Review of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Charlie P — 15 Nov 2015

One of the most inspirational sequels ever made in terms of influence, The Empire Strikes Back takes the mythology of the first film and expands it with new characters, new locations and one of the most shocking twists in a film.

After the experienece of directing the first one, George Lucas, due to exhastion handed the sequel to his former teacher Irvin Kershner. This is apparent in the screenplay written by the late Leigh Brackett and Lawerence Kasdan, as unlike the first film which began small and ended big, the film uses it's major action set-peice, The Battle of Hoth, with incredible stop-motion AT-ATs done by Phil Tippet, and it's climax is a much more personal one with the duel with Vader on Cloud City. The line itself was apparently kept a huge secret on set, with only George, Irvin, Mark Hamill and James Earl Jones knwoing the true line of dialouge, while everyone else was given a fake script pagee saying "Obi-Wan Killed your Father".

Both Ralph MacQuarrie and new production designer Norman Reynolds do and exceelent job with the design of the new worlds from the Icy, almost Soviet-built base of Hoth, the much larger Star Destroyer that Vader owns, the marsh-lands of Dagobah and the Metroplois-based design of the buildings of Cloud City. The best practical effect hoever comes from Yoda. The puppet designed by Sturt Freeborn is one of the est puppets ever put on film and Frank Oz's voice gives him both a sense of wisdom and mechivousness.

Overall, with great themes from John Williams, the additon of some of the most recognisable chracters in the Star Wars canon such as Bounty Hunter Boba Fett, the small cameo of the Emperor and the Swave Lando Calrissen, The Empire Strikes Back is not only one of the best sequels in film history, but is a crowning achivement in the Fantasy genre itself.