Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by John R — 14 Jun 2017

I have an apology to make to some of you. Whenever I've told you that I love Star Wars, I lied. What I meant to say was that I love The Empire Strikes Back. That inaccuracy has been bothering me for an entire hour. It was torture. But in all seriousness, let's get started.

While Empire was in production, nobody knew what it was going to be like. Production was so shrouded in secrecy that the now famous twist wasn't written in the script or performed on set. The only one's who knew were George Lucas, Producer Gary Kurtz, Director Irvin Kershner, James Earl Jones, and Mark Hamill (told on the day of shooting). This amount of secrecy would later become the norm for the franchise's later installments. So when audiences sat down in the theater eagerly awaiting to see what happens to their new favorite characters, they went in almost completely blind and had their minds blown.

The Good.

The Empire Strikes Back steps up its game in every single aspect compared to the first movie. The effects were better, the dialogue and character interactions were improved, the stakes are higher, the score; forget about it. Everything was cranked up to 11 for this entry.

As opposed to their original conception of fairytale story stereotypes, the characters in Empire have been given a significant amount of depth to them. Luke (Mark Hamill) is now less whiny and has been continuing his Jedi training, as shown in the ice cave when he calls his lightsaber to his hand, and has become somewhat of a leader in the rebel alliance. We get a couple of hints to Han Solo's (Harrison Ford) past through the introduction of his friend Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), all the while he and Leia (Carrie Fisher) start to fall for each other by simultaneously pissing each other off. We also start learning more about Darth Vader (David Prowse & James Earl Jones) and his past through his actions and visual clues as he pursues Luke Skywalker with a vengeance after the destruction of the Death Star, and the putting the rebels on the run. He's also axing off his own lieutenants who fail him in the slightest just to illustrate that he means business. You just take one good look at him in this movie and you're like, "Yep. That's the most evil person in the galaxy right there.".

Another element Empire gets right. The story is not just a simple re-hash of the first movie. It is a proper and direct continuation of it. Leia doesn't get captured again, Luke and Han don't have to rescue her again on a Star Destroyer, etcetera. It follows the surprisingly basic yet highly logical storyline. The Empire in the movie is basically like, "Oh! You destroyed our biggest space station! Alright. You're all dead." What it also does differently is that id divides the heroes. Luke has to go to a distant planet to learn more about being a Jedi while Han, Leia, Chewie, and 3PO have to escape the Empire. A vastly different premise from the first movie and a smart idea storytelling wise.

Empire Strikes Back is also much more dark in tone than the previous one. Yes it does have its share of comedy relief, I would even argue that it's the funniest of the trilogy, but it balances out with the darker tone. If your story is darker you need more lighthearted element to balance it out for a wide audience. In this movie alone, Han gets brutally tortured just so Vader can lure Luke to cloud city, Luke receiving a vision of himself inside Vader's helmet, 3PO gets torn to pieces, Luke gets his hand cut off and attempts to commit suicide after finding out who his Daddy is, Han is frozen and shipped off to Jabba the Hutt, and other dark and compelling moments. Meanwhile we also have a lot of amusing moments like 3PO's constant interference with Han & Leia, Han & Leia driving each other crazy, Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) testing Luke's patients when he's first introduced and so on.

With the properly balanced tone and more character development, Empire is such a more involving film than any movie in the series. You want to see Han and Leia get together, you want to see Luke face Vader, but you don't get that here. Instead, this movie teases you with what you want to see and just takes it away. Han is frozen and shipped away, Luke gets his ass kicked, everyone ends on a low note, and nobody ends on a high note. It's one of the most well known movies where the bad guys actually win. Not to mention it ends on one of the biggest cliffhangers in cinematic history after one of the biggest twists in cinematic history. Today it's not a big deal because you just start Return of the Jedi immediately right after, but back the movie ended, credits popped up, and everyone in the theater goes "You have got to be shitting me. That's it?!" Yep! See you in three years!

One last thing to note:

Leia: I love you.

Han: I know.

Best. Moment. Ever.

The Bad.

Incest.

Verdict.

Yeah that's right. I have watched this movie multiple times in the past few days like a hawk for flaws and couldn't find any that weren't nitpicking. I've asked for other opinions and they too came up with much of the same. The Empire Strikes Back is a follow-up done right in every way possible. It raises the stakes, the effects are done much better, it's much more dark than its predecessor and balances it out with the best humor in the series, all the while it gives us one of the best characters in cinematic history through the form of Yoda, and one of the greatest plot twists and cliffhangers ever put on screen. Dark, involving, and surpassing expectations and the original, The Empire Strikes Back is a true cinematic masterpiece that takes its audience and the series to new heightened emotional levels.