The Empire Strikes Back Review

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
1980

Lucas went so mad directing the first film that he actually had someone else direct the sequel. Originally Irvin Kershner declined, thinking there was no way anyone could ever top the original. But when he read the script, he immediately signed on. THANK THE MAKER! I wish Kershner would have directed them all. Empire was a seamless continuation of the saga, as if there were no more than a jump-cut between the films. It was also the darkest of the three. The rebels really get a spanking in this one, down to the poor droids. Just look at the planets in this episode: Hoth, a frozen wasteland, Dagobah, a creepy swamp, and Bespin, a ball of gas and clouds. Each planet is extremely dangerous. I remember asking my dad as a child what would have happened had Luke fallen off the underside of Cloud City. “Wouldn’t he just float in the middle of the planet until someone saved him?” “No,” my dad told me, “the pressurized gas would kill him.” You can’t imagine the childhood nightmares I had about dying from gas. Thankfully, the film had the best comic relief. The droids are a riot, and there are a bunch of great running gags, like Threepio calculating the mathematical odds of survival in every given circumstance, the Millennium Falcon malfunctioning like an old home-appliance, and Vader systematically killing off all his own men.



Ah, yes, Darth Vader. He’s the best villain to ever grace the screen, and in this episode is where he really gets to shine -- or rather, the opposite of shine… darken…? There is no antonym for shine, just as there is no word that can truly describe Vader. He’s beyond evil. He kills his own men, breaks his promises and he wastes more military resources more than George Bush. Forget the Death Star. Vader is the universe’s biggest threat. He’s one with The Force, rocks with a lightsaber, and his ship is so huge, it makes the Star Destroyers look like Micro Machines. This is also where Williams gave Vader his famous musical motif. He’s a very interesting villain, filled with intrigue and mystery. In this episode, we learn for the first time that he’s actually a man, not a robot, from a sneak-peak at the face underneath the mask. We also learn that he is only the apprentice to the sinister Emperor, a character only mentioned once the first film. Everyone knows the shocking twist ending now, but before the film’s release, it was kept so top-secret that not even the cast knew, aside from James Earl Jones, who delivered the classic line. The script contained a false lie (that Obi-Wan killed his father) to invoke Mark Hammil’s reaction: the most iconic “NOOOOO!” scene in film history.

All the characters we came to love in New Hope begin to love each other in Empire. As their relationships deepen, you become even more emotionally invested in the story. The love triangle between the three humans really intrigued me as a child, because, like Leia, I too found myself indecisive over which guy she should be with (at least, until Jedi, when the love triangle was swiftly resolved with a convenient plot device). Despite their competition for the same girl, Luke and Han remain best friends, continually risking their lives to save each other. A love-hate relationship begins between Luke and Vader. Even Chewie and Threepio develop a strong bond. Then there are a handful of new characters, including Lando Calrissian, a shady “friend” of Han Solo’s, Boba Fett, a brilliant, badass bounty hunter, the Emperor, and of course, Yoda.

As if having the greatest movie-villain of all time wasn’t awesome enough, Empire also had the greatest hero. Yoda is a truly unforgettable character, from his face (a cross between Albert Einstein and Kermit the Frog) to his rasp voice (Frank Oz) to his poetic, scrambled word order (fun it is, like Yoda to talk!). Lucas spent thousands on a campaign to get Oz an Academy Award nomination for his performance, but they rejected him on the grounds that puppeteers aren’t actors. I disagree. An elaborate puppet is just as much an extension of your body as an appendage. And since Oz was both the voice actor and the puppeteer, he practically was Yoda. I argue Oz exerted far more effort than many of the actors that were nominated for (and won) Academy Awards. It’s easy to forget how surprising it was to learn the wrinkled, green Muppet was the greatest jedi master of all time. And what follows are the best scenes in the entire saga: Yoda teaching Luke the ways of The Force. See, Obi-Wan only gave Luke an intro course to The Force. Yoda teaches a 900 level class. These scenes are pure magic. In fact, they’re actually inspiring. Yoda’s lines are like taglines on motivational posters. I’ll never forget “You must unlearn what you have learned,” and “Do or do not. There is no try.” The mentorship culminates in the most surreal and analyzed scene of all, The Cave.

Unlike New Hope, you don’t have to cut the special effects any slack here. The lightsabers look excellent. The spaceships, snow-horses and mechanical war elephants are some of the most impressive stop-motion effects ever put on film. ILM even invented a variation of stop-motion called “go-motion” for the spaceships to create a realistic motion blur. This is the only Star Wars film without a big space battle, yet the “space scenes” in Empire are my favorite! The Millennium Falcon becomes a character of its own as it gracefully navigates an asteroid field, hides in the belly of a “cave” and even evades a Star Destroyer at point-blank range. And yet, between all these wonderful visuals are the good old fashioned indy tricks. We still only see glimpses of the monsters, and many of The Force effects are done with simple tricks, reversal shots or fast-motion. It’s a rare and wonderful mix that pleases both the eyes and the imagination. Empire has my favorite uses of The Force, with a great mix of physical and mental techniques. All in all, the film exceeded everyone’s expectations by actually topping the original. It’s often voted the fan favorite of the saga. My only complaint is that it ends on such a cliffhanger that it always leaves me hungry… 5/5 stars.




DO NOT click here for my review of Return of the Jedi: It's a trap!