The "heart" of the "Star Wars" trilogy...

Rating: 9/10 (4 October 2016)

"The Empire Strikes Back" does its best to visually surpass the original "Star Wars" and the special effects or the creatures' designs are as convincing as the pioneering space epic, there's also a richness of landscapes, taking you from the snowy summits of a cold planet to the tropical jungle, but beyond the escapism, it's the excitement to see again that iconic gallery of characters, Han Solo, Leia, C3PO, R2-D2, Luke, Chewbacca (whose mourning and moaning sounds took a whole other resonance) and a few newcomers. In "The Empire Strikes Back", the key word is "Back".
Now, take the most hardcore "Star Wars" fan -I think there's a name for them, and I guess I would know if I were one- and take someone who doesn't care much about the series, now, ask the pair to list four or five classic "Star Wars" moments, I bet a good half of the scenes will belong to the glorious episode V "The Empire Strikes Back", directed by Irvin Keshner (and George Lucas as the Executive Producer). By the way, do you know the joke, why did Lucas start "Star Wars" with the 4th, 5th and 6th episodes and then made the first three? Because Master Yoda directed them (punch line drum sound). Well, that's just to show you I didn't use the word 'sequel', and this is not because I don't want to offend sensitivities, but because I don't take the film as a sequel but as the real journey into the soul of "Star Wars", the dark side, literally.
It is in this film that the relationship between Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) transcends the limits of the simple crush, the interactions between them are really catching and you can tell that Harrison Ford challenges his character, and has fun teasing the little Princess who's not insensitive to his charm. A film where actors have fun playing their characters can't turn bad, and it is a credit to the directing for having made the romance efficient with no more than three or four scenes. And they all culminate with one of the most touching declarations of love, touching because of its laconic but sincere answer you know. "The Empire Strikes Back" is also the film that pursues the coming-of-age of Luke Skywalker and features his initiation by Jedi Master Yoda (Frank Oz). Obi-Wan was a great character but Yoda has everything, the speech mannerism, the mimics and this little quality that makes him like the perfect crossover between Mr. Myagi and "E.T." except that he came the first.
Yoda is the heart of the story, and when he warns Luke about the dark side of the Force, he knows exactly where he's heading to, and I guess ever since "Star Wars" ended, the audience knew what the next film had to deliver. Which leads to the one true reason-to-be of the film, the climactic light-saber battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker right after having plunged us into the evil Empire Lord's psyche and revealed the Shakespearian truth about his identity. Now, is it really a spoiler to spoil it or is it a of prescription case? In a Simpson episode from the third season, which means 1992, a gag consisted on Homer leaving the theater and spoiling the ending to all the lining up moviegoers. So after one decade, "The Empire Strikes Back" was already part of cinema's history. I guess you can't call yourself a movie lover but if you don't know Vito Corleone, Scarlett O'Hara or the father of Luke Skywalker, well it kind of shades off to ignorance.
Indeed, "The Empire Strikes Back" is like the second tome of Homer's Odyssey, it is an inevitable and valuable portion of Cinema's history regarding perhaps the one true myth that solely belongs to the silver screen. And it is for this achievement that it's impossible not to recognize the cinematic value of "The Empire Strikes Back". Say what you want about the creatures, the special effects, the little gimmick or childish moments, but when the film starts and you have in order, the 'Fox' logo, the 'long time go' title card-and then the first pumping sound of the triumphant fanfare, something melts inside you and you're like a child who just sat on the roller- coaster. "The Empire Strikes Back" was the most anticipated movie, the follow-up to the all time most popular film and it managed to become more popular by injecting novelty within the relationships and add new characters such as Yoda or Lando (Billy Dee Williams).
It even managed to equal the original by having its own score: "The Imperial March", as if it had to have its own existence independently from the first, and it's fitting that the score is about the villain as Darth Vader seems more majestic and frightening in this opus, actually he was nominated #3 in the AFI's Top 50 villains but it was the Darth Vader from "Empire", the one with the Imperial March. Even Vader raises its iconic status with his (temporary) victory over the rebels. Because that's also what characterizes the film, the bad guys have the upper hand. It concludes with a frozen Han Solo, an amputated Luke with the painful knowledge about his origins, a disintegrated C3PO and so on a cliffhanger so obvious it doesn't even need the obligatory "to be continued", we know the fight between evil and good isn't over. I guess at that moment, "The Return of the Jedi" immediately became the most anticipated cinematic project.