The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 20th Century Fox/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure RT: 124 minutes Rated PG (sci-fi action violence) Director: Irvin Kershner Screenplay: Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan Music: John Williams Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky Release date: May 21, 1980 (US) Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz (voice), James Earl Jones (voice), Jeremy Bulloch, Alec Guinness, Denis Lawson. Box Office: $290.4 million (US)/$538.3 million (World)
Rating: ****
Like its 1977 predecessor, the sequel will always be The Empire Strikes Back to me. Allow me to reiterate my displeasure with Star Wars creator George Lucas and his proclivity for tampering with perfection. I don’t WANT to refer to the original classics as “Episodes IV, V and VI”.
That being said, I will now proceed with my review of The Empire Strikes Back, the even-better follow-up to the groundbreaking movie that redefined moviegoing during the hot months. I saw it for the first time that September and I can only chalk up my procrastination to being 12 and pissed off about not being allowed to see the movies I wanted to see that summer (e.g. Friday the 13th, The Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, Brubaker and The Shining). To top it all off, my 7th grade Social Studies teacher “Ms. K” revealed the major surprise plot point just days before I went to see it with my family. Ultimately, that’s the only valuable thing I learned in that class, the notion of “plot spoilers”.
I liked The Empire Strikes Back well enough at the time, but like the first movie, I didn’t fully appreciate it until I saw it again during its 1981 re-release. By that time (I was 13), I was studying films as I watched them. I may not have had all the mental tools possessed by more mature moviegoers, but I had a deeper understanding of the medium than a majority (if not all) of my peers. The point is that I thoroughly enjoyed Empire and saw it twice that summer of ’81.
So the big question is how much of a plot synopsis should I provide about Empire? It’s not like everybody hasn’t seen it already. For the sake of brevity, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum. Set a few years after the destruction of the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance has a new secret base on the ice planet of Hoth. It isn’t long before Darth Vader (Prowse) finds them and sends an Imperial Fleet to destroy the base. This means that our heroes have to part ways for the time being.
Luke Skywalker (Hamill) travels to Dagobah with R2-D2 (Baker) to continue his training under the tutelage of 800-year-old Jedi master Yoda (Oz). Han Solo (Ford), Princess Leia (Fisher), Chewbacca (Mayhew) and C-3PO (Daniels) escape in a badly-damaged Millennium Falcon and hide in an asteroid field while trying to fix the hyperspace drive. Vader sends bounty hunters, including Boba Fett, to locate the Falcon.
During his intensive training, Luke senses that his friends are in trouble and leaves Dagobah to help them against the advice of Yoda. The others go to Cloud City hoping for assistance from Han’s old friend Lando Calrissian (Williams), but that doesn’t quite work out. It all leads to a showdown between Luke and Vader during which the villain reveals that- should I say it? Oh, what the hell!- he is the young hero’s father, Anakin Skywalker.
As I’m sure you know, The Empire Strikes Back doesn’t end on a happy note. It’s the darkest chapter of the trilogy with Luke losing his right hand and Han being frozen in suspended animation for delivery to Jabba the Hut. It’s an exciting movie though. The duel between Luke and Vader is intense. There’s an awesome shoot-out between the heroes and Stormtroopers in Cloud City. My personal favorite scene in The Empire Strikes Back is when the rebels fight gigantic AT-AT Walkers on Hoth. Those machines are cool! Yep, out comes young Movie Guy!
I think Lucas made a wise decision in handing over writing and directorial duties to others. Irvin Kershner (Never Say Never Again) stages some of the best action sequences in the original Star Wars trilogy. Writers Leigh Brackett (The Big Sleep) and Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark) provide some much-needed character development. In the first movie, the main characters were merely character-types. In The Empire Strikes Back, they become more fleshed-out characters. The romance between Han and Leia grows. Luke becomes more conflicted about his character. Given what he finds out about his parentage, it’s possible that he might fall victim to the Dark Side of the Force. The addition of Yoda is a definite plus! He’s an interesting little guy. He’s like the wise samurai master dispensing nuggets of wisdom to his young pupil. I also love his way of speaking. To the syntax you must listen.
Pacing isn’t a problem in Empire even though some have claimed that the scene in the Dagobah cave where Luke imagines confronting Vader stops the movie dead. I think it’s crucial to the movie. It’s a sign of the big reveal. The acting is pretty good. The principals deliver better performances than in the original, but that can easily be attributed to the flawless screenplay. Williams, an actor that I really like, makes a nice addition to the cast.
The special effects are top-drawer, but would you expect anything less from Lucas? Like I said in my review of the first film, the man is a true artist! Speaking as a movie-loving adult, The Empire Strikes Back is an amazing film on many levels. It’s a perfect bridge between the first and final chapters of the OG trilogy. It’s also a perfect marriage of top-notch storytelling and technical wizardry. It’s pure magic!
