--- title: "Star Wars: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/star-wars/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/star-wars" critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Star Wars (1977): what the critics said Critics' score 77 from 14 reviews: 11 positive, 1 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics are won over, and the praise is unusually consistent. The reviews return again and again to the same things: the special effects and production design, the debt to Flash Gordon serials and westerns, John Williams’s score, and a tone that is funny as often as it is exciting. The two robots come in for particular affection, with several critics treating them as a comedy team in their own right. Harrison Ford is the performer most often named. The dissent is small but sharp. Sight and Sound finds the film monumentally empty, an exercise in nostalgia rather than a work with ideas, and Film Comment goes further, calling it inept and complaining that the action never pays off what it promises. The Guardian sits in the middle, enjoying two hours of joy while noting the film is no advance on Lucas’s earlier work and short on originality. Later reviews of the anniversary reissues are broadly warm but divided on whether the added effects help or intrude. ## Empire — Andrew Collins Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1977. The critic presents Star Wars as a rewatchable classic whose appeal rests on its universal archetypes, characters, and performances (especially Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and James Earl Jones), alongside the rousing John Williams score and the mythic storytelling that made cheering at the screen acceptable again. It notes the film's self-contained 1977 pleasure and lasting impact despite later digital changes. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/star-wars-episode-iv-new-hope-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Charles Champlin Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 May 1977. Champlin hails it as the year's most razzle-dazzling family movie and an exuberant, technically astonishing space adventure. He singles out the production design, special effects, and its roots in westerns and Flash Gordon serials. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-star-wars-hails-the-once-and-future-space-western-20151202-story.html) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 1977. Ebert praises the film as a magical experience that transports viewers to a galaxy far away with whimsy, fantasy, and sophisticated storytelling. He singles out the wealth of strange living creatures and special effects for making the universe feel alive and inventive. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/star-wars-1977) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Ron Pennington Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 1977. The critic calls the film magnificent in scope with an effective human element from the script and performances, combining comedy and drama with exciting action and spectacular special effects that make it a potential classic. The adorable robot characters (C-3PO and R2-D2) are singled out for praise as two of the most endearing ever in a film. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/star-wars-review-1977-movie-752620/) ## The New Yorker Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 13 June 1977. The review finds the film exuberantly entertaining and dazzling in its mix of futurism and long-held faith. It singles out the robot couple as out of Beckett or vaudeville and the spacecraft battles for their fiery effect. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1977/06/13/galaxy-crisis) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 26 May 1977. Canby calls it the most elaborate, most expensive, most beautiful movie serial ever made and an apotheosis of Flash Gordon serials. He singles out the fun and funny tone, the robots as the year's best new comedy team, and the special effects and design. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/26/archives/star-wars-a-trip-to-a-far-galaxy-thats-fun-and-funny.html) ## The Telegraph — Adrian Berry Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 December 1977. The critic calls it the best such film since 2001 and one of the most exciting ever made, praising its unpretentious story, impressive effects, and convincing realism in most respects. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/star-wars-episode-iv-new-hope-review-spectacular-trip/) ## The Times — David Robinson Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 December 1977. The critic praises the film's restoration of brightly defined characters, a hurtling story, confident fantasy world with advanced effects, and genuine escapism that requires no connections to real worlds. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/article/from-the-archive-the-times-review-of-star-wars-vrhmjwnw9) ## Time Out — JO'C Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The critic describes the 20th-anniversary reissue of Lucas's spellbinding space opera as largely successful in its minor tweaks, with improved effects and sound that keep the film feeling modern, while praising the enduring innocence of its universe, the standout performances (especially Harrison Ford), and its status as a sea change in filmmaking. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1) ## Variety — A.D. Murphy Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 1977. The critic calls it a magnificent film and a brilliant success as an adventure fantasy drawn from serials and older epics. They single out the superb balance of technology and human drama, along with the rousing score and engaging space adventure story that affirms valor and hope. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1977/film/reviews/star-wars-3-1200424073/) ## Total Film Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 1997. The critic hails the 20th-anniversary Special Edition re-release as a welcome return of a technological and imaginative watershed, praising its timeless production design, archetypal characters, gripping plot, and overall power while noting that added effects and reinstated scenes are mixed—some improvements to sound and visuals are welcome, but others feel gratuitous or dated. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/star-wars-the-special-edition-review/) ## The Guardian — Derek Malcolm Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 27 December 1977. The critic finds the film gives two hours of joy and plays enough games to satisfy sophisticated viewers, while noting it is not an improvement on Lucas's previous work except in box-office terms and lacks originality. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/1977/dec/27/derekmalcolmscenturyoffilm) ## Sight and Sound — Richard Combs Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 1 November 1977. The critic views the film as a phenomenon that has become difficult to assess objectively, describing it as monumentally empty and more an exercise in audience programming and nostalgia than a substantive work with ideas. It draws on various movie tropes and serials but lacks emotional resonance, philosophical depth or the transformative qualities of true science fiction. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/star-wars-episode-iv-new-hope-archive-review-monumentally-empty-blockbuster) ## Film Comment — Terry Curtis Fox Fi1m's normalised score 20/100 (inferred from the text). The critic finds Star Wars totally inept and mindless, defeating serious consideration as a film. He singles out the film's failure to deliver on promised payoffs in its action sequences and its lack of depth or innovation in storytelling and characters. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/star-drek/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/star-wars.md