Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Victor T — 16 Dec 2015

After the shocking surprise phenomenon that Star Wars was, Lucas had the extremely demanding, almost suicide mission, to make a sequel that would be as successful and acclaimed as the first one. But now having to rule a business empire, Lucas handed directorial control to his former teacher Irvin Kershner and leaving the screenwriting duties to Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. The result of this was the most critically acclaimed film of the trilogy.

Normally I make a synopsis but with this trilogy I will omit it as it is a story that everyone knows, even if you are a newbie to the franchise.

Before the review I will clarify that I won't mention the Special Edition changes, as they are irrelevant when talking about the essence of Star Wars.

To this day, audiences are still debating which is the best instalment of the saga, either "Star Wars" or "Empire Strikes Back", and I have to say that I side with Empire. "The Empire Strikes Back" has all the greatness that made "Star Wars" (which I already credited in my "Star Wars" review) but taken to the next level, particularly John Williams who took the score to 11 and McQuarrie managed to create more than welcome additions to the saga. But the elements that make this better than its predecessor are directing and screenplay. Kershner knew how to work with actors (every single actor is far better than last time) and how to add comedy and romance to this franchise without feeling forced. Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett (and to some degree Lucas with his ideas) delivered a screenplay that gave depth to this archetypes, solidify their relationships, provided them with an arc, introduced new iconic characters (including my all-time favorite, Yoda), the universe is expanded in a subtle way, the best dialog of the entire franchise, intense character driven action sequences, and pulled off the most iconic plot twist in the history of cinema (it is up there with "Psycho"). The only issue this film has is pacing. The film is divided in two storylines, and while the Luke story is flawlessly executed and constantly adds something new to the story and overall universe building, the Han & Leia story is a little redundant. Sure, the locations they go to are iconic and lots of fun but overall it doesn't add anything new. Before concluding this review I would like to clarify something. This second chapter of the franchise (yes, second not fifth) develops the overall essence of this saga: Forget about the dogfights, the lightsabers, the characters, and the universe building; the soul of this franchise is the almost Buddhist spirituality, as it is explained, developed and executed by Yoda in the most iconic segment of this entire saga.

"The Empire Strikes Back" is undeniably one of the best, arguably the best, sequels ever made and it is undeniably the best film of the entire saga, hopefully for now, as it flawlessly improves what was made previously. This and "A Clockwork Orange" compete for the position of my all-time favorite film.