Give that man a hand....

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2003)

Ice, freezing cold, swamps, a bit of incest and severed limbs, yes its my last holiday alright and by an extraordinary coincidence some of the key points in The Empire Strikes Back.
TESK named in the days when Lucasfilm could name a film without causing people to break into fits of uncontrolled laughter, is a terrific sequel to Star Wars. The second/fifth instalment improves on the original in almost every respect. Secure in the knowledge that the film had generated sufficient returns (apparently)to be extended to trilogy form, the scope of the saga both broadened and deepened here.
Two things work in the film's favour in this respect. Firstly is Lucas's decision not to direct the second film, apparently due to the on set struggles encountered making the first. Oh happy day. Kersner adds a layer of psychological depth to the characterisations allowing for the darker elements of the story to more fully realised. Dialogue isn't a problem either this time round thanks to Lucas forsaking writing duties in favour of Leigh Brackett and Lawerence Kasdan. Most of what ended up on screen is due to Kasdan as Brackett died of Cancer in 1979, having completed her first draft. Her connection with directors like Howard Hawkes and Film Noir is still evident though, and her contribution to the saga is the dark edge this film has thats sorely missed from other episodes. Kasdan safe pair of hands ensures the proceedings sound as good as they possibly can with a series of highly memorable lines, most of which emanate from Darth Vader.
As a self-contained film the only problem with EMPIRE is that it suffers slightly from middle child syndrome. Its too open ended to be fully satisfying and doesn't trouble itself to reintroduce elements from the first film assuming, probably correctly it must be said, that everyone will have seen This New Title is Hopeless. Looking back on the film now you have to wonder how much of the story was really pre-planned. Its often suggested by Lucas that he had it all mapped out in advance but i'm not so sure. Was Vader always Luke's Dad? Was Leia always Luke's sister? The ending suggests yes because they can communicate through the force but hang on, didn't she lay a big incestuous kiss on him back on Hoth? Thank god they didn't have sex! Imagine explaining that away in Jedi. One for the super special edition George?
All in all its great stuff all the way from Hoth to the Bespin, via Degobar of course. After this Yoda packed, surprise laden instalment it must be hard to imagine how the series could ever go off the rails but the blue elephant in Jabba's palace was only one film away...oh and Vader's death...oh yes and then there were those teddy bears weren't there? Wait a minute, i'd forgotten the Phantom Mena-