Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Henry P — 05 Dec 2015

12/5/15.

The force is strong with this one, even after three-and-a-half decades. Regardless of edits made in 1997 and 2011, there is much about this film that makes it strong with the force. The visual effects are spectacular, from the underbelly of yet another excessively long battleship to the worlds of Hoth, Cloud City, and Dagobah. We begin our journey with an Imperial probe landing on the planet Hoth, where the rebels have established a new base after the Empire learned of the one on Yavin IV. On what starts as a usual patrol, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) tells Han Solo (Harrison Ford) that there is no sign of life, and decides to check out a meteor crash. Han goes back to base, but instead of checking that crash, Luke gets kidnapped by the abominable snowman (Played by puppeteering that holds up better than most prequel CGI). After a squabble over why he's stayed with the rebels with Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) Han realizes Luke never came back, and goes out to find him. After that, the Imperial probe pays off for the Empire, and what would usually be easy conquest becomes a costly battle, as Darth Vader (Played in body by David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) puts it. After the costly battle, the story splits in multiple directions: Han, Leia, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and C-3PIO (Anthony Daniels) flee from the Imperial fleet, Luke follows the instructions of Ben Kenobi's ghost (Alec Guinness) to go to the Dagobah system to find Yoda (Puppeteered and voiced by Frank Oz), and we get an epic unlike any other: A character-driven, story fueled film. The grandness and awe of the walkers from the battle of Hoth is magnificently emphasized by John Williams' score, whose theme for the Imperials clearly reflects the heightened stakes from the first movie, and Yoda's theme is as slow and grand as Yoda. All around us, the soundtrack will feel. All the humor falls into place where it should be without dampening any seriousness, and so much dialogue stands out as unforgettable lines like: "Size matters not, judge me by my size do you?" and "I thought they smelled bad, on the outside," and even "Then I'll see you in hell!" Once again, George Lucas has... Wait, he didn't direct this, Irvin Kershner did, George just came up with the story. And now, you will go to the store or the digital (legal) market. There you will find the Star Wars saga, watch it all (Especially this one).

10/19/13.

They say the sequel isn't as good as the original. To all those who say that: Think again. The Star Wars Saga continues on with The Empire Strikes Back. The plot is the same concept of Good vs. Evil, but with new characters like Lando Calrissian and Yoda. The picture is quality as always, with the Blu-Ray version providing full 1080p quality and fixes to some errors from earlier on. The characters are all the ones you remember with newcomers such as Lando and Yoda, and many Imperial officers. John Williams brings drama and emotion with his catchy and memorable soundtrack. The force is definitely strong with the writers, giving us more memorable lines than Episodes I and II combined, plain and simple. If you grew up in 1980, this will surely bring back memories, and if you have kids, this will show them what Star Wars was like before The Phantom Menace. Before the dark days, before the CGI. With that, I am proud to say this is my favorite second only to Revenge of the Sith.