Our ongoing series reviewing the greatest Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
Directed by: Irvin Kershner
Produced by: Gary Kurtz, George Lucus
Written by: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams
Original Release: 1980
AKA: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Reviewed By: John J. Joex
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars
Synopsis: After the Rebel Alliance’s victory against the Death Star, the Empire has turned up the heat on the dissident force and driven them into hiding. A base on the ice planet Hoth houses the majority of the Rebellion’s leaders and it comes under attack by imperial forces when Darth Vader discovers its location. After experiencing several mishaps, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3P0 escape from Vader’s forces in the Millennium Falcon and head to the Cloud City on the planet Bespin where Han seeks the aid of his old friend Lando Calrissian. Luke and R2-D2 also escape and head to the planet Dagobah, as directed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, where he will undergo Jedi training with Yoda. On the Cloud City, Han and the others discover that Lando has betrayed them to the Empire and they find themselves delivered into the clutches of Darth Vader. On Dagobah, as Luke endures his grueling training, he senses his friend’s need for help and departs against Yoda’s wishes. Once on the Cloud City, he faces off in battle with Darth Vader who tries to tempt him to the Dark Side of the Force and who also reveals some truths about his origins.
Review/Comments: The second movie in the franchise (in chronological production order) is considered by many, if not most, fans as the best of the Star Wars movies. I do not fall in that camp, however, as I consider the first to be the superior movie (and you can read my review of it at this link). Don’t get me wrong, though, because I think very highly of this movie as my rating above implies. However, the simple fact is that this movie does not tell a complete tale. It ends with an implied “To Be Continued” and you have to watch the ersatz Return of the Jedi to get the full story. It also does not break any new ground beyond the first movie other than perhaps notching up the special effects a bit. Sure, it is somewhat darker than the first, but is that necessarily an improvement? Star Wars gave us something unlike we had seen before on the big screen and changed the course of movie-making. Empire just continued on right from where Star Wars left off.
But that is actually where it succeeded, even if it did not surpass the original. So often today, sequels just take everything that the original delivered and amp it up to the nth degree. But like losing the taste of the hamburger patty after you have glopped on any of a number of superfluous ingredients, this just distracts from the original intent. However, Empire did not follow this course. It continued the story of the Star Wars universe and started to develop it further and delve into the characters. While the first movie delivered a fully realized universe, this one started to explore that further and began to reveal what lay beneath the surface. And in some ways you can consider George Lucas quite bold for deciding to not follow the more traditional story structure of the first film and to leave the audience hanging at the end of the movie. Or had he already grown so arrogant that he figured people would pay to see it no matter what he threw at them?
To that question I would answer: not quite yet. I believe the spark of inspiration as well as the sincerity that fueled the first movie to blockbuster status still carried over into the first sequel for the franchise. Even though Star Wars had become a huge phenomena by that time, it had not quite evolved into the more cynical corporate entity that would follow in the years to come. I believe Lucas still cared about the story at that point and the actors still felt the energy of being part of something special. You could argue that Yoda represented a first step toward incorporating highly marketable characters into the movies (he is to this day one of the most popular and profitable characters from the series), but he at least played an integral role in the overall story. Sure, Lucas had already made a mint off the merchandising of the franchise, but he still seemed to care about telling a decent story and he still seemed inspired at this point.
Empire does have a few lapses and misfires that degrade it just a bit from the first movie. For example, Luke’s training with Yoda could not have lasted much more than a few days, and yet he graduated from this short period of tutoring to advance to a Jedi Master? Is he really that much more in tune with the Force than all of those other Jedis who we have since seen spend years in apprenticeship? Also, the giant asteroid-worm bordered on the absurd and could have been omitted completely. Still, these are mostly quibbles and do not detract too much from the overall enjoyment of the movie.
After the first sequel, the franchise would experience a notable drop-off in quality (though I do not think as poorly of Return of the Jedi as many others do). Empire, though carried on with the same spirit of breathless energy as the first and provided the continuation from the original that fans craved even if it did not deliver as satisfying of a movie experience with its unresolved cliffhanger ending. But it lived up to its promise and dodged the sequel curse. And looking back at it thirty years later (it debuted on May 21, 1980) it still manages to deliver that sense of wonder that we first encountered with Star Wars in 1977.
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