Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Preston M — 22 Jan 2016

The optimism from Episode IV has turned cold. Just like its previous episode, The Empire Strikes Back has a serial feel to its story development. The characters' goals feel like they aren't fully realized, due to what they achieved in the first movie and what they fear they can't achieve by the last movie.

This is not intended to be the franchise's climax. This is when everything that the characters believed before will now be shattered in order to support a mission far more ambitious and radical than they first anticipated.

The result: A cinematic sci-fi blockbuster that continues the consistently positive qualities of its previous film -- characters that matter and entertain, and groundbreaking set design, visuals, and action -- while pushing our heroes and villains into a soap opera-level of drama.

Nothing about the story begs to be mocked, not even when Darth Vader reveals to Luke what I don't even need to write for you to know what I'm saying. Why? The story allows for the actors to find incredibly strong intentions in lines and fight scenes.

Thus, I must recognize The Empire Strikes Back as a group project, where every member was needed to transform a story that might now be easily predictable to a gripping experience.