“The Empire Strikes Back” Review
Released three years after the original “Star Wars” in 1980, “The Empire Strikes Back” darkens the story resulting in an epic duel between Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, (Left) and Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones.
After the film “Star Wars” took over the world and became the highest grossing film of all time, 20th Century Fox, who has very little faith in the first film, were anxiously looking at George Lucas to see what he would do for a sequel. Three years later, “The Empire Strikes Back” was released and was the highest grossing film of 1980. While it divided both critics and fans of the first film, “The Empire Strikes Back” is not only a great “Star Wars” film, but is the best “Star Wars” film ever made.
Taking place three years after the first film, “The Empire Strikes Back” sees the main characters of “Star Wars” and the rest of the Rebel Alliance hiding out on the remote ice planet of Hoth. After they are discovered by the Galactic Empire, a chaotic battle ensues which sees a Rebel defeat and the Alliance, including our main characters, separated for most of the film.
After being greeted by the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness, Luke Skywalker and his droid R2D2, played by Mark Hamill and Kenny Baker, head to the swamp planet of Dagobah so that Luke can learn the ways of the Force from an ancient Jedi master named Yoda, puppeted and voiced by Frank Oz.
The other half of the film focuses on Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and C3PO, played by Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels respectively, trying to outrun the Imperial fleet in the Millenium Falcon, which has been damaged. After escaping the Empire, they go to a mining called Cloud City which is run by an old friend of Han Solo named Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams.
However, the Empire finds them and imprisons them so that Darth Vader, played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, can set a trap for Luke Skywalker. When Luke senses that his friends are in danger, he and R2 go to Cloud City where Darth Vader is waiting for him, resulting in an iconic duel of lightsabers and a revelation that changes Luke and Vader’s relationship forever.
I think that it’s fairly easy to see why this film is better than the original. First of all, the story is so much darker. Lawrence Kasdan, the film’s screenwriter, said that he saw the film as the second act of a story because it was clear to him, at this point, that this would be a trilogy of films. And, in most works, the second act is where things go wrong and the heroes are faced with adversity to overcome.
Puppeted and voiced by Frank Oz, Yoda served as the first main character in a “Star Wars” film to be a puppet.
As the title suggests, the Empire strikes back and our heroes can’t catch a break. The biggest battle of the film sees the Rebellion crushed with their base destroyed and their forces spread throughout the galaxy. The Millenium Falcon, which saved the day in the previous film, is malfunctioning and can’t get away from the Empire’s Star Destroyers.
Even when Luke is training to become a Jedi, this isn’t the same kind of training as the previous film with Obi-Wan having a ball shoot at Luke so he can use his lightsaber. Dagobah is a much more murky environment and even Yoda can be intimidating at times even though he’s a few feet tall and is a puppet.
The scenes where Luke trains with Yoda provide some of the darkest imagery in a “Star Wars” film like when Luke goes into a cave and sees a hallucination of Darth Vader. Luke chops Vader’s head off and the mask explodes revealing that it’s Luke underneath. While I love “Star Wars,” this kind of symbolism wouldn’t be seen in the first film.
The film also does a good job of evolving the Force. In the previous film, much like Luke, we knew very little of what the Force could do. All we knew was that it was an energy film created by living things, it could tell us things our eyes couldn’t see (like the destruction of a planet), we could use it to influence the minds of the weak-minded and it could make us stronger if we use it. In “The Empire Strikes Back,” we find out that you can survive death as a ghost using the Force, can move objects with it and can even somewhat communicate to people that are far away.
Part of making a good sequel is evolving the characters of the previous film and Luke, Leia and Han experience this greatly. In the first film, Luke was a wide-eyed youth who dreamed of adventure. Here, Luke is more reckless and emotionally tempted to go to the dark side. Both Han and Leia become stronger leaders in the Rebel Alliance and even develop a romance (although Luke gets a kiss from Leia that will gross everyone out when you watch “Return of the Jedi”).
In “The Empire Strikes Back,” Princess Leia and Han Solo, played by Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford, develop a romance.
Even Darth Vader experiences strong development as he becomes far more dangerous here than he was in “Star Wars.” In the first film, he’s kind of a cool bad guy who can be intimidating. In the sequel, he is relentlessly evil. He strangles several of his own men with the Force, traps and tortures our heroes and the final battle he has with Luke sees him do serious damage. This was the film that made Darth Vader such an iconic villain.
When the original “Star Wars” came out, most of the companies George Lucas founded under Lucasfilm, like Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, were made for the production of “Star Wars.” And, after the film won Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing, George Lucas was essentially faced with an ultimatum: have less involvement in the sequel and grow his company or be just as involved with “The Empire Strikes Back” as “Star Wars.” He chose the former.
“The Empire Strikes Back” was very collaborative with Lucas giving directorial duties to Irvin Kershner, a professor of Lucas’ from the University of Southern California, and screenwriting duties to Lawrence Kasdan, who adapted Lucas’ original story, while Lucas remained attached to the film as the film’s executive producer.
Kasdan’s screenplay is nothing short of remarkable as, not only did he evolve the story of “Star Wars,” but he also created some of the most iconic lines of the franchise.
The characters Lucas and Kasdan created for this film have also become iconic in their own right like Lando. Lando’s character is not only a fun smooth-talker but he also has a bit of a dark side when he turns in Han to the Empire and ultimately redeems himself by helping Chewbacca, Leia and C3PO escape Cloud City. We also get to see a glimpse of the Emperor, voiced by Clive Revill. Before this, Vader was the biggest villain and now we finally get to see who is holding Vader’s leash.
(From Left) Director Irvin Kershner, Producer Gary Kurtz, Executive Producer George Lucas and Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan on the set of “The Empire Strikes Back.”
And, of course, there’s Boba Fett, played by Jeremy Bulloch and voiced by Jason Wingreen, the bounty hunter who captures Han Solo and takes him to Jabba the Hutt at the end of the film. This character doesn’t have many lines or even does that much, but there’s such a level of intimidation that comes from him that he’s instantly one of the franchise’s most memorable characters.
The special effects have also improved. While the effects of the original are timeless and have held up well, they were made on a smaller budget of $11 million. “The Empire Strikes Back” had three times that amount and created some incredible practical effects that also hold up to this day. These effects are so incredible, even though Yoda is a puppet, he feels real because of how he moves, Frank Oz’s voice work and how Mark Hamill interacts with him.
John Williams’ score also has surpassed the original with iconic pieces of music that “Star Wars” fans instantly recognize like “The Imperial March,” “Yoda’s Theme” and “The Asteroid Field.”
The best part of the film occurs at the end where Luke and Darth Vader fight in an epic duel of lightsabers. After being physically and emotionally drained by the fight, with his hand being cut off, Luke finds out the terrible truth. Vader didn’t kill Luke’s father as Obi-Wan told him. Vader is Luke’s father.
This twist was so monumental that many fans didn’t believe it. Many people thought that Vader was lying to Luke to make him come over to the dark side of the Force. It wouldn’t be until three years later that audiences knew the truth. The film also chose to end on a cliffhanger with Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 back with the Rebels, Han in the hands of Jabba the Hutt and the truth about Luke’s parentage in question. This confused many fans who wanted to know what happened but, if a film makes you long for the sequel so much, it’s doing something right.
“The Empire Strikes Back” is one of those films that is completely perfect. It’s not only the best “Star Wars” film, but it’s one of the greatest films of all time. It took a light-hearted adventure and turned it into a space opera with a dark environment and a new story for the characters to undergo. To this day, no “Star Wars” film has surpassed it although some have come close.
