Movie Review – Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Our marathon continues with episode five, The Empire Strikes Back.

The Empire Strikes Back returns us to this world we love and brings us up to date on what’s happening with both our heroes and villains. The things this film excels on are plot, the development of its returning characters, introducing new characters well, big reveals, and hints of things to come. It has a couple moments of weakness, but otherwise is a strong film.
Let’s take a closer look at The Empire Strikes Back.

[IF THERE IS EVEN THE SLIGHTEST POSSIBILITY THAT YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THESE FILMS YET THEN BE WARNED THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW]

Pros

• One of the highlights for me about The Empire Strikes Back is watching Leia be this Commander and all of these men not only listening to her orders, but trusting her to order them around. Such a great development for her character.
• The banter between Leia and Han on Hoth is so fun and shows how much their feelings for each other are growing.
• Yoda being a puppet is visually so much more appealing than the CGI Yoda we get in the prequels. It just makes Yoda feel so real to me and an actual character. If the CGI had been better in the prequels I probably wouldn’t have minded CGI Yoda, but when you watch the prequels first and then see puppet Yoda in this one it’s so obvious which version is superior.
• Something I found interesting was when Yoda just switches from what appears to be this bumbling goof of a creature to this wise Jedi. They way they play it is so startling and also really well done. It’s a little sequence that I really enjoyed.
• I loved the foreshadowing to the reveal of who Luke’s father was when it showed his face in Vader’s mask. Such a nice touch and honestly made me grin really wide. It was beautifully done.
• “That boy is our only hope.” “No, there is another.” More perfect foreshadowing. Using this moment to hint about the truth about Leia was great, especially since this piece of information isn’t revealed until Return of the Jedi.
• The silhouette shot of Luke and Vader before and after they ignite their lightsabers is just a beautiful shot. I don’t know why I loved it so much, but I remember pausing my TV at both parts and just staring at those shots.
  
  

Cons

• The Hoth storyline at the beginning was very rocky for me. At first I really didn’t like it and found it a weird way to begin the movie, but after Luke got back to camp and Vader found them the story started to get more interesting.
• Okay, if it’s as cold on Hoth as it appears to be, how is Luke not dead? He surely would have frozen to death by now, right?
• Why does Luke just stand by while this creature has R2-D2 underneath this water? Why doesn’t he try and save R2?
• I don’t understand how any of them could mistaken a giant worm creature for a cave.
• I strongly disliked C-3PO in this film. He was extremely annoying and every word out of his mouth was a complaint. I found myself groaning every time he was on screen or uttered a line.
• Okay, I get that the “I love you” “I know” is an iconic moment in these films history and that they have them say these lines again in Return of the Jedi, but reversed. Knowing all this I can’t help that it really bugs me every time I watch it. Han doesn’t know if he’ll live through this or if he does if he’ll ever see Leia again, so instead of just being a badass in front of Leia and everyone else, I just wish he would have said “I love you” back  to Leia. It’s such a little thing, but it annoys the hell out me.
• When Luke is hanging upside down and he calls to Leia, how does he know Leia will hear him? I mean at this point he doesn’t know she’s his sister and she’s previously shown no signs of being force sensative. So, why would he call out to her?
• The beginning and end of this film are solid, but it does dip a little in the middle and a lot of that is the Han, Leia, and Chewie sequences. They still have their strong moments, but this film feels like it’s more about Luke, so when it changes to Han and company it does feel like a let down. Now, that in no way means that the Han and company sequences are boring or horrible. It’s just in comparison with what’s happening with Luke, I found myself wanting to stay with Luke, but I understood the importance of the Han and company scenes.

Side Note: 

• How long has it been between episodes four and five?
• “Yoda, the Jedi master who instructed me.” Thought you were instructed by Qui-Gon?
• When you know that Luke and Leia are siblings it makes watching them kiss, plus Luke’s obvious crush on Leia a bit awkward.
• What is the chamber like thing that Vader seems to be in every time someone comes to update him on their progress?
• Yoda is so nosy, getting into Luke’s stuff.
• The conversation between Vader and the Emperor when they’re talking about Luke being Anakin’s son is so interesting to watch when you already know that Vader is Anakin.
• So the Falcon used to belong to Lando? I’d like to know how Han was able to get it from Lando.
• What does Vader’s machine do to Han?
• There was a moment where the camera focused on Leia and Vader and I found myself wondering, why? Could Vader sense something about Leia?  Did Leia sense something about Vader? Or was it just more subtle foreshadowing?

In Conclusion

The Empire Strikes Back is a great sequel to A New Hope and leaves the viewer even more eager for the third film in this trilogy. It has everything you could ask for in a film: heroes, villains, action, romance, twists, and a solid plot. Like I said above, there are weaknesses, but they do not weaken this film overall.

I’m going to give Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back .