expensive than Logan's run the year before. It was about 8 million less than Close Encounters which was #2 though and about 3 million less than The Spy Who Loved Me. It was half the cost of the most expensive movie of 1977 (A Bridge Too Far). Star Wars only seemed cheap because budgets exploded because of its success as directors were given more leeway to push the technical envelope and more name actors got involved (10% of Superman's budget was Brando and Hackman; Alec Guiness got less than 200K up front for Star Wars).
58:07 - a point that nobody mentions. Before Luke approaches, Han is not so cock-sure in his decision and is loading the cargo facing to the left of the screen and literally has his back to the rebel forces prepping for the upcoming battle. After the encounter with Luke, Han is still showing the signs of self-doubt but is now loading the cargo facing the right of the screen, facing the rebel forces and symbolizing the growing conflict within.
Ok so I loved it. You reminded me why I love Star Wars and why it's so close to many people's hearts. Basic excellent storytelling can you take you far but most importantly create a story that makes you care. I've been reading you for nearly 10 years, and I am so happy with this new content. It's warm and informative in the ways I always loved about your writing. Welcome to RUclips. I wish you all the best. And know I'm already encouraging friends and family to see how wonderfully astute and intelligent you are. Thanks for this, keep up the great work!
Well it´s implied, being though under torture, and the lying under the threat of Alderaan being destroyed, that she has more then enough experience with loss on a large scale, that she can surpress her own sorrows, and take on the role of the caring leader in comforting Luke. So i don´t think it´s that way off to believe that could happen this way. Even with this conclusion, it´s a good question to ask, have a nice day!
@@warsstar or maybe you didn't. Because Leia as a character has always been established as selfless. She's a rebel, and even after intimidation, torture, and being threatened with her entire home planet being destroyed, she won't give up the location for the last hope in the galaxy. And her conversations with Han show their stark contrast between her selflessness and his selfishness. She has plenty of time to react to it in her cell. We just dont see it. She's also kind of in love with Luke, as seen when she kisses him. She cares about him. As well as being a hardened hero. Luke is a meager farm boy who had to go through the motions of becoming a hero in a few days. Details.
came here to say this-- FilmCritHulk somehow talks about the most fundamental building blocks of storytelling about the most-talked about franchise on RUclips, but is somehow the first to uniquely emphasize the genius of it
@@jonathanpark2537 Thank you :D I think the key is just never to get too caught up in the meta conversation or the fandom. It's all about just zeroing in on THE THING ITSELF and looking at it really close, almost as if from an engineering perspective.
I enjoyed this video a great deal. In particular, I appreciate how you focus in on what was done RIGHT in the movie and what makes it an example of strong story telling. So many of these types of reviews focus on the failings of newer films but you chose instread to focus on the positives. Looking forward to your next videos!
Thank you. I was in tears when you described the Death Star attack sequence. You nailed perfectly how great this sequence is. Your essay is a wonderful example of how to enlighten people about good story telling and craft. There is so much criticism on RUclips, which can be a lot of fun, but also fatiguing. It is much harder to explain why something is good. Critics disappoint me more when they lack the capacity to illuminate the good, people seem to fall for the gimmick that pointing out flaws is clever, whereas the opposite is true and it is much harder to explain the good. I also enjoyed your cheekiness and levity, not something that easily works in many written essays. I’m glad I read you first because the capitalisations and Hulk smash persona were a great way to break through the artifice of much film criticism. For people finding you on RUclips for the first time, your nom de plume might be little confusing.
This is probably the greatest summation of the reason the original Star Wars is a perfect standalone experience. It's difficult to separate the decades of lore and continuity that have been written around the events of the first film, but when you are able to think with the mind of a first-time viewer, the careful craft of Lucas and his team is palpable. Your analysis is perfect, hitting every meaningful beat with insight and thoughtfulness, and your level of detail regarding pacing, emotions, and style of each individual scene is unmatched on this platform. This may very well be my favorite video on YT, and I would love to see you tackle my favorite film, The Empire Strikes Back, in the future. You have earned my sub 10x over. Good luck and keep making great videos!
One thing I like about the cantina scene with all the aliens is that it represents Luke's first step into a larger world. While we caught glimpses of danger with the opening space battle and a few aliens like the Tuskens and Jawas, it's here where we see species from all over the galaxy, letting us and Luke realize how much of a vaster universe there is. The weird thing about The Force Awakens is that it has a cantina scene of its own, but it doesn't serve the same effect because we've already seen lots of aliens, on Jakku. So the movie didn't need a cantina scene because we already had that glimpse of a larger world with the aliens there, but it put one in anyway, almost as if it didn't realize it had already fulfilled its purpose.
Right. More than that, there's stuff in every shot of that scene in TFA, but you're not getting into the feelings of the characters. It's just scenery.
Yeah, an example of how the sequels imitate something familiar, trying to update it, but miss the significance. And you end up thinking, "well.... oh... that was OK. I mean, I guess. They put that in to remind me of the scene in ANH. But why are we here?"
I see a parallel between that scene and the scene where R2-D2 is dropped into the Jawas' wagon of captured droids. From a technical point of view we get to see all the various designs the folks at ILM/the costumers thought up. The variety in design also reflect the fact that the creatures are not uniform, they are from all over the place, reflecting a bar where everyone goes/a wagon where any droid is captured.
@@filmcrithulk1769 Would you say the TLJ equivalent works better because we're caught up in Finn's excitement at this glamorous place (assuming we're not already screeching at that point) and being set up for the same rug-pull he gets from Rose?
As a side note: another thing is that the sequels designs of alien creatures are so...uninspired, I seriously doubt that any of alien species introduced in the sequels will ever become as iconic as those of originals or even the prequels! Not to mention that for some reason I don't think there are even any of the original aliens in that cantina in Force Awakens, there are almost no already known aliens out there which is weird, after all this was a SEQUEL set in already established universe.
@@Targisvear The story I heard is that Lucas' original script was too bizarre and abstract, he needed to make it more "timeless and universal" (see: unoriginal and generic). So he tried to find the most "timeless and universal" story in existence to use as a reference, which turned out to be Campbell's monomyth.
It is more that as Film Critic Hulk says the book was more about symbolism and mysticism than common story dynamics. It is there, but that books isn't the best manual for writing.
I think waiting until nearly 20 minutes into the movie to introduce Luke was the best option for this film. If Luke had been introduced right away (like in all of the deleted scenes of him milling about on the moisture farm and talking with his friends) then it would have telegraphed to the audience that he was the main character and he would likely be fine at the end of the film. Introducing Luke as just a small part of a larger story keep the tension building as the audience has no guarantee that he will survive. I will defend the addition of the Biggs scene just before the Death Star battle, because it helps to explain why Luke (a complete unknown to everyone at that moment in the story) would be allowed to pilot an X-Wing into battle. Showing us that Luke had an old friend (who was mentioned by name earlier in the film) vouching for his piloting skills makes it easier to accept that as a decision that a military leader might actually make just before a desperate, all-or-nothing battle. Anyway, excellent analysis. It only serves to reinforce my belief that Star Wars (A New Hope) is a nearly perfect standalone film that never needed a sequel, prequel, or spin-off to be considered one of the greatest movies ever made in the history of cinema.
I guess I was never all that concerned about him getting to pilot one -- there's always other explanations like them having a simulator to try out (which they'd want to have for training normal pilots anyway), or the Independence Day one of "look, ever need everyone we can get because even a bad pilot is better than no pilot".
As a kid I always found it confusing, is the Biggs that shows up at the end of the movie the same Biggs Luke referred to in his conversation with Uncle Owen. This scene made it simply clear.
First time hearing your voice...have gotten son accustomed to reading ur articles it's an adjustment actually hearing u now haha May the great content continue in video form!
Like around 7 years ago Film Crit Hulk was actually on the podcast to Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon called The Indoor Kids (I think it was the Bioshock Infinite episode). He has also been in a few other podcast. But that was the first time I heard his voice.
Yeah, I first heard him on Good Christian Fun from close to maybe 2 years ago, digging into SPOTLIGHT (he was raised Boston Catholic; he had some thoughts and it's an incredible episode, I think it might have been my first GCF episode too, incidentally).
FILM CRIT HULK HAS JOINED RUclips AND SUDDENLY THERE IS ANOTHER SMALL LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS THAT IS THIS YEAR THANK YOU FOR BEING BRILLIANT AS ALWAYS AND PROVIDING A FRESH AND THOUGHTFUL VOICE TO FILM CRITICISM
This has probably been said a hundred times already, but I loved seeing action carried across a distance over scene cuts: the exterior explosion rocks the droids inside the spaceship. Or, Aldera[aa/aw/a]n exploding staggers Obi Wan. I'd have to go back and look, but I'll bet the Death Star attack sequence had lots of that, cutting between the rebel pilots dying and reaction shots from the Rebel control room.
I've been reading your long-form essays for a long time, so it's great to see that you've adapted your style of writing so well to a video essay format. Shout-out to your editor because he did a great job! Also, you always seem to put my unvoiced feelings of appreciation for things I love into words, so thank you for your work. I'm looking forward to whatever you decide to do next.
I didn’t think it was possible to love the first Star Wars more than I did, but you did it. So glad you’re finally making video essays, can’t wait to see what this channel brings 🙏🏻
Whenever a new Film Crit Hulk essay came out I never had to think twice. The deep dive was always worth it. As soon as I saw this video dropped, the feeling carried over. And it was worth it! Couldn't subscribe fast enough, but welcome to video essays!!!
The only disagreement I have is about the Biggs scene. Before the Special Edition, we hear Luke mention Biggs early on, as noted, and we see him the Death Star battle, but it always seemed off to me as a kid that there wasn't a reunion scene between the two before the Death Star attack- after all, they knew each other before leaving Tatooine, and it's pretty crazy that they both, unknowingly, ended up in the same place, right? I think Lucas included Biggs in the final battle to play up on the organic introduction of characters- I think most of us expected Wedge to die in the DSA as the "kill a wingman to pump up the tension" character, while Biggs would go on to become a larger part of the story. But because there was no reunion between the two and we're just sort of left with "oh, and Biggs is there, you remember, the guy Luke mentions once earlier in the film," I didn't feel any character tension or loss when he dies. He also represents, in a way, Luke's last connection to Tatooine and the life that came before. It seems to me like a case where that reunion scene was necessitated by the addition of Biggs to the DSA run in the first place. Without it, Luke's reliance on Biggs and reference of "back home" to him seem more forced, while I feel more connected to him with the reunion scene and more involved in Luke's character. I empathize with Luke more having a "OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE" scene than a "oh cool there's my childhood best friend who I thought I'd never see again let's go attack the death star together without mentioning it" scene. In other words, without the reunion scene, why include Biggs in the DSA run in the first place? Why not just another random guy?
The truth is the Biggs thing ultimately didn't work. The most ideal decision would be to excise all reference to his and Luke's prior relationship. They clearly tried to do so, dropping the scene where he shows up in the first act. But with the coverage they shot, they couldn't get that last name drop out of the first act. And so, it's a bit of a lose-lose scenario: Either they never satisfyingly follow up on the fact that Luke mentions Biggs at the beginning and he is also in the final battle, OR disrupt the pacing ramping up to the climax of the movie with that scene in the hangar. Originally, they chose the former option. They decided the awkward dangling thread was more acceptable than breaking up their very deliberate pacing. In the special edition they made the other choice, prioritizing the consistency of a small detail over the pacing. I would side with Film Crit Hulk's appraisal that they made the right decision the first time.
@@Jetflash6999 And that's a fair disagreement. There are pros and cons either way. Like, they absolutely HAD to drop the Biggs scene from the beginning because all the meandering on Tatooine with Luke was a total slog. And someone getting shot during the final battle that the audience cares about is already covered when R2 gets fried, so Luke losing a friend in the battle is emotionally redundant. You can see what the character was intended to be in the original draft, but the movie had changed shape such that he was neither necessary nor even helpful. But they were well into post-production by the time that became clear.
If you have the movie showing how close Luke and Biggs are and drawing all these parallels between them, the audience is naturally going to start blurring them together; so when Luke loses him, it would seem like he lost a part of himself and this would add unneeded ambiguity to the resolution.
Lucas said he wanted to make a modern Myth, and he did. Myths have more impact on a culture than, say, the works of Shakespeare. The Greek gods helped shape the cultural identity of the Greeks. To an extent, Star Wars has done the same for America, though in a more subtle fashion that even I still don't quite understand. And really, I think that is what makes star wars so beautiful and impactful. And it helps explain why so many people cry out in horror when that very thing is being destroyed right before there eyes. I can only Imagine what the Greeks would have felt having to witness there Pantheon fall apart and fade into obscurity. When a Myth dies, in hurts on a personal and cultural level. Our culture will never be the same with the death of this Franchise. The excitement is gone, the enthusiasm is gone, and so is the money that fueled its existence. We have lost so many franchises that have helped shape multiple generations; Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and plenty that even I don't know of because I am too young to even know they even existed. We don't have that anymore...
Please do more of these, I'd love to see one for at least the first 6 films if not all 11. You know your stuff and breaking down what works and what did not and why, adds a lot to the story I often gloss over, and is a fresh new way to experience this story I literally grew up with, spending over 40 years watching, playing with toys and reading about.
I loved this, thought ‘it’s just another generic Star Wars video essay’ but you drew me in straight away and succeeded in stealing an hour of my life! In all seriousness this is great and the definitive video for Hope imo. Just looking at it as a movie. No context (apart from the absolutely necessary, not all the ‘it was only popular due to Vietnam’ tripe). Thanks! Hope you’ll do all the other Star Wars movies and if so I’m looking forward to it!
It’s kinda a small miracle this movie is as good as it is considering how production was a major pain and how Lucas can’t write dialogue. A lot of it was saved in editing and actors ad libing dialogues. And John Williams music
Ad libing? I've only seen people talk about how they reworked their dialogue, not spur of the moment stuff. More drag Lucas aside and say "what on Hoth is this stuff?" kinda things.
Lucas is a good writer, and I think he's given us a ton of iconic lines. Also the "saved in the edit" myth refers to Marcia AND GEORGE Lucas editing a rough cut of the film, a cut he never going to release.
@Mister Airborne This idea that George Lucas was a hack writer who only earned praise because his wife edited Star Wars kinda completely falls apart when you watch "American Graffiti". That film's about as cleanly structured as New Hope, in my opinion.
@@dabunnydabunny1243 Yeah, pretty much. I love all of George's work, though some pieces are better than others. However, American Graffiti, perhaps aside from ROTS, is a pure and unmitigated expression of how George Lucas makes films, and it's done damn well.
Just wanted to say thank you for the analysis. I'm writing a story of my own, and your patient, piece-by-piece dismantling of the plot and character moments, with excellent explanations of how they work and interact, not to mention how they *don't* work when they're not used properly, has been the best writing workshop I've ever had.
I'm very far from finishing this but this is already mad polished and eloquent, I know I'm in for something great! Congrats on getting it out there! You're my favorite critic/essayist out there right now and as someone who has learned *so much* about cinema from your written work, I'm already super excited to see your further video work! Thank you for sharing this! :D
Ah, the scene of Luke staring into twin suns of Tatooine with epic [INSERT SHITTY FLUTE] is really invoking my childhood nostalgia. Finally you are on YT, INSTANT SUB
I would actually argue that the scene where Luke finds Biggs actually does help serve the narrative. He finds Biggs right after he feels like Han has abandoned him, and things feel more copacetic again. He still has a friend he can rely on, and it helps him be all smiles as R2 gets loaded in. Biggs' arrival helps snap Luke out of his funk and acts as a slightly further circle that the empire is tearing away at during the fight. Biggs is to Luke what Alderaan is to Leia. Biggs' death is shown to be Luke's failure, and adds to the tension by adding that, since he has already failed once, can he succeed here? Biggs got a bit of setup from Red Leader's run, where the consequences of failure are shown, and Biggs biting it the way RL's wingman does tells us "Is is going to go the same way"? Put simply, by adding in the scene where he meets Biggs, while it can be a little jarring, makes his loss feel more personal and hit Luke more closely than just a repeat of RL's run.
I'd offer that Leia covering R2 and Threepio's escape with a gun being our real first moment with her is incredibly informative about the film, too - being a Princess is not mutually exclusive to being a rebel. Being a fighter AND a politician is central to the importance of her rescue - not a figurehead, a leader. They do more to establish that later - but we go into our relationship with her knowing, first and foremost, she'll shoot a fucker.
@39:35...the hanger scene as the Stormtroopers attack I think is a great example of what this video is about. Even though Han is surprised and caught off guard and thought he had more time ("our passengers must be hotter than I thought") as they attack, he immediately realizes he is outnumbered and outgunned so instead of shooting at them directly, in order to do as much damage to them as fast as possible he shoots at the hanger structure which sends exploding chunks of heavy material raining down on them disrupting and interfering with their assault which turned the table enough to give him a chance to get onboard before being shot. It's one of my favorite scenes. It really gives a sense of understanding at that point that Han is really fast and really good at staying ahead of and getting out of bad situations. Like when he shot Greedo before Greedo could shoot him. These two moments were character defining.
I literally teared up watching this, what a beautiful essay! So refreshing to get something so positive and delightfully pensive during a time when it seems to be much more popular to rip things up.
@5:23 I think one of the most important factors in this moment when the Storm Troopers break into the Rebel ship, is that just before that there are closeups on two of the ships soldiers. We see their faces react with angst first to the clonking of the Rebel ship being firmly trapped inside the jaws of the big Imperial ship, and then how they focus with determination towards the door. Then the door gets blown and everyone recoils from the blast, mayhem ensues, and we again get closeups on those soldiers we first saw - as they get shot! That is what first sold me on this movie. These details makes the scene about people, with lives at stake, trying to stop something bad (faceless killers in armor, in this case).
Man, you've hit the ground fucking running in your entry to RUclips. This video is something else. I'm so glad someone articulated why the film works FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A 1977 AUDIENCE. It's way too easy to look back in hindsight, especially with the number of people who saw it in 1977 getting smaller every day. Kudos, you have something interesting to add to the internet, and I cannot give higher praise than that.
Episode X: Han's Last Choince! Big love to you Hulk, glad you're on here doing this stuff. Great editing too (cracked me up how a certain director's film clips kept popping up when discussing what doesn't work)
Wow this is amazing, you are absolutely my favourite film critic and seeing you get behind long from video essays has me really excited for your future work. Keep it up!
58:56 That growl from Chewie says so much. I'm almost certain George Lucas intended it to mean "Sometimes it's necessary to run and hide, like my close and personal friend, Yoda, did. But honestly, I don't think he made the right decision, Han, ol' buddy. But that's a story for another time. The main point is: don't be like Yoda". I'm pretty sure that's how I interpreted it back in the 80's.
Hi. I'm tired and I have to be brief, but I still wanted to drop a line. I'm just really glad you've finally got a channel on RUclips! For years, I used to read everything you wrote on your blog. I can't remember if it was StumbleUpon or some other way by which I, uh, stumbled upon your essays, but I'm very happy I did. I used to get DVDs for their extras in the hopes of learning more about the craft of making movies. Reading all caps arguments about movies was the natural next step. That was years ago. Can't remember how many. Maybe a little over ten? But to cut a long story short, I finally landed a position in a screenwriting school last fall. We already made a short film with my class mates, and we're just getting started. But still, it's something. I actually got to make a small movie. And it means the world to me. Thank you. Along the way you've inspired me so much. Just the notion of there being someone who loves movies and knows so much about them made it seem possible that even I could learn something about them. And maybe some day get to make one. I know it's been a while. The last time I read your blog was to check your opinion on The Last Jedi, a somewhat divisive movie I loved. If the RSS feed live bookmarks hadn't stopped working, I probably would've kept reading. Still, I maybe stopped following you for a while, but I never forgot the impact your words had had on me. Thank you again. At least to me, you managed to find something new to say about Star Wars. And do it with funny angle as well. Looking forward to more videos. The format seems to suit you, even if there was less yelling and smashing than I would've imagined. Hopping over to RUclips was definitely the right choince.
Hey Hulk. May I be hopefully not the last to welcome you to RUclips. Good to have you here! I've been reading you for years and it's really cool that you're working with another medium. Look forward to seeing what's next!
Bruh this guy is what I think is a new youtuber but he is really high quality and thorough his videos, so professional, and that's why I subscribed, he also makes it fun and not too boring making time fly easily.
"There is no cross cutting to this farm boy waiting for something down bellow..." And we have the post production editing to thanks for that, the original montage had exactly such a shot jammed earlier in the movie.
what i really like about the Biggs scene that was reinstated in the special edition (the only good change if you ask me) is that besides being a continuity nod to Luke mentioning Biggs in the farm is that its a moment that futher illustrates the journey Luke took trought the movie he has reached the likes of Biggs as he wanted at the start of the film, its not necessary granted buts i think it really works
Just amazing, after years of literally the best film writing in our culture, it feels like you’ve found your “calling”... Excellent work, can’t wait for what you do next :)
I've never run across your work before finding this video, but now that I have and really enjoyed it, I hope I can find your articles that people in the comments mention reading.
This is fantastic and amazing and I love it. Now where is your book? I’m tired of telling people that the best book on learning how to write is impossible to purchase....
That recorder made me tear up.....into laughter. After the Disney Sequels, I thought I lost my love for Star Wars. Thank you for bringing it back to me. You’ve earned yourself a new sub.
With the refusal of the call, you don't really expect a person to change their mind instantly. The Jabba the Hutt scene was added back in to explain Jabba's "long time no see" line in ROTJ
Okay four things: 1. Welcome to RUclips. I pray that your sanity will remain intact. 2. I sense a Movies With Mikey influence in the editing and writing here. Is that deliberate or accidental? 3. What other videos can we expect in the future? 4. People have given George Lucas a lot flack for being a bad writer but having read some the old Sci-Fi that helped him shape Star Wars, the dude is Arthur Miller in comparison to what he was drawing on.
To be fair, Lucas' original drafts really did have the same flaws as the old Sci-Fi books he drew inspiration from. It was down to the editor (his then wife) and the actors to distill what he wrote down into the story we are all familiar with.
@@chrisossu2070 Sorry, but no. Please stop with this "Marcia saved SW". She was one of many people giving their input. She cut the Battle of Yavin scene. The rest was edited by Lucas, Chew and Hirsch. Kurtz was a big influence on the movie, as were all the actors in fixing the *dialogue* All movies get written three times; the screenplay, the shoot and the edit. It was Jympson's hopeless edit that Lucas also hated, that dumb people want to cite as Lucas' vision, in that stupid video about how SW was 'saved'. Take a look at any shooting script and see how the final cut is much tighter. And watch American Graffiti, that Lucas co-wrote and directed, before assuming he can't write or direct a movie. Thank you.
I love the breakdown but I really wish you had used the original movies, or at the very least the despecialized versions. Those were the ones that made an impact, not these later-edited versions.
At first I was disappointed that you didn't use the Hulk voice but that quickly subsided as I enjoyed your bedtime story worthy narration. Seriously you should do audiobooks.
Sir this video essay of my favorite movie has just made me love Star Wars, the Originals, and this movie even more. I drained my 75% battery for this video and it was absolutely worth it. Thank you. And I hope you more about the others. I would love to watch those.
I’ve been curious about how your incredible dramatic understanding and way with words when it comes to storytelling would translate into this weird RUclips space where anyone can pick up a mic and act like they know something. (That’s me). Unsurprisingly, you bring a sense of real emotional intelligence and understanding to a place that often lacks it. I can only hope you quickly cut to the heart of this website and get the attention you deserve. In short, this video was enthralling and I can’t wait to see more!
Important point about Darth Vader's entrance...when I saw this as a kid for the first time, I was unsure of who the bad guys were. Sure, the Stormtroopers looked menacing, but in those days only the good guys wore white. But as soon as Vader walked in, you knew exactly what was what.
I'm only 11 minutes in and I have to say this is great analisis. You've given me so many tools through your written essays, video essays are the next logical step. Hope you make more
Even as a kid in '77 I could see the opportunity for a sequel. Luke got his light saber and some training, but never used it. I knew there had to be more to it. I still think the Death Star attack is one of the best paced, edited and scored acts of any movie I've seen.
One of the most iconic moments in Cinema
*flute starts playing*
Halp I’m dying
It's so cute! What the actual hell!?
Fun fact: I recorded that 100% seriously and when Landon told me about licensing issue and showed me his edit I fell on the ground crying laughing for five minutes.
@@filmcrithulk1769 It was wonderful man, it cracked me up XD Seen "My heart will go one" with flute ;)
"THIS IS THE REAL POWER OF CINEMA."
woo fweep fweep tweeoo
I can't unhear it
1. Scenes about characters trying to make each other do something they don't want to.
2. Switch emotions when switching scenes.
Great sounding advice I never heard before, right at the start.
Yeah, those things are the backbone of conflict and "negative and positive shifts" within scenes!
Thank you for taking a *choince* on this video...
Now that you are making a video essay what about finally doing something about Editing. I remember you mentioning Tom Tykwer's Heaven as one of the great edited films. After reading your essay about Tom Hooper and Art of cinematic affectation I have wanted to see you do something about editing. I think it was in that article you mentioned Heaven.
I also haven't heard you mention the new edition of Screenwriting 101 in a while, is that still on or is it on pause/canceled?
RUclips recommends put you in my feed but your essay on Batman v Superman made me click and subscribe. We've been waiting for you...
You should really consider changing the title from (1977) to the Special Edition. Many of the issues you bring up are nonexistent when watching the Harmy Despesialized versions.
Brilliant video, a film school in 70 minutes. So, so happy to see you on RUclips. I used to read your posts on Badass Digest back in the day. I hope you continue to make more content. And while I am most definitely up further star wars videos as you seem to have suggested are on the way, I would also think that doing some of your old essays in video form, such as screenwriting 101, would be great too. Looking forward to whatever is next!!!
Maclunky! Thanks for the vid, some great material here.
The only bad thing about this video is you don’t have an entire back library of videos to binge. Welcome to RUclips, looking forward to whatever you’ve got in mind.
I’ll second that!
It's true
I just wanted to thank you for being such an open-minded, open-hearted, eloquent, nerdy, vulnerable person. I think I can say from all of this community that you help us foster our understanding of cinema and help us become better human beings in the process. You certainly helped me.
These are the wholesome comments I'm here for!
@@MoxieMcMurder yeah
I remember watching this as a kid, and I didn't get that Obi-Wan was using a mind trick on the Storm Troopers. I thought it was hinting at him having incredible influence and power, like a mob boss that owned half the city. I originally had it in my head that the force was only a physical thing, and that Obi-Wan had previously controlled the city through the use of the force but had retired from being a mob boss.
That's a fun alternate history version!
That could easily be what the troopers are perceiving under the mindtricks influence 😉
@Arkaitz Hedger mediclorans . . . _bleugh_
Like an old space John Wick
I always saw the Han vs. Greedo scene as a kind of western, quick-draw moment, where the whole point is to shoot first, because if you don't - you're dead. Fits with the saloon-theme of the cantina as well, I think.
Me: god...I never want to watch or think about star wars ever again.
*film crit hulk posts first ever video essay on star wars*
Me: alright one more time...
This one was at least positive and open hearted!
@@filmcrithulk1769 And we thank you for it.
this is where the fun begins
Just when you thought you were out...
This
Table of contents!
2:37 Sequence 1: In Medias Res
7:49 Sequence 2: On Their Own
14:00 Sequence 3: The Homestead
31:16 Sequence 4: Hitchin' a Ride
39:43 Sequence 5: All Roads Lead to Alderaan
43:58 Sequence 6: The Death Star Capture
54:58 Sequence 7: Calm Before the Storm
1:01:09 Sequence 8: The Death Star Run
1:04:36 Sequence 9: We Did It! :D
Calm before the storm? You mean Han's Last Choince?
Thank you
Comparing the way characters are introduced in the original movie to how they’re introduced in The Force Awakens illustrates a lot about how modern movies will often double-down on technique to cover for lack of storytelling. Everyone in TFA is lovingly introduced with a dolly into a closeup, the movie is begging you to love them and focus on them. In the original Star Wars, they’re just people making their way through the world.
Very well put!
Poor storytelling often emphasizes the "candy" over the "vegetables". It's instructive to consider juvenile fiction - as in stories written by actual children. Kids will often start by writing about how awesome and powerful their hero character is. From there, they imagine a list of impressive things for their character to do, contrived to demonstrate their power.
A more experienced and thoughtful storyteller understands that events and circumstances create heroes, not the other way around. To contrast a modern film (or films) that understands this, it is a reason why so many people love Captain America in the MCU. From the very first scene in the first film, Steve Rodgers is just someone trying to do the right thing and circumstances happen to put him in the right time and place. And at every step of his journey, he always remains humble; the storytelling emphasizes that he does not consider himself special.
It is interesting to consider that in the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke at his darkest, in the opening of Return of the Jedi, speaks and carries himself as if he is threatening and powerful just because he's Luke Skywalker. The story proceeds to deconstruct this however, and by the end of the film, Luke re-embraces his humility and accepts that the world around him is more important than his personal glory or desires.
@@bluedotdinosaur I must have been a very weird kid cause I tended to tell "stories" that just involved regular people that so happened to stumble upon greatness. Even when I introduced someone who was "super powerful" I acknoledged that they had to have gotten their power from somewhere, that any powerful being has a history to them that led them to where they are now.
Or maybe those were just the ones I remember the most! I would usually just grab 5 dinosaurs and make them fight 5 more dinosaurs mindlessly, when that got old I gave them all a backstory, then when that got limiting I set up a "plot" of some sort, but it would always involve a big fight at some point haha!
In any case I look back at a lot of roleplaying I did with my toys and such a young age and while it was usually some form of power fantasy it was also kinda basic even when it was good. But I think people nowadays forget sometimes that you gotta nail that basic stuff in order for people to connect with your weirder/less human part of your stories (myself included!).
idk if anything I said was relevant, just felt like chiming in I guess. I never built the disipline to write much outside of a couple of short stories on google docs, but I've been coming up with crazy stories in my head for a long time now.
Are you seriously saying that the introductions of Poe, Ren, Finn and Rey lacked storytelling? That they were bad? Seriously? Their introductions are very very very well done. The energy of Poe. The trauma of Finn. The aura of Ren. The dynamic of Finn and Poe. The charm and quietness of Rey. The way JJ set up these characters so well is why they've resonated so strongly with many.
I don't think you can use TFA as a bad example for everything. Rey's introduction (despite being a blatant rip-off of ghibli's NAUSICÄA) is actually very well done and her character gets communicated mostly over ACTION & REACTION. Compare this to the utter failure of the first half of ROGUE ONE, where everybody TELLS you about Jyn Erso and her character, but you never really see or feel it.
I love the "we used to bullseye womp-rats" line. He just casually mentioned that there were 2 meter rats on his him planet like that was no big deal.
I guess those krayt dragons need something to eat...
Well I mean if they are on your planet as regular wildlife roaming around like an every day creature in the world I think it would be normal to talk about them casually like that.
With how much Star Wars content we’ve gotten over the years, it’s hard to remember that it really started with a simple low budget film that was only focused on telling a basic story.
One year later, Superman was the most expensive movie ever at 55 million dollars, compared to Star Wars' budget of 11 million. It was still an expensive movie, but not massively so.
Today, Star Wars would be some 40 million dollars, compared to the common budgets for this type of movie around 200 million.
Star Wars wasn't exactly cheap by the standards of 1977 though. It was almost 4x as expensive as Saturday Night Fever which was the third highest grossing movie of the year and about 3x as expensive as Smokey and the Bandit which was number 4. It was also 2 million more expensive than Logan's run the year before.
It was about 8 million less than Close Encounters which was #2 though and about 3 million less than The Spy Who Loved Me. It was half the cost of the most expensive movie of 1977 (A Bridge Too Far).
Star Wars only seemed cheap because budgets exploded because of its success as directors were given more leeway to push the technical envelope and more name actors got involved (10% of Superman's budget was Brando and Hackman; Alec Guiness got less than 200K up front for Star Wars).
Welcome to RUclips. Hopefully you'll soon tell us about Raid: Shadow Legends.
or nord vpn
This is now the RUclips equivalent of "break a leg".
Hey, you never know, it could be skillshare.
or Square Space.
@@paristeta5483 True. Square Space is more ubiquitous but Raid: Shadow Legends is just more fun to say.
Darth Vader's "What?" is also absolutely hilarious.
As someone who's read your work for years now, let me say - Welcome to the Video Essay community!
Does he write books?
@L Train 45 Alright mate, no need to be a dick about it!
@L Train 45
Guessing you don't have a big social life...
@L Train 45 that definitely implies something that I hope you didn't mean.
@@SlinkiestTortoise23 so does he?
58:07 - a point that nobody mentions. Before Luke approaches, Han is not so cock-sure in his decision and is loading the cargo facing to the left of the screen and literally has his back to the rebel forces prepping for the upcoming battle. After the encounter with Luke, Han is still showing the signs of self-doubt but is now loading the cargo facing the right of the screen, facing the rebel forces and symbolizing the growing conflict within.
Ok so I loved it. You reminded me why I love Star Wars and why it's so close to many people's hearts. Basic excellent storytelling can you take you far but most importantly create a story that makes you care. I've been reading you for nearly 10 years, and I am so happy with this new content. It's warm and informative in the ways I always loved about your writing. Welcome to RUclips. I wish you all the best. And know I'm already encouraging friends and family to see how wonderfully astute and intelligent you are. Thanks for this, keep up the great work!
Awwww thank you!
Luke: I’m so sad that old man I barely know died.
Leia there comforting him after loosing her whole planet and family
Film Hulk needs to comment on this.
Well it´s implied, being though under torture, and the lying under the threat of Alderaan being destroyed, that she has more then enough experience with loss on a large scale, that she can surpress her own sorrows, and take on the role of the caring leader in comforting Luke. So i don´t think it´s that way off to believe that could happen this way. Even with this conclusion, it´s a good question to ask, have a nice day!
Just an example of George Lucas not paying attention to details.
@@warsstar or maybe you didn't. Because Leia as a character has always been established as selfless. She's a rebel, and even after intimidation, torture, and being threatened with her entire home planet being destroyed, she won't give up the location for the last hope in the galaxy. And her conversations with Han show their stark contrast between her selflessness and his selfishness. She has plenty of time to react to it in her cell. We just dont see it. She's also kind of in love with Luke, as seen when she kisses him. She cares about him. As well as being a hardened hero. Luke is a meager farm boy who had to go through the motions of becoming a hero in a few days. Details.
@@2ndairborneguy790 No no, just Lucas not paying attention to details. Especially this kind of character's emotional detail.
Star Wars is a tough subject here because it's been beaten to death but leave it to FilmCritHulk to find something left worth saying.
came here to say this-- FilmCritHulk somehow talks about the most fundamental building blocks of storytelling about the most-talked about franchise on RUclips, but is somehow the first to uniquely emphasize the genius of it
@@jonathanpark2537 He nearly goes through the whole damn movie step by step as well, somehow still in a concise and non-rambling way.
@@jonathanpark2537 Thank you :D I think the key is just never to get too caught up in the meta conversation or the fandom. It's all about just zeroing in on THE THING ITSELF and looking at it really close, almost as if from an engineering perspective.
@@filmcrithulk1769 I think we have a formalist here. And couldn't agree more.
I enjoyed this video a great deal. In particular, I appreciate how you focus in on what was done RIGHT in the movie and what makes it an example of strong story telling. So many of these types of reviews focus on the failings of newer films but you chose instread to focus on the positives. Looking forward to your next videos!
AND also at least acknowledged that there were not so good bits.
Thank you. I was in tears when you described the Death Star attack sequence. You nailed perfectly how great this sequence is. Your essay is a wonderful example of how to enlighten people about good story telling and craft. There is so much criticism on RUclips, which can be a lot of fun, but also fatiguing. It is much harder to explain why something is good. Critics disappoint me more when they lack the capacity to illuminate the good, people seem to fall for the gimmick that pointing out flaws is clever, whereas the opposite is true and it is much harder to explain the good. I also enjoyed your cheekiness and levity, not something that easily works in many written essays. I’m glad I read you first because the capitalisations and Hulk smash persona were a great way to break through the artifice of much film criticism. For people finding you on RUclips for the first time, your nom de plume might be little confusing.
This is probably the greatest summation of the reason the original Star Wars is a perfect standalone experience. It's difficult to separate the decades of lore and continuity that have been written around the events of the first film, but when you are able to think with the mind of a first-time viewer, the careful craft of Lucas and his team is palpable. Your analysis is perfect, hitting every meaningful beat with insight and thoughtfulness, and your level of detail regarding pacing, emotions, and style of each individual scene is unmatched on this platform.
This may very well be my favorite video on YT, and I would love to see you tackle my favorite film, The Empire Strikes Back, in the future. You have earned my sub 10x over. Good luck and keep making great videos!
One thing I like about the cantina scene with all the aliens is that it represents Luke's first step into a larger world. While we caught glimpses of danger with the opening space battle and a few aliens like the Tuskens and Jawas, it's here where we see species from all over the galaxy, letting us and Luke realize how much of a vaster universe there is. The weird thing about The Force Awakens is that it has a cantina scene of its own, but it doesn't serve the same effect because we've already seen lots of aliens, on Jakku. So the movie didn't need a cantina scene because we already had that glimpse of a larger world with the aliens there, but it put one in anyway, almost as if it didn't realize it had already fulfilled its purpose.
Right. More than that, there's stuff in every shot of that scene in TFA, but you're not getting into the feelings of the characters. It's just scenery.
Yeah, an example of how the sequels imitate something familiar, trying to update it, but miss the significance. And you end up thinking, "well.... oh... that was OK. I mean, I guess. They put that in to remind me of the scene in ANH. But why are we here?"
I see a parallel between that scene and the scene where R2-D2 is dropped into the Jawas' wagon of captured droids. From a technical point of view we get to see all the various designs the folks at ILM/the costumers thought up. The variety in design also reflect the fact that the creatures are not uniform, they are from all over the place, reflecting a bar where everyone goes/a wagon where any droid is captured.
@@filmcrithulk1769 Would you say the TLJ equivalent works better because we're caught up in Finn's excitement at this glamorous place (assuming we're not already screeching at that point) and being set up for the same rug-pull he gets from Rose?
As a side note: another thing is that the sequels designs of alien creatures are so...uninspired, I seriously doubt that any of alien species introduced in the sequels will ever become as iconic as those of originals or even the prequels! Not to mention that for some reason I don't think there are even any of the original aliens in that cantina in Force Awakens, there are almost no already known aliens out there which is weird, after all this was a SEQUEL set in already established universe.
42:00 - I actually have an idiom regarding that: "A good villain blows up a planet. A GREAT villain blows up the hero's best friend".
Indeed, that's why Damodar from the Dungeons and Dragons movie is a vastly superior villain to Grand Moff Tarkin...
@@adamcline8728 Well, he DID kill Snails...
"A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic. When one dies, it is a tragedy. When a million die, it is a statistic." - Joseph Stalin
@@Kohdok But I think everybody wanted Snails to die anyway, so the effect is somewhat mitigated.
"And no for the last time I won't be talking about Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces"
*SMASHES THAT LIKE BUTTON TILL IT BREAKS*
Seriously, when did Campbell get elevated to cowriter?
@@Targisvear The story I heard is that Lucas' original script was too bizarre and abstract, he needed to make it more "timeless and universal" (see: unoriginal and generic). So he tried to find the most "timeless and universal" story in existence to use as a reference, which turned out to be Campbell's monomyth.
That could just as easily be usual serial clichés. Campbell's role is overstated in that way.
yet.......proceeds to reference HWATF throughout. :)
It is more that as Film Critic Hulk says the book was more about symbolism and mysticism than common story dynamics. It is there, but that books isn't the best manual for writing.
Welcome to RUclips!! May god have mercy on your soul
We'll see how it goes! *eyes new environment nervously*
More like "Hope you survive the experience!". Right? Marvel reference... I'll see myself out.
I think waiting until nearly 20 minutes into the movie to introduce Luke was the best option for this film. If Luke had been introduced right away (like in all of the deleted scenes of him milling about on the moisture farm and talking with his friends) then it would have telegraphed to the audience that he was the main character and he would likely be fine at the end of the film. Introducing Luke as just a small part of a larger story keep the tension building as the audience has no guarantee that he will survive.
I will defend the addition of the Biggs scene just before the Death Star battle, because it helps to explain why Luke (a complete unknown to everyone at that moment in the story) would be allowed to pilot an X-Wing into battle. Showing us that Luke had an old friend (who was mentioned by name earlier in the film) vouching for his piloting skills makes it easier to accept that as a decision that a military leader might actually make just before a desperate, all-or-nothing battle.
Anyway, excellent analysis. It only serves to reinforce my belief that Star Wars (A New Hope) is a nearly perfect standalone film that never needed a sequel, prequel, or spin-off to be considered one of the greatest movies ever made in the history of cinema.
I guess I was never all that concerned about him getting to pilot one -- there's always other explanations like them having a simulator to try out (which they'd want to have for training normal pilots anyway), or the Independence Day one of "look, ever need everyone we can get because even a bad pilot is better than no pilot".
As a kid I always found it confusing, is the Biggs that shows up at the end of the movie the same Biggs Luke referred to in his conversation with Uncle Owen.
This scene made it simply clear.
This is not the MCU/Star Wars crossover I imagined, but I love it.
He should give his editor his own cartoon maybe Stark or Thor XD
First time hearing your voice...have gotten son accustomed to reading ur articles it's an adjustment actually hearing u now haha
May the great content continue in video form!
Like around 7 years ago Film Crit Hulk was actually on the podcast to Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon called The Indoor Kids (I think it was the Bioshock Infinite episode). He has also been in a few other podcast. But that was the first time I heard his voice.
Yeah, I first heard him on Good Christian Fun from close to maybe 2 years ago, digging into SPOTLIGHT (he was raised Boston Catholic; he had some thoughts and it's an incredible episode, I think it might have been my first GCF episode too, incidentally).
@@bifflechips-t5r Yeah they had to rebrand it as "Bad Catholic Sad" for an episode.
@@ghosface353 He is on the audio commentary for the special edition of The Lego Movie too.
@@RM-cn8pw
And you're on this video, giving him an extra view...why?
I feel like you should have at least one million subscribers by now with this level of polish to your content.
FILM CRIT HULK HAS JOINED RUclips AND SUDDENLY THERE IS ANOTHER SMALL LIGHT WITHIN THE DARKNESS THAT IS THIS YEAR
THANK YOU FOR BEING BRILLIANT AS ALWAYS AND PROVIDING A FRESH AND THOUGHTFUL VOICE TO FILM CRITICISM
This has probably been said a hundred times already, but I loved seeing action carried across a distance over scene cuts: the exterior explosion rocks the droids inside the spaceship. Or, Aldera[aa/aw/a]n exploding staggers Obi Wan. I'd have to go back and look, but I'll bet the Death Star attack sequence had lots of that, cutting between the rebel pilots dying and reaction shots from the Rebel control room.
It's interesting how in 1977, Obi-Wan could have just as easily gotten a ride with Captain Sideburns as opposed to Han Solo.
That's the actual name of that character in the script, I presume. :)
I've been reading your long-form essays for a long time, so it's great to see that you've adapted your style of writing so well to a video essay format. Shout-out to your editor because he did a great job!
Also, you always seem to put my unvoiced feelings of appreciation for things I love into words, so thank you for your work. I'm looking forward to whatever you decide to do next.
I didn’t think it was possible to love the first Star Wars more than I did, but you did it. So glad you’re finally making video essays, can’t wait to see what this channel brings 🙏🏻
Whenever a new Film Crit Hulk essay came out I never had to think twice. The deep dive was always worth it. As soon as I saw this video dropped, the feeling carried over. And it was worth it! Couldn't subscribe fast enough, but welcome to video essays!!!
The only disagreement I have is about the Biggs scene. Before the Special Edition, we hear Luke mention Biggs early on, as noted, and we see him the Death Star battle, but it always seemed off to me as a kid that there wasn't a reunion scene between the two before the Death Star attack- after all, they knew each other before leaving Tatooine, and it's pretty crazy that they both, unknowingly, ended up in the same place, right? I think Lucas included Biggs in the final battle to play up on the organic introduction of characters- I think most of us expected Wedge to die in the DSA as the "kill a wingman to pump up the tension" character, while Biggs would go on to become a larger part of the story. But because there was no reunion between the two and we're just sort of left with "oh, and Biggs is there, you remember, the guy Luke mentions once earlier in the film," I didn't feel any character tension or loss when he dies. He also represents, in a way, Luke's last connection to Tatooine and the life that came before.
It seems to me like a case where that reunion scene was necessitated by the addition of Biggs to the DSA run in the first place. Without it, Luke's reliance on Biggs and reference of "back home" to him seem more forced, while I feel more connected to him with the reunion scene and more involved in Luke's character. I empathize with Luke more having a "OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE" scene than a "oh cool there's my childhood best friend who I thought I'd never see again let's go attack the death star together without mentioning it" scene.
In other words, without the reunion scene, why include Biggs in the DSA run in the first place? Why not just another random guy?
The truth is the Biggs thing ultimately didn't work. The most ideal decision would be to excise all reference to his and Luke's prior relationship. They clearly tried to do so, dropping the scene where he shows up in the first act. But with the coverage they shot, they couldn't get that last name drop out of the first act. And so, it's a bit of a lose-lose scenario: Either they never satisfyingly follow up on the fact that Luke mentions Biggs at the beginning and he is also in the final battle, OR disrupt the pacing ramping up to the climax of the movie with that scene in the hangar.
Originally, they chose the former option. They decided the awkward dangling thread was more acceptable than breaking up their very deliberate pacing. In the special edition they made the other choice, prioritizing the consistency of a small detail over the pacing.
I would side with Film Crit Hulk's appraisal that they made the right decision the first time.
@@QuintessentialQs Okay. I disagree, but I can accept that.
@@Jetflash6999 And that's a fair disagreement. There are pros and cons either way.
Like, they absolutely HAD to drop the Biggs scene from the beginning because all the meandering on Tatooine with Luke was a total slog. And someone getting shot during the final battle that the audience cares about is already covered when R2 gets fried, so Luke losing a friend in the battle is emotionally redundant.
You can see what the character was intended to be in the original draft, but the movie had changed shape such that he was neither necessary nor even helpful. But they were well into post-production by the time that became clear.
Quentin Marshall and I get that, but I don’t feel the scene just before the attack really slows it down that much, so I don’t mind it.
If you have the movie showing how close Luke and Biggs are and drawing all these parallels between them, the audience is naturally going to start blurring them together; so when Luke loses him, it would seem like he lost a part of himself and this would add unneeded ambiguity to the resolution.
This video really captures a love of film that is missing from many other movie discussions. It made me see these movies like I did when I was a kid.
Lucas said he wanted to make a modern Myth, and he did. Myths have more impact on a culture than, say, the works of Shakespeare. The Greek gods helped shape the cultural identity of the Greeks. To an extent, Star Wars has done the same for America, though in a more subtle fashion that even I still don't quite understand.
And really, I think that is what makes star wars so beautiful and impactful. And it helps explain why so many people cry out in horror when that very thing is being destroyed right before there eyes. I can only Imagine what the Greeks would have felt having to witness there Pantheon fall apart and fade into obscurity. When a Myth dies, in hurts on a personal and cultural level. Our culture will never be the same with the death of this Franchise. The excitement is gone, the enthusiasm is gone, and so is the money that fueled its existence.
We have lost so many franchises that have helped shape multiple generations; Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and plenty that even I don't know of because I am too young to even know they even existed.
We don't have that anymore...
Please do more of these, I'd love to see one for at least the first 6 films if not all 11. You know your stuff and breaking down what works and what did not and why, adds a lot to the story I often gloss over, and is a fresh new way to experience this story I literally grew up with, spending over 40 years watching, playing with toys and reading about.
I loved this, thought ‘it’s just another generic Star Wars video essay’ but you drew me in straight away and succeeded in stealing an hour of my life! In all seriousness this is great and the definitive video for Hope imo. Just looking at it as a movie. No context (apart from the absolutely necessary, not all the ‘it was only popular due to Vietnam’ tripe). Thanks! Hope you’ll do all the other Star Wars movies and if so I’m looking forward to it!
A masterful essay. Thank you for this.
It’s kinda a small miracle this movie is as good as it is considering how production was a major pain and how Lucas can’t write dialogue. A lot of it was saved in editing and actors ad libing dialogues. And John Williams music
Ad libing? I've only seen people talk about how they reworked their dialogue, not spur of the moment stuff. More drag Lucas aside and say "what on Hoth is this stuff?" kinda things.
Lucas listened to his friends Spielberg and De Palma and made changes. Many of the things praised in this video come from their suggestions.
Lucas is a good writer, and I think he's given us a ton of iconic lines. Also the "saved in the edit" myth refers to Marcia AND GEORGE Lucas editing a rough cut of the film, a cut he never going to release.
@Mister Airborne This idea that George Lucas was a hack writer who only earned praise because his wife edited Star Wars kinda completely falls apart when you watch "American Graffiti". That film's about as cleanly structured as New Hope, in my opinion.
@@dabunnydabunny1243 Yeah, pretty much. I love all of George's work, though some pieces are better than others. However, American Graffiti, perhaps aside from ROTS, is a pure and unmitigated expression of how George Lucas makes films, and it's done damn well.
Huge congratulations and thanks to everyone involved in putting this together! I can't wait to see what comes next.
Wow, what an absolutely incredible video. I would gladly watch 8 more of these.
Just wanted to say thank you for the analysis. I'm writing a story of my own, and your patient, piece-by-piece dismantling of the plot and character moments, with excellent explanations of how they work and interact, not to mention how they *don't* work when they're not used properly, has been the best writing workshop I've ever had.
I'm very far from finishing this but this is already mad polished and eloquent, I know I'm in for something great! Congrats on getting it out there! You're my favorite critic/essayist out there right now and as someone who has learned *so much* about cinema from your written work, I'm already super excited to see your further video work! Thank you for sharing this! :D
Ah, the scene of Luke staring into twin suns of Tatooine with epic [INSERT SHITTY FLUTE] is really invoking my childhood nostalgia.
Finally you are on YT, INSTANT SUB
I would actually argue that the scene where Luke finds Biggs actually does help serve the narrative. He finds Biggs right after he feels like Han has abandoned him, and things feel more copacetic again. He still has a friend he can rely on, and it helps him be all smiles as R2 gets loaded in. Biggs' arrival helps snap Luke out of his funk and acts as a slightly further circle that the empire is tearing away at during the fight. Biggs is to Luke what Alderaan is to Leia.
Biggs' death is shown to be Luke's failure, and adds to the tension by adding that, since he has already failed once, can he succeed here? Biggs got a bit of setup from Red Leader's run, where the consequences of failure are shown, and Biggs biting it the way RL's wingman does tells us "Is is going to go the same way"?
Put simply, by adding in the scene where he meets Biggs, while it can be a little jarring, makes his loss feel more personal and hit Luke more closely than just a repeat of RL's run.
This was very enjoyable. Thank you for your dedication and eloquence.
I'd offer that Leia covering R2 and Threepio's escape with a gun being our real first moment with her is incredibly informative about the film, too - being a Princess is not mutually exclusive to being a rebel. Being a fighter AND a politician is central to the importance of her rescue - not a figurehead, a leader. They do more to establish that later - but we go into our relationship with her knowing, first and foremost, she'll shoot a fucker.
@39:35...the hanger scene as the Stormtroopers attack I think is a great example of what this video is about.
Even though Han is surprised and caught off guard and thought he had more time ("our passengers must be hotter than I thought") as they attack, he immediately realizes he is outnumbered and outgunned so instead of shooting at them directly, in order to do as much damage to them as fast as possible he shoots at the hanger structure which sends exploding chunks of heavy material raining down on them disrupting and interfering with their assault which turned the table enough to give him a chance to get onboard before being shot. It's one of my favorite scenes. It really gives a sense of understanding at that point that Han is really fast and really good at staying ahead of and getting out of bad situations. Like when he shot Greedo before Greedo could shoot him. These two moments were character defining.
Brilliant job man, I've always loved your reviews, their so razor-sharp in breaking stories down into how they work.
I literally teared up watching this, what a beautiful essay! So refreshing to get something so positive and delightfully pensive during a time when it seems to be much more popular to rip things up.
When he said “D-Flat”, I seriously thought he was making a joke about the recorder playing. Took me a moment to realize that was the name of a patron.
@5:23 I think one of the most important factors in this moment when the Storm Troopers break into the Rebel ship, is that just before that there are closeups on two of the ships soldiers. We see their faces react with angst first to the clonking of the Rebel ship being firmly trapped inside the jaws of the big Imperial ship, and then how they focus with determination towards the door. Then the door gets blown and everyone recoils from the blast, mayhem ensues, and we again get closeups on those soldiers we first saw - as they get shot!
That is what first sold me on this movie. These details makes the scene about people, with lives at stake, trying to stop something bad (faceless killers in armor, in this case).
Great stuff man, hoping you produce more videos of this caliber.
Man, you've hit the ground fucking running in your entry to RUclips. This video is something else. I'm so glad someone articulated why the film works FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A 1977 AUDIENCE. It's way too easy to look back in hindsight, especially with the number of people who saw it in 1977 getting smaller every day. Kudos, you have something interesting to add to the internet, and I cannot give higher praise than that.
this made me emotional :')
I gotta say, you've made me fall in love with star wars all over again and to that I say thanks
I watched the whole thing and I'm still stuck on the fact that Boba Fett had 2 slaves.
Seriously though this was really good. Thanks
it’s been a while since I watched something star wars related that was this fun and positive! What a welcome relief
Episode X: Han's Last Choince!
Big love to you Hulk, glad you're on here doing this stuff.
Great editing too (cracked me up how a certain director's film clips kept popping up when discussing what doesn't work)
Haha, honestly we didn't set out to do that, but when coming up with examples they just... kept being the best examples :(
Wow this is amazing, you are absolutely my favourite film critic and seeing you get behind long from video essays has me really excited for your future work. Keep it up!
Lovely. I'm gonna have to set some time aside. Welcome to RUclips. May Skillshare smile upon you, sir.
58:56 That growl from Chewie says so much. I'm almost certain George Lucas intended it to mean "Sometimes it's necessary to run and hide, like my close and personal friend, Yoda, did. But honestly, I don't think he made the right decision, Han, ol' buddy. But that's a story for another time. The main point is: don't be like Yoda".
I'm pretty sure that's how I interpreted it back in the 80's.
Thank u👍
Hi.
I'm tired and I have to be brief, but I still wanted to drop a line. I'm just really glad you've finally got a channel on RUclips! For years, I used to read everything you wrote on your blog.
I can't remember if it was StumbleUpon or some other way by which I, uh, stumbled upon your essays, but I'm very happy I did. I used to get DVDs for their extras in the hopes of learning more about the craft of making movies. Reading all caps arguments about movies was the natural next step.
That was years ago. Can't remember how many. Maybe a little over ten?
But to cut a long story short, I finally landed a position in a screenwriting school last fall. We already made a short film with my class mates, and we're just getting started. But still, it's something. I actually got to make a small movie. And it means the world to me.
Thank you. Along the way you've inspired me so much. Just the notion of there being someone who loves movies and knows so much about them made it seem possible that even I could learn something about them. And maybe some day get to make one.
I know it's been a while. The last time I read your blog was to check your opinion on The Last Jedi, a somewhat divisive movie I loved. If the RSS feed live bookmarks hadn't stopped working, I probably would've kept reading.
Still, I maybe stopped following you for a while, but I never forgot the impact your words had had on me.
Thank you again. At least to me, you managed to find something new to say about Star Wars. And do it with funny angle as well. Looking forward to more videos. The format seems to suit you, even if there was less yelling and smashing than I would've imagined. Hopping over to RUclips was definitely the right choince.
Loved it, but dammit I laughed every time the stormtrooper hit his head 🤦🏻♂️
All Landon.
Hey Hulk. May I be hopefully not the last to welcome you to RUclips. Good to have you here! I've been reading you for years and it's really cool that you're working with another medium. Look forward to seeing what's next!
This is also the power of good editing. Thank you Marcia Lucas.
and John Williams...
Many of your written essays influence my thinking about media on a daily basis. It's great to find you on RUclips.
Han’s Last Choince: A Star Wars Story
Next part: "The Empire Stroinks Back" :)
Bruh this guy is what I think is a new youtuber but he is really high quality and thorough his videos, so professional, and that's why I subscribed, he also makes it fun and not too boring making time fly easily.
"Han's Last Choince : A Star Wars Story"
"There is no cross cutting to this farm boy waiting for something down bellow..."
And we have the post production editing to thanks for that, the original montage had exactly such a shot jammed earlier in the movie.
Finally Hulk is on RUclips! Can’t wait for more content! First time I’m going to be able to watch an amazing channel grow.
what i really like about the Biggs scene that was reinstated in the special edition (the only good change if you ask me) is that besides being a continuity nod to Luke mentioning Biggs in the farm is that its a moment that futher illustrates the journey Luke took trought the movie he has reached the likes of Biggs as he wanted at the start of the film, its not necessary granted buts i think it really works
Just amazing, after years of literally the best film writing in our culture, it feels like you’ve found your “calling”... Excellent work, can’t wait for what you do next :)
I've never run across your work before finding this video, but now that I have and really enjoyed it, I hope I can find your articles that people in the comments mention reading.
This is fantastic and amazing and I love it. Now where is your book? I’m tired of telling people that the best book on learning how to write is impossible to purchase....
Sold it to do a big re-write and at the current stage it's sadly caught in limbo. Working on fixing it!
That recorder made me tear up.....into laughter. After the Disney Sequels, I thought I lost my love for Star Wars. Thank you for bringing it back to me. You’ve earned yourself a new sub.
(recorder screeching)
This is the real *power* of cinema
Your narration reminded me how much I love this movie!
Been looking forward to this for a while! Congrats!
With the refusal of the call, you don't really expect a person to change their mind instantly. The Jabba the Hutt scene was added back in to explain Jabba's "long time no see" line in ROTJ
Okay four things:
1. Welcome to RUclips. I pray that your sanity will remain intact.
2. I sense a Movies With Mikey influence in the editing and writing here. Is that deliberate or accidental?
3. What other videos can we expect in the future?
4. People have given George Lucas a lot flack for being a bad writer but having read some the old Sci-Fi that helped him shape Star Wars, the dude is Arthur Miller in comparison to what he was drawing on.
To be fair, Lucas' original drafts really did have the same flaws as the old Sci-Fi books he drew inspiration from. It was down to the editor (his then wife) and the actors to distill what he wrote down into the story we are all familiar with.
@@chrisossu2070 Sorry, but no. Please stop with this "Marcia saved SW". She was one of many people giving their input. She cut the Battle of Yavin scene. The rest was edited by Lucas, Chew and Hirsch. Kurtz was a big influence on the movie, as were all the actors in fixing the *dialogue*
All movies get written three times; the screenplay, the shoot and the edit. It was Jympson's hopeless edit that Lucas also hated, that dumb people want to cite as Lucas' vision, in that stupid video about how SW was 'saved'.
Take a look at any shooting script and see how the final cut is much tighter. And watch American Graffiti, that Lucas co-wrote and directed, before assuming he can't write or direct a movie. Thank you.
It's pretty amazing how you made an excellent story out of breaking down an excellent story. Really well done sir
I love the breakdown but I really wish you had used the original movies, or at the very least the despecialized versions. Those were the ones that made an impact, not these later-edited versions.
At first I was disappointed that you didn't use the Hulk voice but that quickly subsided as I enjoyed your bedtime story worthy narration. Seriously you should do audiobooks.
Dude, I'm a 26 year old adult studying a master's degree and I play with my Star Wars ships just like Luke plays with his T-16 model
Sir this video essay of my favorite movie has just made me love Star Wars, the Originals, and this movie even more. I drained my 75% battery for this video and it was absolutely worth it. Thank you. And I hope you more about the others. I would love to watch those.
I’ve been curious about how your incredible dramatic understanding and way with words when it comes to storytelling would translate into this weird RUclips space where anyone can pick up a mic and act like they know something. (That’s me). Unsurprisingly, you bring a sense of real emotional intelligence and understanding to a place that often lacks it. I can only hope you quickly cut to the heart of this website and get the attention you deserve. In short, this video was enthralling and I can’t wait to see more!
The emotion of it is the thing I'm really happy about, thank you for saying :D
Important point about Darth Vader's entrance...when I saw this as a kid for the first time, I was unsure of who the bad guys were. Sure, the Stormtroopers looked menacing, but in those days only the good guys wore white. But as soon as Vader walked in, you knew exactly what was what.
Me: I don't have an hour.
*sees hulk in glasses talk about star wars.
Also me: I'll make an hour.
I'm only 11 minutes in and I have to say this is great analisis. You've given me so many tools through your written essays, video essays are the next logical step. Hope you make more
A common phrase but I think this is the first time I mean it... Never clicked so fast in my life!
I can't wait to see your Mulholland Drive analysis in video form. That is my favorite piece of yours. Welcome to RUclips. CRIT SMASH!
32:20 Oh my god the movie turned all freakin weird again!
Even as a kid in '77 I could see the opportunity for a sequel. Luke got his light saber and some training, but never used it. I knew there had to be more to it.
I still think the Death Star attack is one of the best paced, edited and scored acts of any movie I've seen.