Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Jon-Luc A — 27 Jun 2018

As the saying goes, the sequel is never as good as the original, but there are definitely major exceptions to this. One of them is The Empire Strikes Back, which, in contrast to the happy go lucky nature of A New Hope, puts our protagonists in dire situations from the start. The title is fitting, as we see the bad guys retaliate from their stunning defeat at the first Death Star. Han, Leia and Chewbacca are on the run from the Empire, while Luke tries to follow his own path of becoming a Jedi master. Things go awry, and those lead to some of the best moments of the series. From Han's desperate attempts to avoid the grasp of Vader, his complicated relationship with Leia, to Luke's struggle to find himself not just as a Jedi but as a person, we find the emotional stakes much bigger this time around. Not to mention the special effects, which are absolutely phenomenal. Everyone remembers The Battle of Hoth and the monstrous AT-AT's, but there's plenty of eye candy, like the asteroid belt and the breathtaking world of Bespin and Cloud City. Luke's training in the perpetually dark, swampy Dagaboh where he learns from Yoda is also iconic.

Whenever someone scoffs at Star Wars, thinking of it just for nerds or sci-fi aficionados, tell them to watch A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and they'll be converts in no time.