Adrian Zachow’s review published on Letterboxd:
George Lucas kick started a new era in sci-fi by bringing top notch special effects and dynamic action to a genre that had in so far dealt mostly with alien invasions. Only Flash Gordon had done space opera in matinee serial form, and Lucas went ahead and captured its spirit, mixed it up with Joseph Campbell writings on heroes and mythologies, and Akira Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress" template, and came up with a winner. Youthful cast (which became big name) provide spirited performances, even if sometimes they have to fight the clunky dialogue. Veteran actors Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing add class. The droids (C3P0 and R2D2) have a life of their own, and provide effectively great comic relief. The plot is simple, uncomplicated adventure. However, it's the special effects and vivid production design that steal the show. The climatic battle scene is a knock out, all the better thanks to John Williams iconic score. Excellent editing, makes very creative use of wipes. Hardly noticeable to untrained eyes, but they give this and its successors a unique visual style. Much to say and enjoy.
In the context of the full series now "A New Hope" does indeed seem the most dated - despite Lucas' addition of some very ill-judged CG special effects in the special edition, where all he needed to do is clean up some of the shots by removing the effects of composite shots (these would show white squares around space ships) and improve some of the less intense explosions. A good thing however from receiving the digital special edition treatment some time ago is that now the film does look splendid on Blu Ray, without a hint of graininess older movies tend to have been being transferred to HD formats.