If the original Star Wars represented the potential of modern cinema, then The Empire Strikes Back is the wondrous payoff. Everything that made the first film a gloriously giddy romp gets improved here: The special effects are enhanced with new imagination and innovation, and they work at the service of thrilling new action scenes. New characters will become instant franchise legends. George Lucas’ story ambitiously expands the mythology, while retaining everything awesome about its predecessor. As a cherry on top, Lucas chucks in one of the biggest plot twists in movie history. Put all that together, and you’ve got the movie sequel that stands above the rest.
Of course, both the film and this review will assume you’ve seen Star Wars: A New Hope. If you haven’t, well…I’m not sure what can be done with you. Hope lives on the face of cinema’s Mt. Rushmore, next to Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz and Don Vito in The Godfather. (The fourth face is up for debate, but I’ll probably give it to Snow White. Or Citizen Kane. Or, aw hell…) Long story short, you’ve got to see Star Wars. If nothing else, just go to Disney+ and scratch it off your list.
Anyway, Empire kicks off three years after the events of the first film. After their victory against the Death Star, the Rebel Alliance now stands in disarray. Darth Vader (body of David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones) has hit hard, prompting the rebel remnants to flee to the distant ice world of Hoth. In addition to his mandate to crush the rebellion, Vader has a new obsession with finding Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), the aspiring Jedi who destroyed the Death Star.
On Hoth, Luke receives a message from the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). The young Jedi is to travel to the swamp world of Dagobah, so he can complete his training with Yoda (voice and puppetry of Frank Oz), the mysterious mystic who mentored Kenobi himself. Meanwhile, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia struggle with their newly romantic feelings for each other. At the same time, Solo feels new urgency to leave the rebellion and settle his old smuggling debts.
That basic setup fuels a movie that boils over with creative energy and invention. On Hoth, we see tauntauns–rideable creatures who look like a cross between a battle ram and a kangaroo. Also, there are Wampas–marauding yetis who will feast on anybody who dares venture into the tundra. When the Empire arrives, they deploy Imperial Walkers, giant attack transports that resemble mechanical war elephants. And this is just the first act! Later, our heroes will venture into dense asteroid fields, gurgling bogs, and a beautiful city in the clouds. Every scene of The Empire Strikes Back is a stunning experience for the eyes and ears.
Of course, the filmmakers don’t neglect our hearts and minds, either. Screenwriters Leigh Brackett (a legend of the film noir 40s) and Lawrence Kasdan (a rising star at the time) work from Lucas’ detailed outline and give us a story that carefully fleshes out the characters we know and love. The burgeoning romance between Han and Leia has all the prickly banter of classic Bogey and Bacall. (In one scene, the two snipe at each other all the way into a kiss.) On Dagobah, Luke grapples with his growing powers, and the emotional baggage of being the Chosen One. In all three character arcs, Brackett and Kasdan do an expert job of upping the stakes, while keeping everyone true to themselves. (Naturally, Han Solo could only greet Leia’s desperate “I love you” in one way: “I know.”)
With that said, one of the film’s biggest strengths lies in its new characters: Wizened and diminutive, Yoda turns our expectations of a Jedi Master upside down. He has the cuteness of a Muppet and speaks in jumbled aphorisms (“Do, or do not. There is no try.”), but Yoda also shows the power and restraint of a seasoned warrior. With this character, Lucas and puppeteer Frank Oz achieve something incredible. Yoda never feels like a one-dimensional creature created in a workshop, but a living, breathing individual. In any given scene, we see Yoda as playfully silly, curmudgeonly, or even frustrated and disappointed. In a series of technical breakthroughs, the seamless performance of this tiny green puppet is one Empire‘s most underrated triumphs.
Many other characters pop up to add new depth and dimension to the franchise. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), Han’s old gambling buddy, is smooth as satin, even if his true intentions remain unclear. I also love the scene in which Vader recruits a rogue’s gallery of bounty hunters to track the Millennium Falcon. The camera pans around a group of unsavory mercenaries, including a hissing Snake-man, a murder-droid, and the heavy armor of the Mandalorian Boba Fett. (Few characters have achieved as much badassery by doing as little as Fett does in this movie. He just looks so cool!) Later, we even get a brief look at the Emperor (Clive Revill in the OG cut, Ian McDiarmid in later versions), Vader’s crinkly, hooded master. Put simply, every new character only makes this movie more fascinating to watch.
Contemporary critics didn’t know what to make of The Empire Strikes Back. At the time, it must’ve felt strangely dark and dense. After all, the original Star Wars was such a sunny burst of Flash Gordon optimism. Its ending was so satisfying, with Luke, Han, and Chewy on the medal stand, as John Williams’ fanfare showered them with the glory of conquering heroes. In time, we could appreciate this moment as the end of an opening act–or, to borrow from Winston Churchill, “the end of the beginning.” What follows here is the plunge into a harrowing second act, wherein the good guys are scattered and broken. As a result, The Empire Strikes Back is more dramatically intense and emotionally gripping than anything in the movie that came before it.
124 min. PG. Disney+.
