Learning Game

Rating: 9/10 (17 August 2003)

George Lucas doesn't understand religion. He can never convey the concepts and theories of it (or the belief in it for that matter) to any extent. Hence, the best movie he directed is American Graffiti since it is not so concerned with making obvious subtexts.
Lucas pretends to know philosophy in the Star Wars series, but he never embellishes on the gray area between his monolithic "good" and "evil" sides. That said, The Empire Strikes Back remains the best in the Star Wars series because Lucas lets the reigns of directing fall to someone who knows what they're doing. Irvin Kerschner is not a talented or smart director, but he has more sense in his head than Lucas. Lucas' head is stuck in Never Never Land so it is up to Kerschner to add sense to the movie.
There is also the support of Lawrence Kasdan (before the man wound up making garbage like Dreamcatcher) and Leigh Brackett touch up his original story in order to remove unnecessary garbage. As Pauline Kael put it, the movie is not concerned about the "comic book hedonism" of the original Star Wars. Return of the Jedi would emphasize what happens when Lucas gets his way (again) and hires out some poor sap to direct. The level of concern about Yoda this time is not the same as the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, smart move.
The level of static shots, using just pans and tilts, are marvelous compared to the constant sense of motion that Star Wars wants to make. It gets worse with Attack of the Clones and Phantom Menace. The biggest factor is that the effects haven't aged. The space scenes are elaborate, but not annoying, and John William's score aptly supports them. Compare the asteroid pursuit here to the vastly inferior one in Episode II, the magic has faded with CGI.
Overall, there are good movies and bad ones. The Empire Strikes Back is not better than Star Wars, it is a quantum leap forward from it. If any film in the series holds my record for ambition, execution, and presentation...this is it. 4 out of 5 stars.