It may seem strange to admit, but in the 47 years since it came to dominate the pop culture landscape, Star Wars has never really recaptured the magic of its first movie.
A New Hope was about a whiny teenager who realized his quiet life was keeping him from his true identity as a Jedi, but we knew he was always destined to be a hero. The prequel trilogy was built around the dramatic irony of the audience knowing who Anakin Skywalker would grow up to be, so there wasn’t any of that wonder — we knew where it was headed. The Force Awakens attempted to bring back the “plucked from obscurity” trope, but even that was often called just a retread of A New Hope.
