D: Irvin Kershner
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Considering how well respected Empire Strikes Back is, it may seem unnecessary to defend it further, but I believe I have thoughts to contribute. I will point out that if you have not seen this movie or somehow do not know how it ends, you should stop reading and watch the first two Star Wars movies. I’ve never believed that there’s a statute of limitations for spoilers.
The movie subverts the expectations (in a good way) by beginning with the Rebels’ being tracked down to their secret base and defeated in a humiliating battle. As they desperately flee, our heroes are split into two groups that are separate from the Alliance. At the behest of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) travels to Dagobah with R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) to continue his training under Yoda (an excellent puppet voiced by Frank Oz). Meanwhile Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) are stranded in the sector by a faulty hyperdrive as Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones) obsessively pursues them. He eventually captures them and tortures Han in order to lure Luke into a fight. Luke is injured in the altercation and traumatically learns that the dark lord is his father. It’s a bold twist that has inspired some uninspired wannabes. The closest thing to something that predated it in pop culture is Baron Harkonnen’s being Paul’s grandfather in Dune, and it would be absurd to pretend that plays out the same way. All in all, I would recommend showing this movie to someone early enough so that the twist is not ruined by all the imitations beforehand.
I’ve heard people complain that it was “cliched.”
Throughout the movie, Vader executes a few Imperial officers for incompetence, thus establishing a reputation for being a bit crazy. This has unfortunately been taken to the point of parody, and I have a dissenting opinion on this. While Vader may be an evil, murderous fascist, he’s not a fully irrational psycho, and I think his unhinged behavior in this movie has to do with his desperation to reunite with his son. He’s beside himself and still manages to steamroll everyone. In the other movies he doesn’t kill out of pure impulse. In ANH he strangles a rebel for lying to him during an interrogation and almost does so to Admiral Motti, who was really asking for it. In ROTJ it’s implied that he might have murdered some people at the Emperor’s behest to speed up the Death Star’s construction. On the other hand, he comes off as tolerant toward his subordinates most of the time, welcomes their informed dissent, and occasionally even compliments them just for doing their jobs. He’s still evil, of course, but he’s simply not that cartoonish.
The themes of this movie are great. Luke’s headstrong nature causes him to face Vader prematurely, and the good guys have to retreat with their tails between the legs. Han is captured and left to an uncertain fate at the end of the movie. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) is a foil for Han who is split between his responsibility to his city and standing up for his friends against the villains. He eventually finds out why you shouldn’t make a deal with the Devil, even if the intentions are good. There’s well-executed romance in this entry, subverting the puppy-love tease between Luke and Leia, with Han’s playing the sensitive role toward the Princess, who is so dedicated a fighter he must pull her out of combat. Yoda is a compelling character, a mysterious monk with an implied past of tragedy; developing him in the prequels really sullied that mystique. Moreover, the idea that Ben and Yoda hid the truth from Luke provides a good lesson in the life: make sure the next generation knows the whole truth. There’s an understandable assumption that all one’s children need to know is the present significance of a political conflict. But knowing the history helps one understand how it can be fought. More importantly, hiding the truth can set the young up for disillusionment to the point of feeling betrayed. This can make them reject noble beliefs. It’s not a logical reaction, but it’s a common one.
In fact, not enough works show protagonists' actually getting corrupted by this epiphany. So it's actually fitting that Revenge of the Sith and TCW show this happening to Anakin. His disillusionment with the Jedi's lies and corruption puts him on the path to the Dark Side. This makes Vader a good foil for Luke and explains why the latter might be the one who can redeem him: because on some level he understands why Vader fell.
Empire Strikes Back maintains the franchise’s balance between fantasy and grit while expanding its boundaries. We have an ice planet, a floating city, and a final confrontation in a literally hellish industrial environment juxtaposed with web-like scaffolding. Mythological settings with a sci-fi explanation In contrast more recent Star Wars works have downplayed the former. Even the AT-AT’s monstrous appearance is just justified by the Empire’s fascination with gigantism while being powerful enough to prioritize terror over impeccable strategy. The special effects and cinematography enhance the atmosphere, as well as John Williams’ excellent score.
As with most of the Star Wars movies, it has its share of questionable military tactics (I for one would love to read the naval case study on those two Star Destroyers that somehow managed to run right the hell into each other). It’s odd how the Rebels didn’t wipe out the AT-AT’s within a minute after it was discovered all you had to do was shoot them in the neck (real cold move there by the way, Wedge). I’d say the difference between a nitpick and truly bad writing is whether or not the plot is dependent on the flaws. The only thing that matters is that the Rebels lose a battle in the first act, and these things I described are easily fixed details. This isn’t exactly TLJ (and to a lesser extent, ROTJ), in which the entire conflict is based on tactical nonsense. There still could be a bit of an issue with Vader’s merely having the Falcon’s hyperdrive deactivated after allowing Lando’s men to repair it. I suppose it could be a covert attempt to lure the heroes back to the ship in case they escape.
There’s another alleged flaw in regards to the movie’s timeframe. Luke had to have spent a substantial amount of time on Dagobah to receive any meaningful training from Yoda. However, when Han & Co. lose the Imperial fleet, Han says of traveling to Bespin, “It’s a long way, but I think we can make it,” implying that the trek would be long enough to normally justify lightspeed. It could have been months. This also explains how the Empire beat them to the punch once they got word of their intent.
This movie got off relatively easy in the Special Editions, getting fewer moments of bad CGI with the exception of some establishing shots of Bespin. However, many cite a couple bad changes as good ones, and I’m going to have to set the record straight. First, the Wampa scene. People don’t seem to realize that the reason it was suspenseful is because you didn’t know where the Wampa was in relation to Luke. The change was justified so we’d see “what a horrible monster” it is, but was just simply sitting there eating…and it actually looked kinda cute? Like a Bichon Frise, almost. The other “improvement” was the Emperor, a great example of prioritizing blandly literalist logic over aesthetic. Yes, of course it does look more like the Palpatine in other works, but the original version was done more artfully. There was a sense of mystery with the use of shadows and everything. They even superimposed a chimpanzee's eyes over the characters’ for an intentional Uncanny Valley effect. It also doesn’t help that the usually wonderful Ian McDiarmid appears to have been drugged for this take. This is also troubling since this would be the most famous role from Marjorie Eaton, with Clive Revill as the voice. I certainly don’t approve of memory-holing the contribution of two actors and an anonymous chimp to my favorite movie. I won't stand for it.
The same adherence to logistics also informed the re-dubbing of Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch). Jason Wingreen’s original voice was very fitting, and I always found it amusing how, when Vader told him not to use disintegrators, he sounded like teenager who was just asked to take the garbage out. Temuera Morrison’ voice supposedly adds continuity to the prequels, but it doesn’t make sense. You generally get your accent from your friends, not your parents, and Boba has spent much time away from Jango. In fact, in actually makes even less sense for the clones to have Jango’s accent. The one special edition change I like is the CG outdoor scenery added to the Bespin hallways, which breaks up the bland set design of that scene. I like the shot of Slave I’s landing pad as the heroes approach it.
This movie made Star Wars a franchise. It proved that it had legs and potential as a universe. The closest thing I have to a complaint is 3PO’s being annoying dead weight, but this is justified by his role as the Bard and comes in handy in Return of the Jedi. The movie also stars Denis Lawson, Julian Glover, Kenneth Colley, Michael Sheard, and John Ratzenberger, with Kathryn Mullen, David Barclay, Wendy Froud, Deep Roy as puppeteers.
