Worthy successor

Rating: 10/10 (18 February 2004)

I must imagine that making a sequel to 'Star Wars' must be like trying to follow Johnny Carson in the Tonight Show. How do you follow up an act that was so well received and set the standard so high? There is a such thing as warming up an audience. It's a totally different matter when you blow them away. In these days, when it is customary to believe that sequels have no chance to equal their predecessor, all one has to do is point to 'Empire Strikes Back' to reject that notion.
The movie is so elegantly made and so vibrant in its creativity, it somehow finds a way to surpass its predecessor. 'Star Wars' opens its universe but 'Empire Strikes Back' enriches it. Yoda makes his appearance into popular culture. Luke discovers the truth of his family. And each character completes an arc that they merely began in the first movie. If 'Star Wars' is a movie about innocence, the naive farmer boy flying off to save the galaxy, then 'Empire Strikes Back' is a movie about how that innocence was lost. When happens when the party is over?
It is well known that Mark Hamill was in a car accident before the filming of the sequel. The accident did extensive damage to his face, and many worried that he could not act the part of Luke Skywalker anymore. The result was that he created a far more mature version of Skywalker for the better of the franchise. He portrays Skywalker as a veteran of the rebellion, aged through fighting and no longer a naive boy.
The making of 'Empire Strikes Back' was approached with artistry, which made it a much darker film than its predecessor. Not everyone appreciated the change, but no one could deny that it was a masterpiece, very dark and yet very human in its story telling. The scene I remember most comes near the end, when Darth Vader is staring out the window of his ship watching victory come within his grasp only to slip past him again.

The audience cannot see any facial expressions because of his mask, but the pain of his loss is very perceptible. He is a worn soldier, scarred by evil but very desperate for what he wants. It is possible to pity him, which makes the complications of the story that much more compelling. I did not always love this movie. But that has changed. And I expect soon that more people will see that 'Empire Strikes Back' is the defining moment in the Star Wars saga.