More Yoda and less everything else we want to see. Yes, hrrrm.

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2019)

As someone who didn't watch any of the original Star Wars movies until early 2010's, I've had an indifferent relationship with them. I have always wanted to really like them but I never really could do to some of my issues with the films. Concerning Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back(1980) it was probably my least favourite of the three alongside Return of the Jedi. I'm still not quite sure whether I like it as much as A New Hope, but I learned to appreciate it more than before. I'm going to be comparing this movie quite a lot to its predecessor as its a direct sequel and makes the writing easier for me.
This movie didn't have as many stunning visuals as a New Hope did. A few shots that stand out for me are shots of the Imperial fleet and also some shots of the Cloud City. On the other hand I feel like with the help of nice camerawork and more interesting locations and sets the visuals are overall more pleasing than in New Hope. Dagobah and the set of Lukes and Darth Vaders stand off especially impressed me. However, I feel like there was a lot more stop motion animation here and it was awfully distracting for me. The scene where Luke flings himself to the AT-AT and the scene where Luke falls to the carbon freezing chamber and then jumps out before Darth Vader could even realize are examples of scenes that are supposed to be tense but I find them really funny due to how ridiculous it looks. Some times the matte paintings also stood out quite badly but that I could deal with. Explosions looked much better than in A New Hope. The sound design remained awesome. Also some really nice additions to the score especially the ever so famous: The Imperial March.
The first half of the first act of this movie is about Luke getting rescued from the wampa/snowstorm. While it adds some important things to the overarching story like Han willing to risk his life for a friend and reminding the viewer that Luke is in fact capable of using the force, I feel like like it's quite wasteful writing. It sort of feels like a too long prologue for me. After that the Imperials attack Hoth and some rebels die in the process of trying to slow them down. We get some reaction shots of Luke when they die but we never really have time to feel any emotion for them. This makes me care less about the rebels as our main characters don't seem to care all that much. Other than that the battle on Hoth is quite fun.
The second act is split into following Leia, Han Solo, 3-CPO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca trying to escape the Imperials in the Millenium Falcon and following Luke pursue his own path trying to become a Jedi. Other than a few nice chase sequences between the Imperials and the Falcon and the chemistry between 3-CPO and Han, I wasn't all too invested. On the other hand everything related to Luke was some of the most enjoyable cinema I have ever seen. Dagobah as a location, literally everything about Yoda, Lukes struggles... I just wish we would have seen more of Lukes training instead of Imperials chasing the Falcon. Luke decides to, what may initially look like an act of selflessness, very selfishly try to save his friends putting everyone in the rebel alliance under danger.
The third act is pretty interesting altogether. Finally the relationship between Leia and Han the whole movie has worked on pays off. Leia finally admits to loving Han as he is frozen in carbonate. After that we get iconic first meeting between Luke and Darth Vader. Apart from a few nitpicks, this scene is pretty much flawless to me. I kind of wish Luke didn't survive in such a stupid fashion although I understand it was necessary for him to believe he was killing himself and that he had to survive.
We end Lukes arc in such an interesting state. He is healing from the fact his whole vision of the universe has shattered (also physically in the form of a new hand) as he always looked up to his father as an inspiration only for the face of evil to be revealed to him as his true father. He learns that his actions have consequences and that he was lucky he even survived. Now he knows he must be able to truly control the force if he wants to defeat Vader.
This movie introduced two very welcome characters to the universe. Let's start off with Yoda. He is first introduced as a truly hilarious comic relief later for the viewer to discover he was only playing with Lukes patience. Everything Yoda says and the way he says it is always perfect. One of the greatest and most iconic characters ever. Then there is the friend of Han Solo, Lando Calrissian who resembles Han Solo (at least before this movie) : he is charismatic and on the thin line between good and evil. The difference between Lando and Han is that in a serious situation Han puts others ahead of his own greed whereas Lando initially doesn't. After Lando learns that he can't negotiate with Vader he risks everything and redeems himself.
Whereas I feel like this movie has the highest highs in the trilogy so far I feel like the structure of the story lacks consistency required for me to give it 8/10 at the moment. So, I will give it a very strong 7/10 instead.