Overrated, but a good film, especially the first time.

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2015)

Empire is an entertaining film and a terrific setup for the finale. The battle and setup at Hoth is entertaining. The exchanges between Han and Lea are entertaining. The droids are quite funny in this one, but don't belittle the drama. The development of Darth Vader and the Empire is vicious and well placed. The end a real cliff hanger and a surprise the first time through.
So why not 10 stars? My main complaint of the film is the middle act isn't exciting. Just think for a second about all the fun action in the middle of a new hope compared to Empire. In A New Hope they get on the Falcon, Luke trains in the force, a planet is destroyed, they encounter the death star, they hide from the troops, they save the princess, Obi-Wan fights Vader and dies, they fight off a ton of troops to get back to the falcon and they fight some tie fighters in the air to escape the Death Star. In Empire Strikes back Han, Lea and company try to escape the empire before eventually getting caught. Darth Vader and the empire decide to try to convert Luke, and Luke learns from Yoda before eventually leaving against Yoda's will to save his friends.
Sorry Empire, but in comparison, that isn't a lot of excitement especially if you have already seen the film before. How could the middle act have been better you might ask? I say increase the pace of everything, especially Yoda and Luke's first meeting. Maybe Han could have had Chewy and/or Lea firing at the tie fighters and bombers from the gunner position while on the run. There also could have been a space fight with cloud city with Lando saving the Falcon crew at the last moment.
All I'm saying is that there's a real excitement void in the middle act of the movie which everyone seems to gloss over. And i think this shortcoming is more than enough to make Empire the worst, rather than the best of the original trilogy. It's still a solid film, but I like Return of the Jedi and A New Hope more. and I'm bewildered by the masses who proclaim Empire to be the best Star Wars movie or one of the best movies ever.