Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope Steelbook Blu-Ray Review

As Star Wars fever kicks into full swing with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the entire collection of previously release movies have been released on home video in special limited edition steelbook edition.

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope is the original movie that started it all, its what changed movies as we know it and inspired countless generations. Though to me, A New Hope is simply Star Wars, growing up, we didn’t call it Episode IV or a New Hope, it was simply Star Wars, it wasn’t really until the prequels came along that we started saying it by its full title.

The packaging of the Steelbook is fantastic, A New Hope features Darth Vader on the front and the classic poster featuring Luke and Leia on the back. While on the inside, we get the classic scene of Luke standing outside his home on Tatoonie, staring at the two suns. The steelbook is the main selling point of this Blu-Ray package, it does look fantastic and if you don’t already own the Blu-Ray version, its worth checking this one out.

Here is a look at the packaging:

Saying how amazing this movie is, just doesn’t do it justice, this movie, along with the sequels, are without doubt one of my all time favourite movies and I must have see this movie, over a hundred times throughout my life. So if you haven’t seen it, the question is why not? And if you have seen it, I don’t need to say why you should have Star Wars at home. I love Star Wars and really can’t recommend this movie enough.

Visually, this version of the movie is without doubt the best looking I’ve seen (and I’ve already brought Star Wars on VHS and DVD over the years and seen the movie a couple of times at the cinema). For a movie that is almost 40 years old, it looks amazing, though this movie has been cleaned up on a couple of occasions, with new scenes and bonus bits thrown in to look more inline with the prequels. While many would argue that they want the original cut without all the CGI bits added, I do think some of the added extras aren’t too bad, though the Jabba the Hut scene and changing who shot first wasn’t needed. It’s a real shame this edition doesn’t include the “original” cut without all the alterations.

I’m going to be honest, I was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t any additional bonus features accept for the two audio commentaries. But listening to some of the stories of how the movie was made is really interesting for die-hard Star Wars fans.

It’s perfect timing to pick up the classic Star Wars movies in a modern format, in High Definition and with plenty of new Star Wars movies coming out over the next few years, I know I’ll be watching this Blu-Ray many times in preparation for those new movies.

Check out my video review below:

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope is now available at Zavvi and other retailers.

What do you think of these new Steelbooks?