Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

In the mid 90’s, I borrowed the Star Wars videos from my cousins and became a fan of some of the greatest movies ever made. For a time, I couldn’t decide which one was my favorite. “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” is my 3rd favorite science fiction film with “A New Hope” and “Revenge of the Sith” as #1 and #2 respectively. Story-wise, Lucas followed the pattern of a three act opera with his first Star Wars trilogy (he replicated a Greek tragedy for his other trilogy). Act one in an opera is where you meet the characters and act two is where the conflict grows. “Empire” was also more spiritual and dramatic in nature than its preceding film. Lucas gambled a lot with this movie and came out a winner. We have an entire saga of "Star Wars" films thanks to the success of "The Empire Strikes Back". As a side note, I will reference the prequels in my review of this story.

One thing I notice about Luke’s outfit in this sequel is that it is grey. It symbolizes his growing maturity because in the first film, he was in white. The opening text mentions that Vader is obsessed with finding Luke. He might be out for revenge with Luke being the one who destroyed the Death Star. Upon hearing the name Luke Skywalker, Vader may have other motifs for finding Luke. The adventure with the snow monster allows us see a new power of the Force: telekinesis. Luke crashing on Degobah is depicted as similar to crashing your car in the middle of nowhere and getting stuck in the mud. I like that. The film has many humorous moments such as C-3PO's comment that the asteroid may not be entirely stable. Han is like “Thank you Captain Obvious.” “Empire” also introduces a romance between Han and Leia. This does create a love triangle in the trilogy, at least until the next film. Basically, it is a bad boy love story. Yoda has become a little eccentric after more than 20 years alone. Back in 1980 in his first scene however, he was just an annoying little creature for Luke. I love the humor of this scene such as Yoda hitting R2 with this cane saying, “Mine, mine, mine.” Another funny moment is when Luke tells R2 to watch the camp and R2 response is like unto “What!! No, don’t leave me here.” Yoda here is actually testing Luke’s patience. Suddenly in his second scene he drops the charade after Luke has failed in his first lesson. His voice seems to hint that he is in the winter of his years also. Yoda cannot forget what happened to Vader and is mindful that Luke has a good chance of suffering the same end. The training is undertaken nonetheless. The scene in the cave is quite symbolic, so much so that we have to really think about it to interpret it. My person view is that it represents what truly happened to Anakin Skywalker and at the same time, it represents Luke’s inner battle with the dark side. This is a test that Luke has failed because he went in looking for a fight, taking his weapons. Then comes one of the most meaningful and powerful scenes emotionally in the whole saga. It is the best way to explain to a non-Star Wars fan what the Force is. It includes the wonderful lesson “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” The scene also teaches the importance of faith, how size doesn’t matter and that nothing is impossible. The music does wonders here as Yoda lifts the spaceship out of the water and on to the land with very little noise. Yoda has shown that faith precedes the miracle. You must believe before you can see. Luke sees his friends in pain through the Force and has to rescue them without completing his training. Yoda warns him that by trying to help his friends, they will have suffered for nothing. The revelation that there is another who can destroy the Sith makes Luke expendable as a character. This is a nice twist story-wise but nothing compared to the story twist towards the end of the movie.

Vader wants the Millennium Falcon because it is the only bait that will lure Luke to him. I for one applaud the changes made in the scene with the Emperor. This scene provides proof for Vader that Anakin Skywalker’s son exists. This is one of the motifs he has for finding Luke. The disappearance of the Falcon stumps even us because we know that the hyperdrive is not working. It is quite a funny little trick that Han uses on the Empire. I love the irony that they are hiding on the back of the ship looking for them. Boba Fett however doesn’t fall for the trick that Han pulls on the Empire because he remembers Obi-wan pulling the same trick on his father, Jango Fett, above Geonosis. Because of Luke’s vision, we know that Han and Leia are going to be captured in Bespin but thanks to Lando’s fun intro, we trust him and like him so we don’t think he is the betraying type. Our appeal towards him is important for when he saves the others. He changes sides because dealing with the devil only benefits the devil. Going into this faceoff, Luke has one thing that Vader did not when he fell to the dark side: Luke has learned from the mistakes that Vader made. A wise person learns from the mistakes of others and not just his own. Unfortunately, Luke is not ready to face Vader skill-wise. He cannot control the Force very well and the temptations to join the dark side are strong because he is still in his training phrase. The set up of the lightsaber fight is masterful done from a directorial standpoint. Vader is in silhouette and Luke walks toward him slowly. The scene almost feels like a Wild West shootout as the two warriors pull out their weapons separately. Luke knows the importance of this moment, as he is about to fight the most sinister agent of the Emperor. As on the last film, these two warriors are not seasoned Jedi/Sith. Luke is young with only a few training sessions under his belt and Vader is half-robot. Luke is unafraid of Vader but is not as experienced with a lightsaber. Vader is also more powerful. I love Vader’s acting during the line “All too easy.” The humor that comes from Vader look down into the chamber when we know that Luke is not down there is also entertaining. Because Luke is Anakin’s son, Vader feels he knows just the right buttons to press to get Luke to turn. At the end of their fight, Vader gets more personal in order to earn Luke’s trust by using Luke’s first name. When the usual stuff doesn’t work, Vader tries a much more direct approach: Vader did not kill Luke’s father, he is Luke’s father. This is the greatest plot point in the whole saga and maybe the greatest cliffhanger ending in film history (the scene even symbolically takes place on a “cliff”). Vader tells Luke the truth about Anakin Skywalker because it will destroy all confidence that Luke has in his ability to resist the dark side. Even though Luke’s major reason for becoming a Jedi is no more as Vader desired, Vader's plan backfires. Luke would rather die than make the mistakes his father did. In retrospect however, Luke comes to some realizations. Luke has been informed that the Emperor foresaw Luke killing him. Luke wonders as to why the Emperor told this to Vader and why Vader told Luke. Wouldn’t the Emperor try to prevent this possible future by having Vader kill Luke? Why take the risk in converting Luke to the dark side? Luke is not fooled by this lie and learns something important through his feelings: there is some good in Vader. Vader asks Luke for the same thing he asked his wife many years earlier. It is microscopic evidence of love that Vader has for Luke as a son because Vader thinks that Luke is all that’s left of his wife. As a final note, I like how in the escape from Bespin, both Chewie and Leia look at Lando when the hyperdrive fails once again. No wonder Han and Lando are friends?

This film represents the “Initiation” phase in Joseph Campbell’s story pattern of “The Hero’s Journey”. Luke goes through many trials and labors such as with the snow monster. He is tempted and has to confront his father. Lucas’ surprise ending and his desire to have fans debate for three years worked perfectly. Half of fans thought Vader was lying. Luke’s reaction to the truth would have been enough proof for me if I had seen the film back in 1980. A reason why the twist ending is such a surprise is that basically only four people making the movie knew about it: Lucas, director Irvin Kershner, Mark Hamill and James Earl Jones. Everybody else thought that the twist ending would be that Obi-wan killed Luke’s father because of a false page in the script. Hamill was told just moments before the camera rolled and so he reacted accordingly on camera even though false lines from Vader were being spoken. Jones assumed along with many fans that Vader was a lying when he recorded for the film. The acting in this film is quite noteworthy, especially from Hamill. Harrison Ford is able to be romantic without sacrificing the character he created on the first film. His last line in the film “I know” is adlib because he and Kershner wanted Han Solo to say something true to his character. Lucas knew that in addition to creating a much more dramatic story, he would need new characters. Smoothy is the perfect nickname for Lando and Billy Dee Williams did fine as that character. I am glad they had Temuera Morrison record Boba Fett’s lines in a later edition of this film. It creates continuity. When it was decided that Yoda would be a puppet, Lucas went to the foremost expert in puppetry: Jim Henson. Due to his busy schedule with "The Muppet Show" and directing "The Great Muppet Caper", Henson suggested his right hand man: Frank Oz. Considering the fact that Oz is the muppeteer behind Grover, Fozzie Bear, Bert, Cookie Monster and the famous Miss Piggy, he seems a little odd casting choice for a wise and powerful Jedi Master. Oz however created one of the most beloved Star Wars characters of all time and Yoda’s reverse way of talking has come to represent wisdom in mainstream society. Yoda also symbolizes another teacher or mentor from "The Hero’s Journey" besides Obi-wan. He feels so real and not a puppet thanks to Oz and the puppet’s design. Mark Hamill also deserves some credit for Yoda's believability because of his dramatic performances on the Degobah scenes. The three musical themes that come to people’s minds when they think of Star Wars is the main theme, the Force theme from “Binary Sunset” and “Imperial March” from this film. Darth Vader’s theme has such power to it and it works so well as transition music. The special effects were way more advanced that the ones on “A New Hope”. ILM now had money and they were able to move out of the warehouse. There are some shots that I can’t imagine being created at this time in film history. The asteroid field is one such example.

Lucas invested in his own money in this movie and because he was too busy running Lucasfilm and ILM, he hired his college professor Irvin Kershner to direct. Kershner did a great job. For example, he wanted malfunctions in the Millennium Falcon so as to better portray this “used future” setting of Star Wars. There were so many problems financially & corporately during production and so this movie needed to be a hit. It was. “The Empire Strikes Back” won a Special Achievement Oscar for its visual effects as well as a win for Best Sound. The American Film Institute has named Darth Vader as the 3rd greatest film villain because of this movie. I am quite impressed by the design and mood of this sequel. “The Empire Strikes Back” is the only Star Wars movie I have not seen on the big screen but thanks to a movie marathon preceding "The Force Awakens" at the theatre I was working at, I got to see clips. Thanks to the cliffhanger ending and the fact that Han needs rescuing, you can’t wait to see the final film in the trilogy.

5 Stars out of 5