favorite movie ever.

Rating: 10/10 (20 December 2015)

I will be the first to say this isn't a perfect movie but it's very close to it. This one follows up Star Wars which was so great at the time that it would be hard to follow it up. But by god they've done it, not only a good sequel but better than the original. Yes there are a few nitpick moments but they're overshadowed easily by all the great things in this movie.
To begin with the characters, we now have a more mature Luke that has learned a bit more about being a leader for the rebels and even his connection with the force has grown to a point where we see him become this great Jedi. However there still is a lot to learn and that's why we are introduced to Yoda. Yoda is a puppet but it never feels like that, he feels like an actual character that is just too great. Every line he says is just so quotable and useful that the audience really gets a feel of the force. This is a perfect way to continue what we learned in Star Wars but make it even bigger and more understandable so that we really get what Luke should feel. We also get introduced to Lando, which is an old friend of Han and it was very interesting to see why he did what he did. At first you think he's good because he seems like Han's friend but then he betrays him, however in the end he chose to help them out and ends good. To see this much conflict in a person in so little time was done great in my opinion and I loved how they used him in the next movie following this one. In the last movie we saw a little glimpse of a love between Han and Leia but now they bond even more and in the end we really care for Leia losing Han in the carbonite. During the movie we get a lot of funny banter between them leading up to this love and it just feels real. 3PO and R2 have split up so now 3PO is with Han, Leia and Chewie and he is still the funny droid from the first one. There are a lot of funny moments where he interacts with Han and the others so it definitely has a lot of humor as well, more than the first. Vader has now had a defeat in the first so he is out for revenge and every scene he is in you feel his menacing presence, you're scared of what he will do but also understands why he does things.
The story also works great, after the last one the empire has regrouped their fleet and have hunted down the rebels up to the point where they're hiding on a snow planet called Hoth. This is exactly what you would want from a movie called Empire Strikes Back, they are hunting down the rebels because of what we've seen in the last movie. When this movie ends you really know that the Empire has won ground on the rebels and the rebels are crippled so now the rebels have to regroup between now and the next. It's the perfect way of showing the Empire actually striking back and it makes for a darker but still very interesting movie following up the first.
The effects and visuals are once again incredible for it's time, it doesn't look like an old movie, there are a few dated things but its still a beautiful looking movie with excellent usage of practical effects and sets instead of computer generated things that look fake. The battle of Hoth and the TIE fighter pursuing the Falcon through the asteroids are intense scenes that look incredible. Also the lightsaber battle improved compared to the last one, not only are the lightsabers better visualized but they choreographed it a bit more to make it a bit more intense but still keeping it grounded and personal.
I also want to say that it's a movie with a lot of humor, funnier than the last one, and a lot of good progression in the relationships of the characters. The love between Leia and Han feels real and at the end you instantly want to see how they deal with getting Han back. Yoda makes for a great teacher for Luke and learns Luke what it is to not only be a Jedi but also a good person. And to be more specific about this, he makes for my favorite scene ever in a movie, not just Star Wars. This is of course the scene where the X-wing is sinking and he tells Luke that it is not impossible to get the X-wing out of the swamp. By using the force this can be done, Luke tries and fails and when he does Yoda explains him the true spirit of the force. With this he not only makes the force understandable for Luke but also the audience and when Luke then says that it's impossible, this little creature uses just his fingers and his incredible connection with the force to get the X-wing out. This shows the ultimate power of the force and it's possibilities.
Then lastly about the ending, I think it's brilliant, having Vader as Luke's father makes it so personal and gives us a human side to Vader which was needed to make him more of a character instead of this menacing villain. And then to end with the questions about how it will end with Luke and his father, about how they will get Han back and of course if the rebels will find the strength to defeat the empire. It gives us everything we wanted out of a sequel and left us wanting more. It's the perfect end to a perfect sequel in a great trilogy. And the force will be with us, always.